For those outside of the midwest that don’t pay much attention to the National League Central or the Milwaukee Brewers (who have the smallest media market in MLB): you’re probably going to call me a “homer,” “crazy,” both or worse for saying this, but there is honestly a chance that the Brewers could end up as NL Central champions for the second time in three years. Is it a very tiny and slim chance? Well yeah, obviously; i’m not insane here. But, if Milwaukee and it’s fans hope to see a return to the playoffs as division champs, these are the three key factors that will stand between the Brewers and the postseason.
The Cincinnati Reds Need to Falter
Obviously for the Brewers to even have a chance at winning the division, the Reds will need to have significant problems. Cincinnati is easily the best team in the Central and can win the division just by simply having a decent (not even great) season. The Reds won the division last year without first baseman Joey Votto for the last third of the season; so it stands to reason that multiple key offensive players will need to miss significant time or have extremely down years for Cincinnati to lose ground.
The Brewers Need to Stay Healthy
Assuming that the above scenario does indeed play out; Milwaukee will still need all of their starters to remain healthy and contribute for the entire season. Things are already off to a shaky start here. First, starting first baseman Corey Hart injured his knee and will miss the first month of the season for the second straight year; then his backup Mat Gamel tore his ACL (also for the second straight year) and will miss all of 2013. Now the Brewers are scrambling to find a temporary solution to play the first month of the season at first base. If Milwaukee hopes to take home the division crown, they’ll need to do their best to avoid any more serious injuries (especially from injury plagued players like Rickie Weeks).
The Brewers Young Players Need to Have Above Average Seasons
Now let’s keep playing pretend and imagine that both of the above scenarios have happened. The Brewers are going into 2013 relying heavily on young, inexperienced and unproven players to help get back to 2011 form. Besides veteran starting pitchers Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada and Chris Narveson, the Brewers will depending on a group of young and talented (albeit with little big league experience) pitchers to fill out their rotation. Mike Fiers, Wily Peralta, Mark Rogers and Tyler Thornburg were all impressive last season but still struggled at times.
They will all need to be at the top of their game throughout the season if they hope to contend with the Reds. Also, second-year shortstop Jean Segura, the linchpin of the Zack Greinke trade; will need to prove he was worth giving up Greinke for and can be the standout shortstop the Brewers have desired for a long time.