5 Things Brewers Fans Have To Be Thankful For In 2020

2. The Timing Of The Christian Yelich Contract Extension

The Brewers held the press conference announcing Christian Yelich‘s contract extension on Friday, March 6th. MLB shut down spring training and the rest of sports shut down on Friday, March 13th.

Just one week later.

If Yelich and the Brewers had taken an extra week or so to agree on a contract extension and it wasn’t done by the time things got shut down, that deal might never have gotten done. Once it became clear the 2020 season, if it happened, would have fewer games and no fans, the Brewers would have known they would be losing a bunch of money in 2020 and the idea of giving Yelich a $215MM extension might no longer be palatable.

In all likelihood, if it didn’t get done in early March, that extension still might not be done. It might not ever have gotten done. This is all pure speculation, of course, but it would be difficult to see the Brewers really pushing for an extension of this magnitude directly after coming out of a season with no fans and almost no income.

The Brewers might have tried to wait until after the 2021 season, when they had more money, to re-engage in extension talks and at that point, Yelich would just be one year away from free agency. Once he’s that close, would Yelich still want to stay or would he want to test the market?

Thankfully, Brewers fans don’t have to worry about those hypotheticals anymore because Yelich already signed his extension. And he did it just in the nick of time. That gives us plenty to be thankful for.

3. Brent Suter

How can you not be thankful that Brent Suter is on the Brewers?

From his Summer Camp impressions of Ed Sedar, to his bullpen party crew, to his somersault down the mound, we all have more joy in our lives this year because of Brent Suter.

Of course, who could forget his role in the Brewers “Back to the Future” spoof?

Brent Suter is a treasure to have on this team.

Be thankful for Brent Suter.