So… loud and obnoxious didn’t work.
Let’s try the opposite: no logos, no trademarks, no bells and whistles…just boring and muted blue.
It’s not a statement of boring/muted fandom – just trying to flip the script. Like any sports superstition, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work, and when it doesn’t work, you try something else.
It’s a little bit like the team itself right now: let’s try something else, because what we’re doing isn’t working.
So here we are, and normally I’d just leave the team’s 0-4 start in the rear view mirror and move along, but something is bugging me today, grinding my beans more aggressively than the team’s awful play itself. It’s the following statement (that I have heard far too many times since last Thursday’s MLB opener): “You don’t win the division in March, Nick.”
Please stop.
No division titles are handed out in March, that much is true, but do you know what are handed out in March? WINS! March wins count. In fact, they count just as much as April wins and May wins and June wins and July wins and August wins and stretch run wins in September…THEY ALL COUNT, and they all count against the final 162. So, too, do losses. So no, one does not secure an actual crown in March, but one sure can sit on it – the club sure can set itself up for an exhausting uphill climb for the remainder of these 6 months. And that’s really what this is all about.
“0-4, Nick, out of 162? Really? ‘Uphill climb?’ Stop being so dramatic. You are overreacting.”
I’d argue that I’m not overreacting at all…just reacting. I’m reacting to what is a historic 0-4 jump out of the gate. Not since a team in Brooklyn (then called the Bridegrooms) posted a -34 run differential in, wait for it, 1894, has a team started more feebly after 4 attempts. -32. That’s where we stand. Not only can we not pitch, we are completely lost at the plate. Not only have we not led at the completion of a single inning in 2025, we haven’t emerged from a single inning tied with our opponent. Not one. And permit me a moment to deep dive into what 0-4 has meant historically. For those who believe this means nothing, this might surprise you. 14. 14 is the number of teams that have ever, in the long, storied history of this great game, recovered from an 0-4 hole to make the post-season.
Now the thing about stats is that they are easily cherry-picked to make a decisive argument. I always like to treat stats as the beginning of the analysis, not the end. Most teams that start 0-4 are not good teams. They were never in the postseason discussion to begin with. I don’t believe that is the case with this Brewers team. We’re at least better than this. Playoffs? That remains to be seen. But that’s the historic reality of the dark cloud that looms over the 0-4 start. It’s a near statistical certainty that that thunderboomer will open up to wash out the hopes of an entire season. We’re talking about a mere 4-game hole with 158 to play, though. Patience, right? Right, yet the stat doesn’t lie. Every 0-4 team has preached patience, and 14…just 14 were rewarded for their chill. How is that even possible? It’s actually not that crazy when you look at the supporting probabilities of the sport.
Overlap the probabilities (or improbabilities as the case truly is) of series sweeps, consecutive series victories of 4 or more, and win streaks of 4 or more within a 162 game marathon and you come out with precisely the aforementioned result. 0-4 is like walking the Vegas strip – everything seems pretty close, but start walking and you quickly realize that the New York New York is over a mile away from Paris. Again, 14.
I’m not blogging this to say “I told you so” in October. Quite the contrary. I am putting this in writing today to say that it is not too late, this absolutely can be turned around, and I believe this team is far better than this mark shows. It’s not mere hope – I expect this team to pull out of this tailspin and be competitive for the division title. I expect the Brewers to put themselves in a position, by September, to be the 15th to overcome the odds. It’s going to take one – one long ball, one timely hit, one big K from the hill, one web gem…just one win to lift this young team’s spirits and to bring back some levity to the dugout.
It is, indeed, too early to make any definitive statements about this team as a whole and this season as a whole – that will play out – but it surely is not too early to react to what has transpired. Let fans have it. Let them vent. Let them ache. Let them air it out. Let them ruminate on that gloomy statistic, because the alternative prediction of a turnaround is nothing more than that, as well…a prediction. And at this moment, this historically embarrassing 0-4 moment, a prediction of 6 more months of winter from this groundhog is equally as plausible as a triumphant campaign for these boys of summer.
158-4…it’s still possible! Go Crew! The climb starts tonight.
[Screwball.ai] [MLB.com]
