A Brewers Fan’s Guide On Who To Root For In The 2022 Postseason

Brewers fan’s guide on who to root for in 2022 MLB Postseason

Toronto Blue Jays, AL Wild Card

Reasons to root for: The Blue Jays have a couple of old friends on their roster, including Jackie Bradley Jr., David Phelps (remember him from 2020?), and Trevor Richards. They also have Wisconsin native Danny Jansen as their starting catcher. I recognize JBJ may not be much of an incentive for a Brewers fan to root for the Blue Jays, but still.

It’s also fun to watch Vlad Guerrero Jr play baseball.

Reasons to root against: Their first round matchup is against the Seattle Mariners, who just broke the game’s longest active playoff drought, and it would be a shame to see the Mariners eliminated so early.

Seattle Mariners, AL Wild Card

Reasons to root for: Brewers fans can sympathize with the Mariners fanbase, going 21 years between playoff appearances. The Brewers had a 26 year drought themselves before they broke it in 2008 as a Wild Card. They’re an underdog that has finally built a contender and has some fun personalities, including likely AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodriguez.

The Mariners also have Waukesha native Jarred Kelenic on their roster, plus old friend Mitch Haniger.

Reasons to root against: Their first round matchup is against the Toronto Blue Jays, who are a fun and easy team to root for, and it would be a shame to see the Blue Jays eliminated so early.

Tampa Bay Rays, AL Wild Card

Reasons to root for:  Brewers fans can see a lot of ourselves in the Tampa Bay Rays. A smart, analytically driven team in a small market with a limited budget that has found a way to thrive. Seeing them win a World Series would give great hope that the Brewers can do the same one day.

The Rays also have old friends Ji-Man Choi and Drew Rasmussen.

Reasons to root against: They would have to beat the Guardians, another small market team that reminds us a lot of ourselves to advance?

Brewers fan’s guide on who to root for in 2022 MLB Postseason

Los Angeles Dodgers, NL West Champion

Reasons to root for: The Dodgers have Wisconsin native Gavin Lux on their roster. They also have old friends Jimmy Nelson and Phil Bickford on their roster so if they win it all, those guys get rings.

Reasons to root against: They can buy anyone they like and they do. They bought Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, etc. They can shell out contracts like there’s no tomorrow while the Brewers “have to” trade Josh Hader to remain competitive long term. They have an unfair advantage with a yearly $200+MM TV deal that puts their revenues way above anything the Brewers could dream of.

Their budget is endless and so is their ego.

The Dodgers also eliminated the Brewers in 2018 when the Crew should’ve been in the World Series, and they eliminated Milwaukee again in 2020.

Atlanta Braves, NL East Champion

Reasons to root for: Old friend Orlando Arcia has been the starting second baseman for the Braves since Ozzie Albies‘ injury. Arcia was frustrating to watch yet still beloved by many in Milwaukee. Another old friend, Manny Pina is on the Braves and is in search of his first World Series ring. He’s another beloved former Brewer and it would be great to see him on top of the baseball world. He certainly deserves it.

Also, it’s fun to watch Ronald Acuna, Jr. play baseball.

Reasons to root against: The Braves were the team that eliminated the Brewers last season. So there’s an easy reason not to like them. Plus, they won the World Series last year, we don’t need to see them win again, let’s have someone else win it all this year. Parity is good for the sport and if we’re rooting for the Braves, that’s not good for parity.

It was tough enough seeing them win last year knowing that the Brewers could’ve beaten them and been in that position to win it all themselves. Let’s not have a repeat of that.

St. Louis Cardinals, NL Central Champion

Reasons to root for: None

Reasons to root against: They are the St. Louis Cardinals.

Brewers fan’s guide on who to root for in 2022 MLB Postseason

New York Mets, NL Wild Card

Reasons to root for: Daniel Taylor Vogelbach. The Mets have Big Dan and that is reason enough to root for them to win. Plus they have another old friend in Eduardo Escobar on their roster.

Another reason to like the Mets is they have Terrance Gore on their roster. He’s a 31 year old pinch running specialist with only 74 career at-bats to his name in eight MLB seasons but he makes an appearance on some postseason team’s roster every year to help bring some speed on the bases. It would be a cool story to see him get yet another World Series ring for his role.

Mets fans are also a long-suffering fanbase, despite being in the New York market. Their organization has been marked by ineptitude with ownership and the front office and they’re finally seeing something good come together. Mets fans are much easier to tolerate than Yankees fans, except when they’re trying to poach our executives.

That’s another reason to root for the Mets. If they win the World Series this year, perhaps they’ll back off their pursuit of David Stearns once and for all.

Reasons to root against: Steve Cohen, in all his infinite money, completely reset the market for starting pitchers when he threw $43MM per year at Max Scherzer. That contract singlehandedly made it so much more difficult for the Brewers to be able to sign Corbin Burnes to a contract extension, if they ever decide to start those talks. The bar has been raised so high the Brewers might not even try to extend Burnes. They shouldn’t get rewarded with a World Series for that.

Plus, the more they win, the more we’re going to see Edwin Diaz‘s entrance song ‘Narco’ by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet everywhere on postseason coverage. It’s a great entrance song and Diaz has been great, but we’ve seen so much stuff on this for months now, and it would only get worse if the Mets make a deep run. Do we need more interviews with Timmy Trumpet? It’s a song, it’s cool, but everyone is totally going to overdo it in the postseason with that.

San Diego Padres, NL Wild Card

Reasons to root for: The Padres are another long-suffering fanbase. It would be nice to see them win and make a deep run after going all in the past few years on this roster. Their success might convince the Brewers to go more all in on their roster core.

Of course they also have a few old friends of the Brewers in Trent Grisham and, yes, Josh Hader.

Reasons to root against: As much as having an old friend in Josh Hader is a reason to root for the Padres, it could also be seen as a reason to root against them. The wounds of that trade are still fresh for most of us. Imagine seeing Josh Hader close the final game of the World Series to win it for the Padres. Would you be happy for him or in so much pain that he didn’t get a chance to do that in a Brewers uniform?

If the wounds are still too fresh for you, seeing Hader and the Padres succeed in October may be too much to bear.

Also, they have Manny Machado, who kicked Jesus Aguilar in the ankle in 2018 because he wanted to be a jerkface. We will never forget that.

Philadelphia Phillies, NL Wild Card

Reasons to root for: The Phillies have had an 11 year postseason drought. It’s been a while for them so it wouldn’t be too bad to see them have some success in October. They also have two old friends on their roster in Jean Segura and Corey Knebel. Those are two very likable former Brewers.

Reasons to root against: For starters, they took the final Wild Card spot instead of it going to the Brewers. Although to be fair, the Phillies did give Milwaukee a whole bunch of opportunities to take it. Still, it would sting seeing the Phillies make a deep run knowing that could’ve been the Brewers.

Which team will you be rooting for in the 2022 MLB playoffs?