Milwaukee Brewers: Top 10 Moments of the Regular Season

The Milwaukee Brewers had an improbable, and incredible 2018 regular season which resulted in them winning a tiebreaker game in Wrigley field to win the division. Over the course of the last six months, there were some unforgettable moments with this Brewers team.

It’s not easy to narrow down only 10 moments from such a great season such as this one, but this is my attempt to do so. Here are my top 10 moments of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2018 Regular Season.

10. Jesus Aguilar’s 13 pitch Walk-off Home Run

In a game against the Marlins on April 21st that was tied 5-5 going into the ninth inning, first baseman Jesus Aguilar lead off the ninth with one of the more impressive at bats you’ll ever see. A whole 13 pitch sequence from Junichi Tazawa, and Aguilar finally got the one he wanted and smashed it into right-center field.

The big thing everyone talks about with Aguilar is his two-strike approach. He was in a two strike count for most of that battle and kept on fouling off pitches to stay alive.

This moment is also very significant because it is the start of when Aguilar got to have regular playing time at first base. Considering the Brewers were thinking about cutting Aguilar in spring training, and how his season turned out, this moment was huge for the team. Aguilar’s All Star numbers were vital to this team’s success, and especially in the first half, Aguilar carried this team at times.

8. Eric Thames’ walk-off against Colorado

In a game on August 3rd against the Rockies, the Brewers went into the ninth inning down by one, and were faced with the challenge of hitting against the NL save leader Wade Davis. The Brewers got two runners on and had two outs, and then Eric Thames came up and hit an absolute bomb to the right field bleachers to win it.

This was a significant game because it was the third time that Wade Davis has blown a save against the Brewers dating back to September 2017 with the Cubs. Also, there was a lot of buzz around the team given their trade deadline additions of Joakim Soria, Mike Moustakas and Jonathan Schoop. Eric Thames was also seeing his playing time diminish because of the success of Jesus Aguilar and his struggles at the plate. But Thames came through big time.

Also, in general, comeback wins against playoff caliber teams are huge wins, and can be a big boost to a team and a fanbase.

7. Five Brewers Selected to All Star Team

One of the biggest representations of how good the Brewers first half was is how there were five All Stars selected from the team. Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Josh Hader made the original team, Jeremy Jeffress was an injury replacement even though his numbers clearly were deserving, and Jesus Aguilar was voted in by the fans in the “Final Vote”.

That Final Vote for Aguilar was incredible. He carried the team in the first half and many Brewers fans felt he was deserving of making the team outright, but he wasn’t on the initial ballot and needed to be written in. But it came down to a Final Vote ballot and Aguilar blew away the competition. His 20.2 million votes were the second most in the history of the Final Vote.

Five All Stars is the most the Brewers have ever had, and nobody would have ever predicted they would have this many. Yelich and Cain were pretty predictable, and Hader might’ve been predictable as well, but nobody expected Jeffress and Aguilar to have as big of an impact as they have had on this team, and they are two of the biggest reasons the team is where they are.

6. Josh Hader Strikes Out All 8 Batters he Faces

On April 30th the Brewers were playing in Cincinnati and worked their way to a 6-5 lead in the 7th inning when they brought in their star relief pitcher Josh Hader with one out. Hader proceeded to strikeout all eight batters he faced to protect that one run lead and win the game.

The best part was, no hitters were even close to touching Hader. There weren’t very many foul balls and it was just “Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Night” from Hader to get through the hitters.

Out of all the impressive performances Hader put on this season, this one takes the cake. This is when people really started to realize how good he can be, and that he was going to dominate. Also, he began to get more national attention as well, and with how good his stuff is, it was well deserved.

5. Schoop Grand Slam off Bumgarner

On September 9th, in a game that meant quite a bit for the Brewers as any postseason race game in September would, the Crew were down 2-1 to Madison Bumgarner and the Giants with two outs in the 6th inning.

Ryan Braun was hit by a pitch, which did not please Ryan Braun or Craig Counsell as the benches *sort of* cleared and Craig Counsell got into a rare screaming fest with the home plate umpire and was ejected. However, a few pitches later, Jonathan Schoop hit a grand slam off Bumgarner giving the Brewers a three run lead.

