Article: What’s The Deal With Christian Yelich?

[Sean Franken]

Those of you that follow me on Twitter know that I like to get weird. At times I’ll get weird on here. This is one of those times. Let’s analyze the Brewers career of Christian Yelich in terms of Seinfeld seasons, shall we? 

Now I will present this, for the sake of this piece, the Seinfeld season rankings are my personal rankings. I’ve seen each episode multiple times. Feel free to debate in the comments. Let’s go over his career with the Crew from worst to first.

2020
This was an odd season for all of Major League Baseball. It was short, and it was the first season played during COVID. Yelich was coming off an injury and was not himself throughout the season. Perhaps it was physical. Perhaps it was mental or perhaps... like Kramer in the Season 1 episode, “Male Unbonding” he couldn’t stop dreaming of opening a pizza place where you make your own pizza pie. 

In terms of Seinfeld, this is Season 1 all the way. It was a shortened season, and it was the worst season. There were five episodes, and the show wasn’t even close to reaching its potential. Both Yelich 2020 and Seinfeld Season 1 were nothing to write home about. So let’s move on.

2021
Yelich continued his struggles in 2021. He still wasn’t the Yelich that Brewers fans came to know and love in 2018 and 2019. I’m not going to try and analyze why he struggled. He ended the season hitting .248 with nine home runs and 51 RBI. He had an OPS of .736. In terms of Seinfeld seasons, this would be Season 2. The show was not yet the show fans would come to know and love. 

Yelich did show glimpses during this season, just as Seinfeld Season 2 showed glimpses. “The Chinese Restaurant” was a standout in an otherwise non-eventful season. To Yelich’s credit, he never was called Cartwright by a PA announcer. Additionally, as far as I know, he never got a busboy fired like George did in “The Busboy” 

2018
The Brewers' career of Christian Yelich started out with a bang. It really is hard to believe, knowing what we know now, that there were those who questioned the Crew giving up Lewis Brinson. Yelich hit .326 with an OPS of 1.000. He had 36 HRs and 110 RBI. The Crew came just short of reaching the World Series. Yelich’s season was brilliant, just like Seinfeld Season 5.

Season 5 of Seinfeld gave us MVP episodes such as “The Puffy Shirt”, “The Non-Fat Yogurt” and “The Stall." Yelich oozed coolness like Tony did in “The Stall”. George would’ve idolized Yelich much like he idolized Tony. But Yelich was no mimbo. Season 5 was where Seinfeld hit its stride. It was solid from start to finish, much like Yelich was in his MVP season. As a side note: Season 5 of Seinfeld began as John Jaha was finishing his first full season with the Brewers.

2019
It was hard to imagine that Yelich could top his brilliance of the 2018 season, but he did. In 2019, he hit .329 with 44 homers and 97 RBI. He had an OPS of 1.100 and should have won the MVP. Even though he didn’t, I’d argue that this was his best season with the Crew, just as I’d argue that Season 7 was the best season of Seinfeld. 

Season 7 was Larry David’s last at the helm. It contained the George and Susan wedding storyline. Coincidentally, just as this season did not end well for Susan, the 2019 season did not end well for Yelich. During the season though, Yeli was an artist at the plate, much like “The Soup Nazi” was an artist at making soup. He disposed of baseballs like Jerry disposed of his short-lived friendship with “The Pool Guy”. He continued to steal the hearts of Brewers fans like Jerry stealing a marble rye from an old lady. 

So where will Yelich’s 2022 season end up in Seinfeld lore? Time will tell. But you can be sure that Christian Yelich, much like Little Jerry Seinfeld, doesn’t take a dive for anyone. If I had to guess, I’d say Yelich gets hot and yada yada yada, the Brewers win the World Series.

What do you think? How will Yelich do, what are your favorite Seinfeld episodes or seasons, and what do you think of the Baseball Season/Seinfeld Season comps? Leave your COMMENTS below. 

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