SPORTS LINE
The Milwaukee Brewers.
It’s September, and the Brewers have the league’s biggest division lead by a comfortable margin (Milwaukee is 10 games ahead of Chicago and St. Louis, and the second-biggest division lead in the majors is Philadelphia’s 6.5-game lead over Atlanta). the Brewers didn’t just lose Burnes, Woodruff, and Counsell: they also got only 73 games from Christian Yelich before he was lost for the season, and Devin Williams, as of today, hasn’t pitched 10 innings yet. The Brewers are so far ahead because of balance. At the start of play on Aug. 27, with 32 games remaining, the Brewers already have 10 different players with at least 2.0 bWAR on the season, and they have three more with at least 1.5. They spread their talent and invest in players who can fill in any spots that could become vacant due to injury or anything else that could be thrown at them. That’s how a team like the Brewers needs to build a team. Through youth and balance. Players who earn five or seven or nine WAR in a season are expensive. 24-year-olds who earn two WAR are not. It makes some sense when you look at the profile of many of the team’s players: a bit of offense, a lot of defense, solid baserunning. Adames and Yelich both fit this bill when they were acquired: players who did a bit of everything and didn’t do anything poorly. This year, it’s working. In addition to the 10 players with at least two WAR already, there are three, maybe four more within striking distance.
The Green Brazil Packers.
By the time this issue of the Geneva Shore Report is read, some Packer supporters, most likely from the ‘sticks,’ more properly named Northern Wisconsin, will be headed for Sao Paulo, Brazil on a dedicated fan-support flight into that giant city’s airport. They’ll be greeted with a day predicted to have heavy rains all day and wind of about twenty miles per hour. The stadium has never been finished to include a closing roof that covers the field, although many of the seats are protected from rain as long as the wind isn’t blowing too hard. It should be an interesting weather day for the game, although both the Eagles and the Packers are quite used to inhospitable climate conditions for their weekly games. Sao Paulo has South America’s biggest airport handling about 35 million passengers a year (compared to Ohare’s 75 million). Conditions for landing and takeoff the next day should be okay for those adventurous and well-heeled enough to make the trip. The stadium is sold out for the game as of this date, with black-market tickets going for about as thousand dollars.
The Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks will tip off the 2024-25 regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at the Philadelphia 76ers (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) with the team’s home opener at Fiserv Forum set for Friday, Oct. 25 against the Chicago Bulls at 7 p.m. Following the addition of a pair of youngsters, the Milwaukee Bucks became the fifth NBA team to complete its 2024 training camp roster this year. The Bucks announced last night that they signedJames Akinjo and Liam Robbins to Exhibit 10 deals. Akinjo appeared in two 2024 summer leagues for the Bucks, tallying four points on 2 of 2 shooting in 11 minutes while posting two assists and four turnovers. Meanwhile, Robbins missed the summer league due to injury. Milwaukee was a top-10 offensive team last year and had the eighth-best starting lineup. Last year their weaknesses were defense, offensive rebounding, and the bench. Backcourt depth was a particular weakness. Everybody outside of Wisconsin appears to be writing off the Milwaukee Bucks and that is a mistake because this season could be the season they bring home a championship.