After the grand slam, a lot of the Brewers players came out of the dugout to celebrate with Schoop and were told to go back in by the first base umpire. To have the team so fired up that they’re coming out of the dugout and celebrating like that in the sixth inning says a lot about how these guys feel about each other and how much that meant.

Especially for Schoop, a guy that struggled mightily to get it going in Milwaukee. He drew the ire of many fans after his slow start, but they all changed their attitude towards him with this home run. It was his big moment with the Crew.

4. “Brauny going way back for the W!” – Christian Yelich

In the first home series of the season, the Brewers squared off against the Cardinals. On April 3rd, after going down 4-3, getting two outs in the 9th, and down to a 3-2 count, Christian Yelich came through and hit a game tying home run by the Toyota territory in right-center field.

Then, on the very next pitch, Ryan Braun absolutely crushed a line drive home run into the Brewers bullpen for a walkoff home run, and an extremely energizing win early in the season while people may not be shifted into baseball mode yet. It showed that Yelich was really the man, and Braun still had it in him to come through in those situations.

The Brewers went through their struggles early on in the season, especially against division opponents. This game against the Cardinals was frustrating at the start. But the combo of Yelich and Braun turned out to be one to fear later on.

Not to mention that those home runs coming on back to back pitches only adds to the excitement. Fans barely had time to calm down from the Yelich home run and react to the tie game before Braun won it. It was an exhilarating few seconds there.

3. Christian Yelich’s (first) Cycle

Just before September, Christian Yelich was continuing to rake in the second half, and he was just starting to enter MVP conversations. The Brewers were in Cincinnati, and in a high scoring game, Yelich went off by going 6-6 including hitting for the cycle.

The Brewers needed all of his performance too, as they won the game 13-12 in extra innings. That game itself was a big moment for the Brewers. The Crew was scuffling a bit in August and needed to rattle off a ton of wins if they were going to punch their ticket to October baseball. This team didn’t give up no matter how many times the Reds came back. It was one of the more exciting games, even without Yelich hitting for the cycle.

That offensive firepower became a trend with Yelich as the second half went on, coming through when the Brewers needed him, and that’s why he is the believed to be the MVP of the NL. Hitting for the cycle gave him a lot more national attention, and put his name on many more people’s MVP radar.

2. Sweeping the Cardinals, Popping Bottles

In the penultimate regular season series of the year, the Brewers were faced with going into St. Louis and playing the rival Cardinals. The first game was a close Brewers victory. The second game was a blowout win. The final game was close.

On September 26th, Jeremy Jeffress came in to save a 2-1 game, and gave a gigantic fist pump afterwards, as the Brewers had clinched a playoff spot.

Sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis is remarkable enough for the Brewers, but to do it in September, along with clinching a playoff spot for the first time in seven years and celebrating in your rival’s stadium? That is something special, and it won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Especially since, in 2017, the Brewers had a chance for a Wild Card spot but lost a critical Game 161 to the Cardinals that officially ended their postseason hopes. That fact was not lost on the players.

It was only the fifth postseason berth in franchise history. What moment could be better than that? I think you’ll know.

1. One game to break the tie

Finally, the top moment of the 2018 regular season has to be the Brewers first game in October. They went into Wrigley field to play a one game tiebreaker for the division where the winner takes the NL Central division, as well as home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and the loser hosts the do-or-die wild card game.

The Milwaukee Brewers won a close 3-1 game, led by starter Jhoulys Chacin pitching very well and only making the one mistake to Anthony Rizzo. Then the Brewers key pieces; Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun all came through with RBI hits. Also, Orlando Arcia went 4-4 and started both big rallies for the Brewers.

For the Brewers to go into their rival’s home and snatch the division away from the team that’s won it two years in a row after the Cubs had led the division for almost the entire second half is incredible. The Brewers earned their spot at the top seed in the National League the hard way, but also the most satisfying way by beating the team that has haunted them.

Also, for the Brewers fans to be there in big numbers at Wrigley field and chanting “MVP” for Christian Yelich, when the other MVP candidate plays for the Cubs, it just shows how much the Brewers fan base cares about the team, and what the team has done for them. And this is just the beginning.

Was this list accurate? Any big moments that weren’t listed in here that you thought were deserving of recognition? Let us know in the comments below.