It has been one helluva ride for the Milwaukee Brewers during this season.
It all started back in January when the Milwaukee Brewers traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain within the span of an hour. Although most pundits expected the Crew to be a major player for starting pitching, the organization decided to shore up their outfield defensively instead.
Well, we can mark that down as a resounding victory for general manager David Stearns. Cain has been the driving force for the Brewers not only at the top of the batting order but defensively in center field as well. However, it’s the acquisition of Yelich that has this team where they are now.
At the time, the Yelich trade left me feeling a bit perplexed. Instead of “selling the farm” for a frontline starting pitcher, Milwaukee did it for a young up-and-coming outfielder. Not that Yelich wasn’t worth the cost, it was more that what they surrendered was a package you would normally see for a top notch starter.
Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong about that decision and have never been more happy to be wrong. Yelich has far exceeded even the loftiest of expectations, which brings us to the point of this article.
It will be a travesty if Yelich isn’t named the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Not only has he been the heart and soul of the Milwaukee Brewers, Yelich has also been among the most productive position players in MLB during this season.
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Yelich finished the season with a .326 batting average and won the NL batting title, the first Brewers player to win that honor in franchise history. For a franchise that had Hall of Famers like Paul Molitor and Robin Yount during their primes, this is a big deal.
On top of leading the NL in batting, Yelich also finished in the top-3 for home runs and runs batted in. With Ryan Braun struggling to produce at his former level, and Travis Shaw taking a step back offensively, Yelich provided the consistency that the Brewers needed all season long.
Sure, Javier Baez enjoyed a breakout season and I’m not taking anything away from him. However, without Yelich Milwaukee would have struggled to reach the heights they’ve achieved during this season. When everything was on the line during the final month of the season, Yelich stepped his game up to another level.
He was able to raise his batting average ten points during the season’s final month hitting .370 while playing in 29 games in September. He also hit 10 home runs with 34 runs batted in and was issued an astonishing 24 free passes. Yelich seemed to thrive on the pressure of late-season pennant chasing baseball and rarely took the day off during the final couple of months of the season.
Although Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer were each spectacular during this season, it’s hard to argue they meant more than Yelich to their respective ballclubs. Yelich seems like an easy choice for NL MVP this season. However, mistakes have been made in the past so we’ll just have to wait and see.