Wisconsin Doesn't Deserve the Brewers

If you missed Major League Baseball's National League Championship series, you missed one of the best series I've ever witnessed.  The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4 games to 3, with a stunning road victory.  These teams were so evenly matched; the deciding factor in this series was about 20 total pitches (over seven games!).  The Dodgers just had a few more pitches go their way.

Don't take anything away from the Milwaukee Brewers, one of the best hitting teams ever assembled.  If a team like the Minnesota Twins went up against one of the Dodger's great pitchers, they'd conceded by the 2nd inning.  Not the Brewers.  They would methodically look for weakness and identify the one or two pitches they could do something with.  Their pitching staff is also shockingly good, loaded with starters.  Their bullpen was a little suspect, but overall, they're probably the best team I've ever seen who didn't make the World Series.

And no one in Wisconsin cared.

Okay, I know it's not fair to say no one, but my guess would be only a tenth of the state followed one of the best stories in baseball, their local 9.  This deduction comes from a simple observation.  Living in the Twin Cities, I have a lot of friends who either live in Wisconsin, or are transplanted from Wisconsin. After game 3 of the National League Championship Series, I noticed none of my Wisconsin friends were making ANY comments about the Brewers.  Nothing!  No bragging, re-posts, shares, praise; nothing!  One of the most entertaining series in baseball history, and the local fans were all silent (well not exactly silent, but I'll come back to that).

For perspective, let's look at the last weekend of the Minnesota Twins regular season  The Twins were well out of the playoff picture by early August, and with the Vikings season in full gear, and the Wild getting ready to start their season, plus the U of M fall sports getting media attention, you'd expect the Twins season to end with a whimper.  But my social media timelines were inundated with Twins posts, mainly about Joe Mauer getting behind the plate to catch, and the Mauer daughters coming on the field with dad.  For a few days, the Twins, a God awful team with nothing to play for, was dominating local social media.

Comparatively, there was FAR more about the Twins final regular season weekend in my social media than anything from Brewers fans for their entire playoff run.  Some people might be saying "aren't you the same guy who constantly bellows sports are supposed to be parsley on the plate of life?  Why are you caring if a baseball team has a worthy fan base?"  Because the Brewers deserved SOME praise from the locals.  The Brewers problem is they're cursed to play in a state with a team whose fan base is possibly the most delusional in all of sports, the Green Bay Packers.

Sports markets always have favorite teams. In Minnesota, the popularity countdown goes 1) Vikings 2) Twins, 3) Wild, 4) Gopher Hockey, 5) T-Wolves, 6) Gopher football and basketball, 7) MN United, 8) Lynx, but that list is contingent on how good a team is.  The Lynx at playoff time are a top five team in the state.  If the NHL's Minnesota Wild ever won the Stanley Cup, they'd be the state's most beloved team for a decade.  Some cities/states get known for their love of one team above all others (New York/Yankees, Dallas/Cowboys, LA/Lakers, Detroit/RedWings) but Wisconsin takes their love affair with the Packers to a new level.

During the same night the Brewers were dominating the LA Dodgers in Game 3 of their series, the Green Bay Packers were playing a worthless San Francisco 49'ers team, at home.  The Packers are not a good team and had to stage a last minute comeback to stave off a humiliating home loss.  This was a win, but not a win you'd think anyone would be bragging about; unless you are Packers fans.  My social media exploded with 'Aaron Rodgers is the greatest of all time' gushing messages from a game which was nearly a train wreck.  Wisconsin social media betrothed divinity upon the QB, for barely beating a horrible team at home.  Meanwhile, the Brewers are taking back home field advantage from the LA Dodgers, on the road, and there wasn't even a 'Go Brewers' post.

Wisconsin doesn't deserve the Brewers, or the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team for that matter.  The state only loves the Packers, and any left over goodwill is reserved for the Wisconsin Badgers football team.  There's no love for the Brewers in Wisconsin because all of Wisconsin's sports love is accounted for.

In the long run, it might be best the Brewers didn't made the World Series. Say they did and played the Boston Red Sox to a Game 7.  If I were a TV station is Wisconsin NOT airing the Brewers game, I'd counter-program with a new retrospective about Packers quarterback Aaron Rodger's career.  The humiliation of having a game 7 of a World Series featuring your local team getting beat in the ratings by a player retrospective would be beyond humiliating for the Brewers, and Wisconsin as a whole.

Major League Baseball would be better to move the Brewers to Portland, Salt Lake City or Charlotte.  The team would be FAR more loved in one of those markets than they'll ever be in Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, with former baseball commissioner Bud Selig's close ties to the organization, the Brewers are stuck in an unloving relationship, a loveless marriage with a partner in Wisconsin who will never love them back the way they deserve.