Milwaukee Brewers are an inconsistent baseball team. Milwaukee Brewers are an average team. This is a weird year, and there are eight teams in each league that will make the playoffs. And due to that, the Brewers have a shot at making the playoffs for a third straight year. This team does not have the look of a playoff team, but that doesn’t mean the switch cannot be flipped. We saw this happen with Milwaukee last year where Brewers meandered until September 5th. Brewers were 71-68 at that time. After that date, they went 18-5 to finish the year. Can Brewers find that magic again?

The offense has gotten better for the Crew. The last two weeks have been refreshing and even in games where they’re not scoring, runners are still in scoring position. That’s important. Keston Hiura went on a homer streak, Ben Gamel is a solid leadoff hitter, and Orlando Arica keeps hitting the ball. The Brewers are waiting on a Christian Yelich breakout though. It hasn’t happened all year. The only way the Brewers pull away from the completion is if Yelich goes on complete fire for two or three weeks. We’ve seen it happen before, and Yelich can carry this ballclub.

The pitching staff is leaking a little oil though which is cause for concern. Brandon Woodruff cannot seem to get to the sixth inning. Adrian Houser seems to shit his pants whenever he takes the mound. Josh Lindbloom lost his spot in the rotation. Brett Anderson is his typical mediocre self. Corbin Burnes is the only reliable guy in the rotation which is WILD to say. Brewers have a good enough bullpen that they do not need three or four guys to be great. But they’ll need more than just Burnes. If Woodruff fixes his problems, this is a brand new dance.

How about the competition? Well, the Brewers are looking up to Miami and San Francisco. Two teams no one expected to be there. Miami has a seven-game series against Philadelphia looming that could make or break their season. San Francisco does not have an easy game left, but they’ve cleared the Los Angeles Dodgers already. Colorado and New York are both teams to worry about as well. Brewers’ 10 games against St. Louis and three with Chicago will likely decide everything for them.

It’s time to turn up the heat, Milwaukee.