Brewers' Surprising Split, Van Dyke's Rise, and Packers' Season Breakdown

Can the Milwaukee Brewers really stand toe-to-toe with the Los Angeles Dodgers? Join me on Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag as we break down the thrilling series split that left fans on the edge of their seats. I’ll share my initial skepticism and how the Brewers defied expectations in the final two games. Then, we pivot to the Wisconsin Badgers, where Tyler Van Dyke’s rise as the starting quarterback caught everyone’s attention. Listen to Phil Longo’s insights on what makes Van Dyke the ideal choice over Braden Locke, from his sharp decision-making to his impressive arm strength and mobility. We’ll also touch on the Green Bay Packers’ preseason preparations and their quiet week, setting the stage for what’s ahead.

Next, we dive into predictions for the Green Bay Packers' upcoming season, providing a game-by-game analysis that will keep you hooked. From tough matchups against powerhouses like the Eagles, Rams, and 49ers to pivotal games against the Colts, Texans, and Bears, I’ll walk you through potential wins and losses. I argue that despite some analysts projecting a 7-10 record, the Packers are poised to surpass those expectations. With Jordan Love's development and a fortified defense under Coach Jeff Hafley, the Packers have the tools for a promising season. Tune in for an optimistic yet realistic take on the Packers' path to success and stay ahead of the game with our detailed breakdown.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Thank you how we doing everybody and welcome in to Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host. Trage. It is Friday. Finally, it is Friday, a fantastic Friday here in the great state of Wisconsin, or wherever you are tuning in today. I hope it is fantastic there. Hopefully, hopefully.

Speaker 1: 1:00

You didn't get a lot of rain last night or yesterday. Wherever you were, it just seemed it just rained all day long. Couldn't get a lot of rain last night or yesterday. Wherever you were, it just seemed to it just rained all day long, couldn't get rid of it. It's like you know, it was making up for the week without rain. It had to make up for it there in one day. It was fantastic. It was fantastic right.

Speaker 1: 1:16

But hey, lots of good things happened yesterday. The big one, the big one the Brewers split the series with them dodgers. That was massive. I honestly, the way that the series started, I had my doubts. I'll be honest with you. I had my doubts about this team being able to split this series. They I mean it was an awesome series, awesome series. To watch those final two games.

Speaker 1: 1:43

I want to get into a little bit of the box scores today. Look at those games a little bit. I want to look into the Badgers a little bit and also Packer. A little bit of Packer talk, as they got a preseason game coming up this weekend, but not a whole lot happening with the Packers over the last couple days. Badgers, I mean getting ready for the regular season to kick off, but outside of that not a lot happened. A lot of brewer talk today, though a lot of brewer talk today. So right away I want to look at the badger talk for the day and getting into a little bit more of what longo, what longo had to say about his quarterback there in tyler van dyke and also the battle that he had with Braden Locke.

Speaker 1: 2:24

We talked about it a little bit yesterday there as Tyler Van Dyke was named Wisconsin's starting quarterback for this upcoming season. It was a tight battle with Braden Locke and talked about it a little bit there yesterday. But now we saw I mean Longo had talked about it I didn't get into much of what Longo had to say. I want to get into what Longo had to say, what really were some of the deciding factors in there of what helped them or made them choose Tyler Van Dyke over Braden Locke and what to look for here in Tyler Van Dyke in this upcoming season because there's I mean, you look at it on paper, you look at his first season with Miami a lot to like Last season, a little bit down. But you're hoping that he can kind of replicate what he was doing at Miami Now with maybe a little bit better of a receiving core, maybe a little bit better of a backfield and an offensive line that benefits him and helps him progress from what we've seen in the past for him even get better here in Madison.

Speaker 1: 3:26

So, like I mentioned, longo came out and he said I think Tyler probably is pretty close mentally to Locke. He's where we would like him to be. You always want to be better. I don't like any mistakes ever every day. That's our goal is to be perfect mentally, because it's hard to uh be perfect physically.

