The recent report of a locker room confrontation between Phillies star Bryce Harper and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred — which Manfred himself said was overblown — caused another uprising of the salary cap fetishists. Then again, they never really take a break; they just get louder in waves. Any excuse to keep fighting what they believe is the good fight in the one major North American sport that hasn’t seen a repeat champion in well over 20 years.
A funny thing is unfolding this season, though.
The best team in baseball is the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee is literally the smallest market in baseball for the time being. The Brewers have a bottom-third payroll.
Now, do I believe this proves that the league definitely does not need a salary cap? Absolutely not, just the same way that the Dodgers facing the Yankees in the World Series last year doesn’t prove that we do need one. I just think it’s pretty hilarious to watch people kick and scream about how a dynasty in a small market in baseball is impossible — a dynasty we haven’t seen in any market in decades — and that the Dodgers are so good the rules need to be rewritten, all against the backdrop of the smallest-market team in baseball making yet another playoff run.
Speaking of which, if the Brewers do make the playoffs (and at this point it would be beyond shocking if they didn’t), it will mark their seventh postseason appearance in the last eight seasons. In the same division, the mega-market Cubs haven’t made the playoffs in a full season since 2018.
Again, this doesn’t “prove” anything, but it’s very interesting to note and is a good illustration of just how well the Brewers are run (we could get into how much Cubs ownership should be embarrassed at another time). The Brewers took down the Cubs two out of three games this past week in a head-to-head battle for the NL Central and the best record in baseball. The Brewers then went to D.C. and laid the hurt on the hapless Nationals.
The Brewers have now won 46 of their last 65 games, a full-season pace of 115 wins. They’ve been playing like one of the best teams in baseball history since May 17. They are now on pace to win 98 games. That would be a franchise record, breaking the mark set in 2011 and 2018 at 96 wins.
Remember, the Brewers remain one of five teams to have never won the World Series along with the Mariners (the only pennant-less team), Rays, Rockies and Padres. If they do win it all this season, it won’t prove anything at all with regard to baseball’s salary structure, but it would be a pretty cool story.
Biggest Movers
|
Rk |
Teams |
Chg |
Rcrd |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
|
In addition to record, the Brewers now have the best run differential in baseball too. | 1 | 67-44 |
2 |
|
The Cubs have the second-best record (and run differential) in baseball and are two games out in the division. Damn geography. | 1 | 65-46 |
3 |
|
Is it flying under the radar, nationally, what Will Smith is doing this season? He’s a catcher hitting .324/.422/.541. Only 13 full-time catchers have ever slashed at least .300/.400/.500 in a full season. | 3 | 65-47 |
4 |
|
Obviously the Jays weren’t going to keep playing at the ridiculous pace they were, but they’ve now lost six of eight. | 3 | 65-48 |
5 |
|
I loved the move to get Jhoan Duran and I love his entrance even more. It was like a playoff atmosphere when he came out at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. | — | 63-48 |
6 |
|
Charlie Morton looked great in his first Tigers start, but shouldn’t Detroit have done more in front of the trade deadline? | 1 | 65-48 |
7 |
|
Trade deadlines are so much better with A.J. Preller going into mad scientist mode. I’m not sure any other executive would’ve given up a top-three prospect for a stud reliever and marginal starting pitcher, but it was awesome and so is the Padres’ bullpen. | 7 | 62-50 |
8 |
|
Through seven starts with the Mets, Frankie Montas now has a 6.68 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. | 4 | 63-49 |
9 |
|
Through all that first-half turmoil, the Red Sox now sit within striking range of the best record in the American League. | 3 | 62-51 |
10 |
|
They’ve now lost eight of 10 and desperately need to get healthier. | 1 | 62-50 |
11 |
|
I absolutely loved seeing the Mariners get aggressive with their offense by landing Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor in separate deals. The AL West title is within reach, too. | 2 | 60-53 |
12 |
|
The Yankees grabbed momentum by winning three of four against the Rays but gave it all back with a pitiful sweep in Miami. This group just does not look like a playoff team at the moment. | 4 | 60-52 |
13 |
|
It might be time for that phantom Jacob deGrom injury. He’s up to 128 ⅔ innings on the season — he hasn’t thrown more than 92 since 2019 — and gave up five runs on Sunday. | 2 | 58-55 |
14 |
|
Losing two of three to the Dodgers happens, but losing two of three to the Braves while trying to make a playoff push isn’t acceptable. | 4 | 58-54 |
15 |
|
Since June 19, the Marlins have lost just one series and that was to the best team in baseball (and, later, the Marlins beat the Brewers in a series). And you know what? It isn’t out of the question for them to make the playoffs. What a run. | 4 | 55-55 |
16 |
|
An intriguing trade deadline acquisition for me is the Royals getting Ryan Bergert. Royals pitching coach Brian Sweeney has done wonders for several pitchers and maybe this is the next one. | 4 | 56-56 |
17 |
|
The Guardians, who were in the ALCS last season, were 2 ½ games out of a playoff spot on trade deadline day and were sellers in order to save the owners money. Pitiful stuff. Cleveland fans deserve better. | 1 | 56-55 |
18 |
|
Rafael Devers’ teams are 52-61 this season in his starts. The Red Sox have gone 25-15 since trading him. The Giants were 41-31 before trading for him. | 3 | 56-56 |
19 |
|
The Rays have lost 23 of their last 32 games. | 1 | 55-58 |
20 |
|
His career is now just about one full season (155 games) and it’s pretty clear Iván Herrera is an outstanding hitter, especially given that he came up as a catcher. The Cardinals have recently started putting him in left field and that’s a good decision. | 3 | 56-57 |
21 |
|
I’ll bite my tongue the rest of the year and see how Mike Elias works this in the offseason, but I still think it is absolutely unacceptable that the Orioles were in position to be sellers after just two trips to the playoffs and zero playoff wins. | 3 | 51-61 |
22 |
|
Zach Neto is a few home runs away from being a 20-20 guy for the second straight season at age 24. The only Angels player to pull this off twice before turning 25? Mike Trout. | — | 54-58 |
23 |
|
Are Eugenio Suárez’s 36 home runs going to lead the team despite him having been traded in July? Corbin Carroll is second with 22 right now. | 2 | 53-59 |
24 |
|
Remember how excited Twins fans were to finally see another playoff series win? That was 2023. Remember how ownership told the front office to trim payroll almost immediately thereafter? We just witnessed the fruits of their labor at the trade deadline. I am so sick and tired of billionaires acting like it’s such a chore to own a Major League Baseball team. | 1 | 52-59 |
25 |
|
Tyler Soderstrom looked like one of the best power hitters in the league early in the season, socking nine homers in his first 19 games. He’s hit 10 in 94 since. | — | 49-65 |
26 |
|
The Pirates had won eight of nine against pretty good competition and then lost two straight to the Rockies, including a game started by Paul Skenes. Baseball! | 1 | 48-64 |
27 |
|
The Braves haven’t had a losing record since 2017, but there’s little doubt that streak will be broken this year. | 1 | 47-63 |
28 |
|
Their gambling win total (aka “over/under”) before the season was 53.5. The White Sox are going to pass that by Labor Day at this rate. | 1 | 42-70 |
29 |
|
Since the end of May, the Nationals are 16-37. | 1 | 44-67 |
30 |
|
For the Rockies fans who torture themselves by following every inning of every game, Friday night was at least a glorious treat in a season of dirt sandwiches. The Rockies allowed nine runs in the top of the first inning and later trailed 12-4 and 15-6, only to win 17-16 on a walk-off Brenton Doyle home run. Incredible. | — | 30-81 |
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