Brewers: Vogelbach’s Heroics Show How Special This Crew Is

What a game! After defensive miscues, some bad replay reviews, and four stressful hours of baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers won on a heroic walk-off grand slam by Daniel Vogelbach.

Vogelbach, the first baseman who was a non-tender candidate last offseason, who appeared out of a job in spring training when the Brewers decided to put Keston Hiura at first base, who then suffered a horrible looking hamstring strain, who saw his first base job taken by Rowdy Tellez while he was hurt, came through in the bottom of the 9th inning with the biggest hit of his life.

Earlier in the game, the Crew plowed through their other pinch hit options: Tim Lopes, Luke Maile, Avisail Garcia, and Christian Yelich. Vogelbach was the last man on the bench.

Craig Counsell, as they say, saved the best for last.

Daniel Vogelbach hitting a walk off grand slam just further proves how special this 2021 Milwaukee Brewers team is.

It’s hard to explain, but you could almost feel this moment coming.

Chills. Absolute chills.

This is a game that almost any other Brewers team would be dead in the water for. Defensive miscues, poor calls from umpires, baserunning mistakes, a shorter outing from Corbin Burnes, and a “getaway day” lineup that had no Yelich, Garcia, Kolten Wong, or Willy Adames all should’ve added up to a loss. The Brewers had the bases loaded twice before in this game and couldn’t get a single run across.

But despite all of that, the Brewers still won this game.

They won the game, which meant they won the series against the Cardinals, which is further hurting their playoff hopes as the Padres, another Wild Card contender, also won on Sunday.

The night before, Adrian Houser threw the Brewers first complete game shutout since 2014, ending the longest streak without one in MLB history. Of all the great starting pitching Milwaukee has, few if any expected Houser to be the one to do that.

There have been a number of games this year the Brewers should have lost but ended up winning. These types of victories haven’t happened to previous Brewers teams.

After seeing everything that’s been happening to the 2021 Crew, it’s obvious there is something special about this group. Something we didn’t see in 2008, or 2011, or 2018, or 2019, or 2020. They have *it*. There is a magic about this group.

A lot of that magic, that *it* factor stems from the clubhouse culture the Brewers have built under Craig Counsell and David Stearns. It’s fun, it’s loose, and it’s winning. It’s a winning culture.

In 2018, the Brewers were being carried by Christian Yelich, and it was awesome. But for the 2021 Brewers team, everyone has been sharing the load. When it came time for the big moment, Daniel Vogelbach, one of the most lovable guys on this team, who has had a lot of tough breaks this year, came through. He’s the latest in a long line of different players that have had big moments this year.

This team doesn’t back down, they don’t give up on games, and they have a very special feel to them. If you didn’t have proof enough of that before, Vogelbach’s walk off slam, should be more than enough.