Speaker 1: 3:47

I think probably the big separator is the bigger arm. He probably wins and drives the ball better into the small holes. Both can throw the deep ball. Well, there's probably a greater range with tyler and then he has done an absolute heck of a job running the football and extending plays when he needs to be. Longo was just explaining that after. You know, basically when Tyler Van Dyke first came in. He was explaining that with his comparison there to Braden Locke there, listening to what he had to say about Van Dyke being a pocket passer, because a lot of people like to say that he's a pocket passer, so Longo said. He said they call him the prototypical pocket quarterback and I don't necessarily think that's what he is. He's shown that he can extend plays with his legs and that was another key factor in the decision. Longo also shared three key traits he looks for in quarterbacks are decision-making, a big arm and mobility, and he feels like Wisconsin has all that right now with Van Dyke leading the offense there.

Speaker 1: 4:52

So I read that out of an article there. I saw it earlier on Athlon Sports, I believe it was by Dylan Graff. He's a Badgers beat reporter there. So hearing that you look at this offense for the Badgers beat reporter there, so hearing that you know you look at this offense for the Badgers and I talked about it I believe last week. There they had mentioned the Badgers were looking at an option. They're going to have option plays included into that offense and a lot of people were skeptical right away because they're looking at everything about Tyler Van Dyke and they're sitting there like how can we run this optional offense with a pocket passer? It just doesn't make sense. Right You're talking about you're going to run an optional offense with, let's just say, kirk Cousins or I mean Tom Brady, right, you're not running options for those styles of quarterbacks. So a lot of people out there were skeptical right away. They're like well, how is that going to work? You know you don't expect a pocket passer to really be able to step out and use his legs productively, right? You know you look at traditional pocket passers over the years and they can extend plays, they can step out of the pocket if they have to make a little bit happen with their legs, but they're not your prototypical runner.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Mordecai was an option quarterback. Watching Mordecai, I thought he could have been in more of an option system. Watching Mordecai, I thought he could have been in more of an option system. A little bit of pass here and there, but more of an option, an option-heavy offense between him and Braylon Allen. I really think that would have been beneficial to the Badgers last season to have gone to that. Now, when Braylon Lock stepped in there, you lost that little bit of a step because Braylon Lock isn't him. That isn't the way that Braylon Lock plays the game. He is mobile, he can get around a little bit, but he's not speedy. He's not speedy, he's not that dynamic with his legs. Van Dyke is probably a little bit of a step up. I would say you look at Locke, you look at Mordecai, what he was last season. I would say Van Dyke is closer to Mordecai than he is to Locke. But I would say Van Dyke is not quite what we saw with Mordecai last year.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Right, mordecai was a pocket collapsed. He was gone kind of thing, and I thought he honestly took off a little too soon at times for me watching Mordecai play last year. He didn't let the play develop. I thought he tried to escape faster than what he should have. I thought he had time. He had some, some instances where I'm remembering or thinking about it here. He had some moments where it's like just step up, just step up in the pocket.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Yeah, it sounds easier said than done, right, because we're not standing there watching the the um pass rush, that's coming in, right, but it just seemed like in those situations he did have a little bit of but you know, looking at Van Dyke, if he can be, I'm not asking him to be like Lamar Jackson or what Jaden Daniels was for LSU. You know, I'm asking him to be just a almost like a better armed version of JJ McCarthy. Right, mccarthy had a good arm. I'm not going to say McCarthy didn't have a good arm, but McCarthy wasn't really relied on for his arm. It was more or less get the ball to the playmakers and let the playmakers do their thing, right. You know, you remember that national championship. He really didn't have to do that much, right, and that was largely due to his running game was just, I mean, looking at Corum, go in that game. There was nothing Washington could do about that run game for Michigan.

