Milwaukee Brewers: Opening Day Series vs STL, Fan’s Eyeview

On our way to Opening Day 2018 at Miller Park, we chat about tales from our elders. We talk about stories of Robin Yount leading the Milwaukee Brewers to the World Series. Then, we talk about the new day…our day.

The beginning of the 2018 season is an exciting time to be a Milwaukee Brewers fan. General Manager David Stearns invested team resources into Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain. Those two outfielders led the Brewers to a sweep of the San Diego Padres to begin 2018.

Yelich got a hit in every game against the Padres, including a personal record-tying five in game 3. Cain smacked multiple hits in all three games and left San Diego with an OPS over 1.000. Yelich and Cain combined for seven runs in the three game series. They exemplified everything fans hoped for from them as the team’s new table-setters.

Now, we head to the Home Opener to face our rivals. This menacing St. Louis Cardinals franchise that easily boosted the Brewers out of championship contention in 2011.

In the car, we talk about Yelich and Cain setting the plate for Milwaukee Brewers run producers. We fantasize about Milwaukee scoring some runs other than by hitting home runs. We hope that the our young players continue maturing, and we hope that Ryan Braun gets his All-Star-level groove back at the plate.

In the Miller Park parking lot, fans tailgate despite the temperatures floating around the freezing point. The driver of the parked car in front of us unfolds a poker table and slurps his Dr. Pepper while his lady-friend chows down what looks like a chicken wrap.

They might not be grilling brats and throwing down domestic beers, but this exemplifies that everyone seems to find a way to tailgate. That is how we do sporting events in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Brewers Home Opener

Inside the stadium, we leave behind the cold temperatures of April 2 that torment us outside. The retractable roof of our beloved Miller Park keeps us toasty. Ahh, modern technology. This is our house…and it smells like sausage!

We close our eyes and shut our mouths to pay our respect during the National Anthem.

Some shed a tear for their country and some get emotional as they listen to the Milwaukee Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio’s sons. The young men keep the tradition left by their late grandfather by kicking off the home opener with the country’s song.

Then, the beats coming out of the speakers quicken and pitcher Zach Davies leads the starters onto the field. Fans make Miller Park vibrate in its foundation as they introduce themselves to the new version of the team.

Yelich, Cain, and Domingo Santana round out the outfield. Ryan Braun debuts at first base hoping he will be healthy this season. 2018 will be great! Hashtag, this is our Crew!

The power of the Miler Park fans does not will its way to a Milwaukee Brewers 2018 Opening Day win, however.

The Brewers score early, but not often enough. Cain, Yelich and Braun combine for a disappointing 1-12 at the plate. The Brewers do whack a few homers, but the atmosphere in the stadium felt poisoned early.

Starting pitcher Davies shows strikeout stuff, but he gives up six earned runs. Orlando Arcia makes a great, ranging play to his glove side, but he goes hitless at the plate.

Before the newly sponsored Johnsonville Sausage Race happens in the mid-sixth, Miller Park exuded a haze of gloom that felt so familiar. Rally caps come out but not with any real pride.

Cubs and Red Sox fans had a traditional lore of pain that stemmed from proud franchises with World Series wins in their past. For Brewers fans, it is different. The hopelessness feels more indifferent. Perhaps it is better to have won a World Series and then lost for a long time than to have never won a World Series at all.

As the team flounders on the field, our minds go back into a pit. The food at Miller Park is so expensive and so and so.

Cardinals win.

They always win.

Milwaukee Brewers Opening Series Game 2

In the past, Milwaukee Brewers fans and players would accept defeat and whimper back to their homes within their minds. This year, however, those homes are not as cozy. Green Bay Packers news isn’t a security blanket.

Fans fought through an April blizzard getting to Miller Park for game two of the series on Tuesday, April 3.

But it looks like catastrophe again. The losing tradition.

The Cardinals lead off with back-to-back home runs and cruise through seven innings leaving the Milwaukee Brewers fans cheerless. Ryan Braun and Jonathan Villar have looked particularly lost at the plate. Braun almost gets ejected arguing balls and strikes.

In the eighth inning, however, Milwaukee’s heart beats again. The Brewers cap a 2-run inning when struggling Villar ropes an RBI single that draws his team to within a run.

The crowd is not ready to predict a win, but the Brewers players have their fanbase leaning forward.

With two outs in the ninth, Christian Yelich rockets those fans out of their seats. He slugs a homer into the Toyota Territory for his first homer in front of the home crowd! Extra innings!

Then, Ryan Braun makes fans feel like its 2008 all over again. Since his steroid controversy, Braun went from superstar to quiet, supporting player. It seemed Ryan Braun the superstar had been slowly dying over the past couple of seasons.

But, with his game-winning homer in San Diego to open the 2018 season lingering in the minds of Milwaukee Brewers fans, we all remain standing as Braun walks to the batter’s box April 3.

He didn’t give them time to sit.

“I still had my batting gloves on,” Yelich later said about how quickly it all happened.

On the first pitch, Braun launches a no-doubt-about-it walk-off home run. He flips his bat, he looks at the Brewers dugout, and he struts the bases!

The stadium is not full, but it sounds like it. Teammates look like they break some of Newton’s Laws zooming out of the dugout in celebration. Braun gets drenched with Gatorade by his co-players as he crosses home plate.

Perhaps there is another chapter to Ryan Braun’s career that will exceed anything he did as superstar Ryan Braun.

For the first time in MLB history, a game began and ended with back-to-back homers.

The Brewers win.