2004 Brewers

[rickh150]

Didn't the Brewers have an above .500 record this year at the All-Star break, only to finish with 90 plus losses? I believe it was the worst record post break of all time for a .500 team. I think it all began in Pittsburgh with a sweep. Any info on this? I can't find anything on it.

[And That]

I can't speak to the worst all time post-All Star break record for a team over .500 at the break, but indeed the 2004 Brewers were 41-34 on July 1st, and then 45-41 at the break. They did indeed get swept by the Pirates in a 4-game series, but that was right before the break.

 

They got swept in consecutive 2-game series (?!?) by the Reds and Cardinals shortly after the break.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2004-schedule-scores.shtml

[reillymcshane]

The 2014 Brewers were 52-36 on July 5. They then lost seven in a row. They went 30-44 after July 5 - finished 82-80. They were still in 1st place on September 1 - but in middle of another 7-game losing streak just before the all-star break. Finished 3rd in the division.

 

The team was 53-43 at the break. Went 29-37 to finish the season.

[DocLuna7]

I think that the infamous sweet suits were 2001 though right? Thought I remember jeromy burnitz being a part of that.

[Baldkin]

I think that the infamous sweet suits were 2001 though right? Thought I remember jeromy burnitz being a part of that.

 

Yep. 2001. They were 38-34 after they swept the Cubs. They finished 68-94 (or 30-60, a .333 winning percentage.)

[owbc]

So this is the third time that a Brewers team win a winning record has experienced a 4-game sweep at PNC in June or July. The first two times they lost 90 games.

[torts]

third times the charm to break that trend

[turnbow59]

I can remember 2004 like it was yesterday. We just swept Colorado to go to 41-34 on July 1 and had a one game lead in the Wild Card. I thought it was so cool, because the brewers were actually playoff contenders into July. As I recall, Junior Spivey got hurt in the next series against Pittsburgh and it went downhill from there. We actually finished with a worse record than 2003.

[pacopete4]

Good things come in threes? Lol IDK. Interesting stat but this is a different group of guys so these stats don't mean a heck of a lot.

[rickh150]

Good things come in threes? Lol IDK. Interesting stat but this is a different group of guys so these stats don't mean a heck of a lot.

 

Same fan base....

[pacopete4]

Good things come in threes? Lol IDK. Interesting stat but this is a different group of guys so these stats don't mean a heck of a lot.

 

Same fan base....

 

Not everyone

[rickh150]

I'm not a believer that this thing is going to collapse. The last two days is too reminiscent to the games in 2004, that's all. I really believe we add Pitching by Sunday.

[Paul77]

I think that the infamous sweet suits were 2001 though right? Thought I remember jeromy burnitz being a part of that.

 

I think they were "sweep suits". The crew got a little cocky after a sweep and baseball karma kicked them in the backsides.

[SomewhereInTime]

1998 Brewers, 42-36 on June 27th, finished 5th place 74-88. My first season I was old enough to follow them ends with a collapse.

1999 Brewers, 47-47 on July 22nd, finished 5th place 74-87.

2001 and 2004 as mentioned earlier were pretty big collapses.

2007 was the worst, 2008 would have been too if not for the Mets collapsing harder.

[DocLuna7]

I think that the infamous sweet suits were 2001 though right? Thought I remember jeromy burnitz being a part of that.

 

I think they were "sweep suits". The crew got a little cocky after a sweep and baseball karma kicked them in the backsides.

 

Yeah, my bad. That was a typo.

[rickh150]

1998 Brewers, 42-36 on June 27th, finished 5th place 74-88. My first season I was old enough to follow them ends with a collapse.

1999 Brewers, 47-47 on July 22nd, finished 5th place 74-87.

2001 and 2004 as mentioned earlier were pretty big collapses.

2007 was the worst, 2008 would have been too if not for the Mets collapsing harder.

 

2014 was the worst...

[SomewhereInTime]

1998 Brewers, 42-36 on June 27th, finished 5th place 74-88. My first season I was old enough to follow them ends with a collapse.

1999 Brewers, 47-47 on July 22nd, finished 5th place 74-87.

2001 and 2004 as mentioned earlier were pretty big collapses.

2007 was the worst, 2008 would have been too if not for the Mets collapsing harder.

 

2014 was the worst...

 

From my perspective 2007 was worse but I understand those who say 2014. I was born in 1990, started following game by game in 1998. 2007 was the first team that legitimately had a shot in my time of following them and they lead the division almost the whole year. I mean I hadn't even seen a winning season yet at that point! Those last few weeks were the most painful moments of my sports fan life.

