Brewers: Craig Counsell Should Become Team’s New Wins Leader in 2022

It’s generally pretty easy to be a Milwaukee Brewers fan these days. That will happen when you find your favorite team in the middle of a four-season postseason streak that happens to be the longest such run in franchise history.

The Brewers have finished second place in the NL Central division or better in four of the past five seasons. They tied a franchise record 96 wins three years ago and nearly matched that again with 95 wins last season.

And there has been one man around for this new golden era of Milwaukee baseball.

No, I don’t mean Ryan Braun. The old Brewer veteran had been around for most of this recent run of success, but after having his contract option declined last offseason and becoming a free agent, he sat out most of 2021 before ultimately officially retiring right before the end of last season.

No, I am talking about former Brewers infielder and current Milwaukee manager, Craig Counsell. The Whitefish Bay, WI native has been at the helm ever since 2015 when he took over 26 games into that season.

529 wins, four out of seven winning seasons, and four postseason appearances later, Counsell is not only firmly entrenched as the Crew’s skipper. With Bob Melvin heading from the A’s to the Padres in 2022, Counsell is now the longest-tenured manager with the same team in all of Major League Baseball. But that’s not all.

In 2022, manager Craig Counsell should become the all-time leader in wins for the Brewers.

Counsell doesn’t have very far to go at all in his pursuit of the all-time wins record in Brewers managerial history. The record sits at 563 wins, so Milwaukee fans probably won’t even have to wait all that long to see it next season.

That current 563-win record belongs to former Brewers manager Phil Garner. It took him 1180 games and a 47.7% win percentage to reach that total. Counsell, in comparison, has currently managed 1008 games and sports a 52.5% win percentage.

So when might Counsell break the record in 2022? Well, he needs 35 wins to set the new franchise mark. Last year, the Brewers won for the 35th in their 62nd game. In 2022, that would equate to an early-June home game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Setting the new record during a home series would be a dream scenario. Despite what you may hear on social media sometimes, though that would likely be the same for literally any manager these days, Counsell is beloved by Brewers fans.

It helps that he has instilled a winning culture in Milwaukee and happens to be a hometown boy. It also helps that under his leadership, the Brewers have consistently had one of the healthiest clubhouse cultures in the league. Players always seemed to have fun playing for this team and fans have definitely picked up on that vibe over the years.

It’s been quite the impressive run for Craig Counsell as a Brewers manager. Soon, it’s going to result in his name atop the record books.