By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports activities MLB Author
As August started, the Milwaukee Brewers had been three video games forward of their friends within the NL Central.
At the moment, they’d led the division for all however about 10 of the earlier 100 days. They appeared like they had been about to earn their fifth consecutive postseason bid, simply as most anticipated on the season’s outset. PECOTA projections, for instance, pegged the Brewers as their division’s finest crew by 12 video games — by far the game’s largest divisional margin.
Then, on the primary morning of the month, the Brewers traded Josh Hader. The following night time, they began dropping. And so they haven’t stopped.
The Brewers entered Wednesday’s sequence finale in opposition to the L.A. Dodgers some 5.5 video games again of the St. Louis Cardinals within the Central race. They’re very a lot nonetheless within the NL wild-card hunt, however their highway to the playoffs has gotten a lot murkier this month.
Listed below are three causes the Brewers have disenchanted in 2022, significantly in August.
1. Christian Yelich remains to be not taking part in like a star, and neither is anybody else within the lineup.
Within the three seasons since he signed a $215 million extension one week earlier than the March 2020 pandemic shutdown, Yelich has been a far totally different participant than he was within the two seasons earlier than he signed that deal. Throughout 2018 and ’19, when he batted a mixed 1,231 instances, Yelich had 80 homers and a 1.046 OPS — 71% higher than common.
Since then, he has batted 1,233 instances, homered 30 instances and logged a .747 OPS — 6% higher than common. It’s not terrible, merely middling. However as a result of the Brewers dedicate a full one-fifth of their payroll to Yelich’s $26 million wage, his non-performance hits significantly onerous.
Round Yelich, the Brewers have constructed a reliable offense on a price range. By way of OPS+, 11 Milwaukee hitters have been roughly common or higher this season. The ten not named Yelich are making about $38 million mixed. Their manufacturing would look significantly better if it had been buttressed by one star. The Brewers lack that participant.
They thought Willy Adames may emerge in that function after his play following his Could 2021 commerce. However like Yelich, Adames has been simply superb. He has hit for energy however chased an excessive amount of to get on base at a helpful price. The Brewers don’t have a hitter who has constantly accomplished each this season.
These days, former prime prospect Keston Hiura has flashed the 2 talents. If he can proceed to determine himself as an elite hitter, Milwaukee’s probabilities may look considerably higher.
2. The beginning pitching has fallen off from 2021.
Ace Corbin Burnes has once more been nice, however even he has been unable to copy his dominant 2021. His strikeouts are down, his walks are up, and homers in opposition to him are means up. He has stored his ERA inside a half-run of his 2021 mark, however the Brewers have received solely 15 of his 25 begins in 2022, in comparison with 19 of 28 in 2021.
Past Burnes, the regression has been extra excessive. Adrian Houser’s underlying numbers are the identical or higher, however his ERA is 1.5 runs worse. Brandon Woodruff, basically a second ace in 2021, has been extra like a No. 2 or No. 3 in 2022, wilder and extra homer-prone. Eric Lauer, too, has surrendered much more homers. Freddy Peralta has been injured.
All informed, the Brewers’ starters have logged a 3.83 ERA in 2022, up from a 3.13 mark a 12 months in the past. They continue to be efficient, however not efficient sufficient to counteract the membership’s star deficiency on offense.
Ben Verlander breaks down how the St. Louis Cardinals had been in a position to go the Milwaukee Brewers for first within the NL Central, questions the Brewers’ commerce deadline strikes and explains why he thinks they are going to miss the playoffs.
3. The vibes have been off.
It’s not significantly obscure the Brewers’ choice to commerce Hader. He had lengthy been baseball’s finest nearer, however he had not been that nice in 2022, and in parting with him on Aug. 1, Milwaukee netted Taylor Rogers, a reliever who projected to be practically pretty much as good over the ultimate two months, in addition to prospects who may assist the crew come 2023.
However the place the Brewers clearly erred is in explaining that commerce to their gamers. Hader, Burnes’ finest good friend, was beloved within the clubhouse. Instantly, participant after participant criticized membership executives to reporters. When that negativity coincided with a dropping streak, the crew spiraled additional.
Even now, it stays a subject of dialog. Lauer informed MLB.com over the weekend that he disliked basic supervisor David Stearns’ characterization of the commerce to the general public. Stearns stated the commerce “furthers our goal to get as many bites out of the apple as doable,” which he argued would finest assist deliver the Brewers a championship.
“I’m not making an attempt to simply get a bunch of bites of the apple,” Lauer stated in summarizing how his teammates reacted to the commerce.
Lauer famous that the Brewers usually are not essentially in any worse place to contend with out Hader. That, he argued, doesn’t negate the necessity for a dialog the membership has not but had. He spoke of an erstwhile vibe inside the clubhouse.
“And when a dynamic like that modifications,” he informed MLB.com, “it’s one thing that must be addressed. And it simply by no means was addressed to us.”
It’s not too late, but it surely’s getting shut.
Pedro Moura is the nationwide baseball author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand lined the Dodgers for 3 seasons for The Athletic and, earlier than that, the Angels and Dodgers for 5 seasons for the Orange County Register and L.A. Occasions. Extra beforehand, he lined his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up within the Southern California suburbs. His first e-book, “The way to Beat a Damaged Recreation,” got here out this spring. Observe him on Twitter @pedromoura.
