Brewers: 5 Bold Predictions For The 2021 Season

Brewers Bold Prediction #5

Ryan Braun returns midway through the season, helps Brewers secure their first World Series championship in franchise history.

What a story this would be.

Ryan Braun has been noncommittal on retirement, leaving the door open for a potential return later in the season. He’s shown no interest in playing in spring training or really in the first half of the year, but he wouldn’t rule out a return completely.

At some point this summer, Braun will get the itch to come back, I predict. When he does, he’ll call Mark Attanasio or David Stearns and he’ll try to sign a deal to help the team in the second half of the season. After all, if the Brewers are going to win the World Series, Ryan Braun deserves to be there for it.

He wouldn’t have much more than a bench role, but just his presence in the clubhouse can boost this team to new heights. Just look at what they’ve done since Braun made his debut in 2007. With his veteran experience and leadership, and not to mention clutch hitting ability, Braun can give this roster the little extra help it needs to achieve it’s ultimate goal of a World Series title.

If these other predictions hold true, with Shaw becoming a core piece of the offense with 30+ homers, Freddy Peralta helping establish a Big 3 in the rotation, and the Brewers possessing the MVP, Cy Young, and a couple of Gold Glovers, a World Series is definitely within reach, even before a possible Braun return.

Getting through the gauntlet that is the National League is going to be tough, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres representing the teams to beat. Both added to already stacked rosters this offseason, but the Brewers should be able to compete. With Woodruff, Burnes, and Peralta leading the rotation they have the stuff to compete with any rotation in the postseason, even if they don’t currently have the name recognition.

The Brewers also have the bullpen depth and a strong staple of arms to get through any seven game series, and with Craig Counsell pulling the strings, they can out-maneuver anyone.

Throughout the past few years, the Brewers have shown a knack for getting hot towards the end of the year, Craigtember, as it’s called. But the Brewers will need to keep that going through Craigtober in order to win the World Series.

They had the Dodgers on their heels in 2018, and then had unfortunate luck in 2019 with the Yelich injury and weird hop in the Wild Card game. The Dodgers ended the Crew’s season in 2020, but they hung with them despite the offense doing mostly nothing.

This is possible. Believe it can happen. This offense could reach 2018 levels, and with a very strong pitching staff to go with it this time, the Brewers can go further than they did that year.

All of these predictions are possible, even if all of them happening together this year is unlikely. There’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into the 2021 season. As much as things can go wrong, they can also go right. It’s a new year full of opportunities. Bring it on. Let’s get bold. Let’s get a ring. And let’s get a ring for Braun while we’re at it.

Hopefully some of these predictions will come true and we can revisit them at the end of the year and remind yourself that you heard it here first.