#102 Game 163

The Milwaukee Brewers are my team. I'm a fan of the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Wisconsin Badgers (both football and men's basketball). I follow and try to cheer for the Winnipeg Jets (not sure I quite count as a hockey fan yet). But my heart lies with the Brewers. An MLB regular season is 162 games spread over six months. From April to September, I check the Brewers score and stats pretty much without fail every single game. The Packers and Badgers have been much more successful in my lifetime, and the Bucks have had a lot more buzz over the past couple seasons, but no team brings me anywhere near as much joy as the Brewers do.

I'm not sure when my affection for the Brewers began overtaking my interest in other teams, but I know it solidified during the magical 2011 season. That year the Brewers went 96-66, winning their division (the NL Central) for the first time in my life. They won their first playoff series before losing to [*shudder*] the St. Louis Cardinals. With so many home baseball games each season, tickets to see the Brewers at Miller Park are normally pretty cheaply available, especially when the Brewers aren't very good (which is most years). In 2011, even as the Brew Crew soared, I went a personal record six times, including attending the first playoff game with my dad and sister. The Brewers won every time. By sheer chance (on our end, at least) we were at Miller Park the night the Brewers clinched the division title. The stadium went nuts. I hugged my family and high-fived strangers. It's one of the greatest experiences of my life. After that, I knew I would never enjoy another franchise as much as the Brewers.

This year the Brewers came back. There were a few rough patches, but for the most part, the Crew played good ball all season long. After an incredible six weeks to close the season, we ended yesterday 95-67, tied with the Chicago Cubs for the division lead. Because baseball can be played mutiple days in a row without much trouble, and because the folks at MLB are good to us, there are no tiebreakers for determining division titles. The tied teams simply play an extra regular season game: Game 163. Today, on my day of rest, the Brewers traveled to Chicago to determine who would claim the division. To my great delight, I could watch the whole game. Lanie napped until the 8th inning while I experienced a frenzy of emotions: anxiety, hope, depression, elation, fear, relief. I retrieved Lanie from her room just as the Brewers rallied to break the tie and regain their lead. I placed her in her high chair for her late lunch and paced back and forth while the Cubs batted. She looked at me like I was crazy, but she gave me a high five after great plays. When the Brewers recorded the last out to win the division, I jumped up and down and screamed with joy, nearly scaring my poor daughter to death. But when Lanie saw me smiling, she started to smile, too. Lanie doesn't know what happened today, but she knows it made her daddy very happy. Someday, when she can understand, I'll have to tell her about this day, a day I'll never forget. I hope the Brewers continue to play well in the postseason. I would love for them to go to the World Series for the first time in my life and win for the first time in franchise history. But no matter what happens after today, I'll always look back on 2018 as another magical season, a year when my team achieved something worth celebrating. As they've been saying in Milwaukee, "Let's gooooooo!"

Grace and peace,

BMH