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What we know:
CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Milwaukee Admirals lost to the Texas Stars on Saturday, Jan. 18.
They lost 4-3 at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Both teams finished with 25 shots on goal.
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The Admirals fell to 1-3-0-0 on their five-game road trip.
What’s next:
Milwaukee concludes its five-game road trip on Sun., Jan. 19 at Texas.
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The Admirals will then return home to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 22 to host Rockford.
The Source: The Milwaukee Admirals provided information in this post.
What is behind the steep increase in rental prices?
A recent antitrust lawsuit accuses software company RealPage for pricing scheme harmful to renters.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against property manager Greystar Thursday, accusing the Charleston, S.C.-based company of charging consumers hidden fees adding up to “hundreds of millions of dollars” since at least 2019.
Greystar manages properties across the U.S. including in the Milwaukee and Madison areas.
“The FTC is suing Greystar for deceptively advertising low monthly rents only to later saddle tenants with hundreds of dollars of hidden junk fees,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in a Jan. 16 press release.
The lawsuit was filed alongside the State of Colorado.
The hidden fees “allegedly range from tens to hundreds of dollars a month,” and include utility fees, “valet trash” fees, package handling fees and more, according to the FTC’s press release.
The agency also alleged that tenants “often have not discovered the fees until after they have signed a lease or moved in.”
“Simply put, consumers cannot lease a Greystar-managed apartment by paying only the advertised price,” the Jan. 16 complaint alleges.
To read the FTC’s full complaint, click here.
The property management company manages more than 800,000 apartments across the U.S., the release said.
The FTC’s lawsuit comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice and several other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against six of the largest landlords in the U.S., including Greystar. The DOJ complaint accuses the property management companies of sharing non-public rent data in a software system, causing tenants to lose bargaining power.
Greystar manages several properties around the Milwaukee area, according to its website, including the The Lydell in Glendale, Deer Run in Brown Deer and Evoni in Milwaukee. It also manages two properties in Madison.
Highlights: Arrowhead defeats Pewaukee in girls basketball, 68-65
Arrowhead defeated Pewaukee in a rematch of reigning WIAA girls basketball state champions Saturday afternoon, 68-65. Here’s a few highlights.
With the final couple of weeks of January to come, it feels like the girls basketball season is starting to hit that next gear as conference title races tighten and contenders truly start to separate themselves from the rest of the field.
We’ll take a look at the week that was around the greater Milwaukee area, including a pair of superstars who could join an exclusive group soon.
Wisconsin has three McDonald’s All-American Game nominees this year, with two from the greater Milwaukee area. Hartford forward Makena Christian (Minnesota) and Pewaukee guard Amy Terrian (Michigan State) were both named to the nominee list, along with Hortonville star Rainey Welson (Maryland).
If one or both are selected to the game, which will be played April 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they would join current Connecticut guard KK Arnold (Germantown, 2023), current Women’s Chinese Basketball Association player Sidney Cooks (Kenosha St. Joseph, 2017), current Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale (DSHA, 2015) and current Oregon assistant coach Samantha Logic (Racine Case, 2011) as the only girls players from the area to participate in the game.
Christian has the Orioles flying as the leaders of the North Shore Conference with a 13-1 mark this season. She’s averaging 24.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.9 steals this season. The Minnesota recruit also became the 40th player in state history to eclipse 2,000 career points earlier this season.
One-half of the Terrian twins also has Pewaukee where it usually is, atop the Woodland West standings at 13-2 this season. Through 14 games played this season, Amy Terrian is averaging 13.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.7 steals and is shooting 47.7% from deep. She also became the program’s all-time leading scorer earlier in the season.
The last time Whitnall played a home game, the Green Bay Packers still had seven regular-season games to play.
For the first time since Nov. 19, the Falcons hosted an opponent and extended their winning streak to seven games with a 69-24 rout of Racine Horlick on Tuesday night. The win streak now sits at nine games following a victory over Shorewood on Thursday (93-70) and a 71-21 drubbing of Cudahy on Friday night to improve to 13-1 on the season. The nine-game winning streak is the longest since the 2019-20 season for the Falcons when they won eight straight from Jan. 10 to Feb. 11, 2020. It’s only the second streak of that length since the 2012-13 season in program history.
Along with the perfect week, Riley Ward had a 30-point outing earlier in the week against Shorewood and then scored her 1,000th career point during a 21-point first-half performance in the rout of Cudahy. The Falcons will likely be favored against Brown Deer and Cudahy again next week to extend the win streak before a massive showdown next Friday against Pewaukee.
There’s only two Milwaukee-area teams with zeros in the loss column as the three-day weekend arrives for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday: Wauwatosa East and Bradley Tech/Arts.
The Red Raiders improved to 15-0 with dominant performances against DSHA (69-36) and Brookfield Central (84-49) this week to stay unbeaten, while the Trojans improved to 12-0 with a 59-15 victory over Carmen Northwest on Thursday. Tech raced out to an eye-popping 48-6 halftime advantage and put it in cruise control to remain undefeated.
Tuesday’s win over DSHA marked the seventh time this season the Red Raiders have held an opponent to 40 points or fewer. Emma Close scored a game-high 24 points for Tosa East, while Mikaia Litza flirted with a quadruple-double. Despite a 3-for-11 shooting performance with eight turnovers, Litza still had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 8 steals for the home side.
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