A Schelling For Your Thoughts

Look at the lineup the Milwaukee Brewers put out Wednesday afternoon.

No Ryan Braun. No Aramis Ramirez. No one batting over .300.

Instead, they had catcher Jonathan Lucroy batting third and both Caleb Gindl and Logan Schafer starting in the outfield.

That is not a recipe for Major League success.

Many times last season, the Brewers filled out lineup cards much like this. Some even worse. And that was one of the primary reasons they won only 74 games and finished in fourth place, 23 games behind the National League Central champion St. Louis Cardinals.

With Braun on the shelf and Ramirez hitting .089 (5-for-56) over his last 17 games, the middle of the Brewers lineup is a mess. Lucroy’s no slouch, but he’s no Braun, either. And the Brewers weren’t exactly leading the league in offense before Braun’s injury.

No, the Brewers have been a middle-of-the-pack team at the plate this season, with pitching among the league’s best. But as the pitching has slipped a bit recently, the lack of offensive firepower has meant six losses in their last eight games.

Braun will return. And Ramirez will return to form at the plate. But the Brewers’ current rough stretch shows that their success — and any other teams’ — can be derailed quickly by the prolonged absence of a star player.