Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun Getting Hot For Postseason Push

The Milwaukee Brewers have seen their former MVP outfielder Ryan Braun take a back seat to the spotlight for most of this season. But Braun is heating up at the plate and it’s at the perfect time.

During the playoff runs in 2008 and 2011, Ryan Braun played an essential part of the Milwaukee Brewers lineup. As a star player in his prime, that was expected of him. He came up big in critical spots during the final week of the season.

Now, at age 34, Braun is coming up with clutch moments in the final week of the regular season once again. It’s just in his DNA apparently.

Braun’s Recent Hot Stretch

Over his past five games, Braun is 5-for-13 with three home runs, seven RBIs, and three walks. His power has returned and he’s now up to 18 home runs on the season after his 31st career multi-homer game on Tuesday night.

While his home run totals are a far cry from what they were in his prime when he was regularly in the 30s, he’s still been hitting the ball hard all season long. In the first half, virtually nothing was falling for Braun and all of his hard hit balls went for nothing. But it can’t be an out if you hit it far enough over the fence.

Braun A Key Player In Postseason

Through the rebuild, Ryan Braun is the only holdover from the original core and the last Milwaukee Brewers playoff team. But he’s no longer the only player with postseason experience on this team. The additions of Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Curtis Granderson, Gio Gonzalez, and other have alleviated the need for Ryan Braun to be the lone veteran the Brewers lean on in a postseason push.

But getting Braun back to a level where he can produce and be someone to depend on during key games in the playoffs would be a major bonus for this team. With Braun being an offensive weapon once again, that will only lengthen the lineup where Cain, Christian Yelich, Jesus Aguilar, Travis Shaw, and Moustakas can also be major threats.

It’s just one more difficult bat for opposing pitchers to get through in October. Curtis Granderson is a fine player, but Braun still has a much higher ceiling offensively, and being able to have him in the lineup and producing during a postseason run give the Crew that much more of an edge in October.

Christian Yelich can’t do it all himself, even though it seems like he does sometimes. The Milwaukee Brewers need some of their other power hitters to get hot going into October if they’re going to have a chance to make a deep run, and Ryan Braun looks to be getting into a groove at the plate. That’s a dangerous thing for opposing pitchers.

With the Brewers playing great baseball during this final week, it’s been improving their chances of taking the division, and hopes are increasing for a potentially deep playoff run.