Lots of things are brewing for Stearns now
Brewers general manager David Stearns has a lot on his mind these days, and that goes beyond the National League Central Division and wild-card standings with two weeks remaining in the season.
Stearns also is preparing to become a first-time father.
Stearns and wife Whitney are expecting their first child, a daughter, in the first half of October. If that means attending the birth as well as a Brewers playoff game on the same day, it will be all good, the way he sees it.
“I guess you could say I have a lot on my plate these days,” Stearns said Monday before his team’s game against Cincinnati at Miller Park.
“It looks like it’s going to be an exciting and hectic next couple of weeks.”
Stearns, 33, knew the possibility existed of his daughter’s birth coinciding with the playoffs once the pregnancy was confirmed. But squeezing personal and professional plans into his schedule certainly was preferable to the Brewers not making the postseason, or getting eliminated immediately if they did.
Entering play Monday, the Brewers trailed the first-place Chicago Cubs by 2 1⁄2 games in the NL Central but sat in the first wild-card spot, three games ahead of St. Louis and Los Angeles, tied for the second spot. The top wild-card team hosts the one-game playoff on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
If the Brewers played in the wild-card game and won, they’d be lined up to play the Cubs in the National League Division Series, beginning Thursday, Oct. 4.
“It’ll be exciting and fun, if all of that happens at the same time," Stearns said. "We could have the baby before then; you never know. We’ll see what happens. We knew there was a chance a lot could be going on this October.”
Affiliate shuffle continues: The Brewers will learn in the next week or so where their Class AAA affiliate will be for 2019-'20 seasons. Their four-year affiliation with Class AAA Colorado Springs ended when that franchise was transferred to San Antonio for 2019.
It was assumed the Texas Rangers would move their Class AAA affiliate from Round Rock, Texas to San Antonio, with Houston moving its Class AAA affiliate to Round Rock. The Astros’ Class AAA affiliate has been in Fresno, Calif.
But the Rangers have not yet reached an agreement with San Antonio, leaving that affiliate open as well as Fresno and Nashville, where the Brewers had their Class AAA affiliate until Oakland moved there four years ago. The Athletics announced Monday they were moving their affiliate to Las Vegas and a new stadium that will open there next year.
That left the Brewers, Rangers and Washington Nationals to relocate in some alignment to San Antonio, Nashville and Fresno.
“There are a lot of discussions going on,” Stearns said. “There is nothing set right now.”
Focusing on task at hand: With both the NL Central race and wild-card race to monitor each day, it’s easy to get distracted at this time of year. But, with two weeks remaining in the season, the Brewers are emphasizing the need to keep a daily focus and keep winning games, letting the rest take care of itself.
“These are the fun games,” manager Craig Counsell said. “You try to get yourself into these games. The games provide the tension and the fun, but you work hard to get in these games. That’s how I look at it.
“Once the games start, it’s ‘do your job’ for everybody. That’s how you’ve got to treat it. Scoreboard watching, everybody does it. I look at the out-oftown scoreboard (on the leftfield wall) for the whole game. Right past the pitcher is the out-of-town scoreboard. So, we’re all looking at it.
“That’s the fun part of it. Every day, it changes a little bit. But I know that every day we’ve won, it has looked better the next day. Win you win the game, it always looks better.”
Late-season acquisition Curtis Granderson, who has been in a playoff race or two, said he tries to avoid looking at the standings, both in the division and wild-card races.
“There is so much out there,” he said. “I look at the things we can control – who we’re playing, who’s on the mound for that team.
"Every team is out there competing."