Reporting live from an office in drizzly Hayward, it's Sunday Baseball. And while my seat is not nearly as cool as the one baseballgirl will be occupying today, I can certainly vouch for its comfort. So I have that going for me.
Yes the "Is it April 1 Yet?" tour continues today with the opening of a critical one-game set between your Oakland Athletics and the Brewers of Milwaukee.
Just a few historical anecdotes about the Brewers that you may but probably won't care about:
- They have been a major league franchise since 1969 when they were stationed in Seattle as the Pilots. Just one year later they landed in Milwaukee.
- They recorded their first winning season in 1978- 93-69- in an excruciatingly competitive American League East. In 1979, they won 95 games- and still missed the playoffs in an era when only first-place finishers advanced past the regular season.
- They made their first post-season party in 1981- a strike year- then clinched their first division title the very next season, and rode that success to the seventh game of the World Series where they were beaten by St. Louis. They followed that up with a fifth-place finish in 1983 and were cellar dwellers in 1984.
- In 1987 they won their first 13 games- breaking the A's American League record to start a season (11 in 1981). Still, Milwaukee's 91 wins were only good enough for a third-place finish.
- By 1998, the Brewers found themselves in the National League, and in 2002 set a club record with 106 losses.
- In 2009 they were back in the playoffs for the first time since 1982, but could not repeat that performance last year, finishing a disappointing 77-85 under Ken Macha.
Riveting stuff, eh?
And now it's time to sit back and enjoy some baseball. There will we be lineups (shortly) and lineup changes (lots), so much so that it will take on the feel of an All-Star game. Except this time it doesn't count.
The A's will be split-squading away with the San Diego Padres today. Someday- if you're real good- I'll tell you all about the Padres.
