The Milwaukee Brewers Have No Need To Apologize For Celebrating A Division Title After A Loss

Naysayers will point to a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night and suggest the Milwaukee Brewers somehow backed into the a National League Central Division championship only because Seiya Suzuki inexplicably dropped a fly ball that led to a loss by the Chicago Cubs.

But to those very same naysayers, the Milwaukee Brewers will simply raise their champagne glasses and thank them for the input.

“However it happened, (the Cubs) lost and we won the division,” said right-handed starter Corbin Burnes, the Brewers’ ace right-hander currently on track to start the Brewers’ postseason opener on Oct.

Yes, the Brewers clinched their second division title in three seasons while also extending a losing streak to three games, but really, that’s semantics; nothing more than a matter of unfortunate timing.

A division crown is not reflective of a moment, recent or immediate. Instead, it’s a reflection of an entire body of work, encompassing not just the majority of a 162-game major league schedule but also six weeks of spring training, offseason preparation and all the bumps, hiccups and obstacles that pop up along the way.

And for the Brewers — like any team heading to baseball’s postseason — there have been plenty.

For starters, if you’ll pardon the pun, how about the rash of injuries that plagued Milwaukee’s vaunted pitching staff including No. 2 starter Brandon Woodruff, who made just two starts before an injury left him sidelined until August.

Young lefty Aaron Ashby never even made it to the mound this season thanks to Tommy John surgery while the Brewers also went without Adrian Houser and Wade Miley for a month and lost Eric Lauer due to injury and ineffectiveness.

If that wasn’t enough, infielder Luis Arias missed two months after injuring his hamstring on Opening Day and outfielder Garrett Mitchell, one of Milwaukee’s most promising young prospects, suffered a potential season-ending shoulder injury two weeks into the season.

An often maddening lack of offensive production made the challenge even greater but Milwaukee still managed to make it to the All-Star break just a game out of playoff contention.

Coming out of the break, things started to click and a handful of small but shrewd moves at the trade deadline, combined with Milwaukee’s closest competition cooling off after hot starts, the division became the Brewers’ to lose.

But, they didn’t. Sure, they squandered three straight chances to lock up the title on their own and sure, clinching the crown without winning their own game wasn’t ideal but it doesn’t even remotely take away from what the team has accomplished and overcome since players first assembled in Arizona back in February.

“We wanted to win to celebrate,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “But we’re going to celebrate anyway.”

And rightfully so. Sure, it might have been more exciting to rattle off a season-ending winning streak to force — and ultimately win — a one-game, winner-take-all tiebreaker against a hated rival as was the case in 2018 when Milwaukee rallied to catch and pass the Cubs before getting all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS.

That doesn’t mean it was less meaningful three years later when the Brewers ran away from the rest of the division before hitting a late-season slump that delayed their coronation for more than a week.

And it doesn’t make Tuesday any less meaningful because it happened to come in a somewhat unorthodox manner because again, the celebration is for the journey, not the destination.

“(Seasons) always different,” said outfielder Christian Yelich, who bounced back from a handful of underwhelming seasons by slashing .275/.365/.445 with 19 home runs and an .809 OPS. “I don’t know if we expected to do it this way but you know what? Anytime you can win the division, you’re not going to complain. It’s been a battle all year and this group has definitely faced our fair share of adversity.

“There was ups and downs but we stayed together the whole time and I’m proud to be a part of these guys. Obviously, a weird, wild night, but a celebration nonetheless.”