[JohnBriggs12]

Any discussion of 2nd half collapses would be remiss without bringing up the incredible run from 73-75.

 

In 1973, on June 18 the Brewers were 34-27 and had a half game lead in the AL East. They finished 23 games behind.

 

In 1974, on July 16, they were 46-44 and 2 games back. They finished 76-86 and 15 games back.

 

In 1975, they were 43-35 and tied for the lead on July 3rd. They would go 25-59 the rest of the way and finish 28 games back.

 

Del Crandall was the manager through all 3 of those 2nd half collapses.

[BuckyBrewer61]

That 2004 team was what made me a true Brewer fan. Growing up in Milwaukee, the Brewers were like a bad joke for as long as I could remember. I was 7 during their last decent season in '92 and my only happy memory of the team was Yount's 3,000th hit, and even that I don't think I truly understood at the time. Otherwise, my only memory was that they stunk, always had, and I heard stories about some team that didn't stink one time before I was even born. When I heard people talk about the Brewers growing up I'd almost scoff at them, like "Why are you wasting time watching the Brewers? Everyone knows they are hopeless, why bother?" Almost feel bad about it now, but it's all I ever knew. The concept of a competitive Brewers team made absolutely no sense to me.

 

But then for once, they competed. I always loved baseball, and for the first time in my life I actually felt like I had a team to root for. As a lifetime sports fan, I had found a brand new passion. I listened to Uecker every day, I hung on every pitch, it was awesome.

 

Then they finished the season 26-60. At least I knew from the start what I was getting myself into...

[yfinn6]

The 2004 season is what kept my 2017 expectations in check. 2014 was the bigger disappointment for me, and I'm too lazy to look it up but it seemed like that team was much better (on paper) and still had some pieces in order to compete for the whole season. They just flat out sucked the last two months+ to barely finish above .500. I didn't get a chance to watch games or see scores at the end of 2007 so I don't remember how bad that season was.

[SomewhereInTime]

I mean I could be wrong and maybe biased but it seems the Brewers have collapse a lot more often than average around July and August or at least a lot more than the times they've gone on a late season run. Maybe some who have been around longer than I have can help me out but I can only recall four late season pushes in my time following the team (two of which were utterly meaningless because of how far back they were, one came up just short)

 

2003: 48-75 on August 17th, then they went on a ten game winning streak and 14-2 stretch to get to 62-77, they then finished the season 6-17

 

2011: That was a legendary August run to win the division

2012: 48-59 on August 5th, then went on 30-13 run to get to 78-72

2013: Just a strong September push, really did nothing more than hurt the draft position

[adambr2]

I mean I could be wrong and maybe biased but it seems the Brewers have collapse a lot more often than average around July and August or at least a lot more than the times they've gone on a late season run. Maybe some who have been around longer than I have can help me out but I can only recall four late season pushes in my time following the team (two of which were utterly meaningless because of how far back they were, one came up just short)

 

2003: 48-75 on August 17th, then they went on a ten game winning streak and 14-2 stretch to get to 62-77, they then finished the season 6-17

 

2011: That was a legendary August run to win the division

2012: 48-59 on August 5th, then went on 30-13 run to get to 78-72

2013: Just a strong September push, really did nothing more than hurt the draft position

 

2012 was pretty amazing given that they were actually sellers at the deadline and somehow crawled back to within a game and a half out of the playoffs before finally fading .

[SomewhereInTime]

yeah they were over 10 games back of 2nd WC, got it all the way down to 1.5 games. Phillies went on a crazy run too, they were even further back than the Brewers and nearly got there too.

[rickh150]

yeah they were over 10 games back of 2nd WC, got it all the way down to 1.5 games. Phillies went on a crazy run too, they were even further back than the Brewers and nearly got there too.

 

Didn't BA say he would shave his head if the Brewers got a game within the wild card?

[Jopal78]

I think the partial explanation is that in the second half of the year the bullpen starts to wear down from all the short starts. Indeed my recollection of 2004 was the rotation was thin outside Sheets and Doug Davis. Likewise this year, the rotation outside Anderson and Nelson has not frequently pitched very deep into games.

 

Also typically the competition stiffens as the contenders load up on talent in the second half. In 2014 it was the Cardinals and Pirates that both played better than .575 baseball in the second half to blow past Milwaukee.