Speaker 1: 8:37

But I just look at it and I say, okay, we're in this style of offense now, the dairy rate offense, as we call it. Bryson Green has the ability to blow the top off of defense. Will Pauling is your very good wide receiver, right, looking to improve on what was already a very good season last year, looking to even improve on that. And then Vinny Anthony's got some downright speed in the wide receiver room there. And then you look at the backfield with Malusi in there. You know, you're just asking Van Dyke to make the throws that are there. You want him just to make the throws that are there and let everything else develop. And if it's not there, that's where this option factor is coming in. For Wisconsin now is with the ability to get out. Now they have that option that's going to keep defenses on their toes. That's going to keep the defense on their toes.

Speaker 1: 9:30

So, hearing what Longo had to say, the big arm, you know he wants, like he said, he wants the big arm. He wants the big arm. He wants them to be mobile, wants them to have the ability to get out of the pocket there and he also wants decision-making skills out of his quarterback. So if Van Dyke, like I said, make the throws that are there, right, don't try to force it. Force it into spots, right, easier said than done, but forcing it into spots I thought Mordecai had a couple of throws last season where ill-advised, forcing it into situations where he didn't have to force it and utilizing if the Badgers utilize Malusi and this dynamic backfield that I believe they're going to have with these freshmen coming in and the experience that they already have, a safe, methodical air it out a little bit offense with a little bit of an option in there. I like the sound of that. I like the sound of that. So I like what longo had to say there and I and it really bodes well for wisconsin having that feeling about van dyke right now where it's like this guy is a good decision maker, he has the, the big arm, he has the accuracy throwing it deep and he also has the ability to get out of the pocket and make things happen with his legs. You love to hear that there. So just a little bit about Wisconsin there. I just saw that article yesterday and just wanted to mention it here on the show because I thought that was. I mean, I thought that was interesting to hear from Longo about the quarterback battle and kind of what was the decision making that happened behind it there. So, like we all know, van Dyke starting for Wisconsin there and we get a little bit more news why and how it kind of transpired and got to that point there. So with that, just getting into the Packers here a little bit today, I want to get into the Packers I want to talk about. You know they got this game coming up this weekend here against the Broncos Heading out there right now. They're going to be in Denver today here for a joint practice and then they'll be taking them on coming up. That will be, I believe that is, on Sunday. They'll be taking on the Broncos on Sunday. So they're going to have a joint practice before that there with the Broncos.

Speaker 1: 11:49

Don't expect to see most of the starters. Like we know, lucas Van Ness will be out there. I don't, you know, they haven't really said who else is going to for sure play, but I would expect very little in the. I wouldn't expect probably Jordan Morgan to return there, valentine. I wouldn't expect probably Jordan Morgan to return there, valentine. I wouldn't expect yet Kraft. I wouldn't expect. I mean I'm not expecting many of the starters in this one. All I've heard so far is Lucas Van Ness will get to play in that game there. So I mean, if you're expecting, if you're going into this game, expecting to see a lot of the starters, I would check that. I'm not heavy, I'm not for sure, but I am not expecting to see a lot of the starters out there. So you know, looking at the Packers, just a little bit of an update on their remaining schedule here, heading down the stretch, we will see a walk-through practice like we saw today or yesterday there that see a walk-through practice like we saw today. That or yesterday there that was the walk-through practice. Friday today here they're gonna have that joint practice. Sunday they're gonna have the preseason game. Next tuesday will be the last open practice, I believe, for green bay, and then they'll have a joint practice with baltimore on thursday, a preseason game with baltimore on saturday, and then the deadline for the 53-man roster will be on August 27th. That'll be that Tuesday, and then the practice squad formation begins on August 28th. There so a little bit of the upcoming schedule to pay attention to there.

Speaker 1: 13:17

If you are a Green Bay Packer fan, so I wanted to, I saw a lot of people. You are a Green Bay Packer fan, so I wanted to. I saw a lot of people. They were talking about Green Bay and they're over under for the season and I believe they're over under, if I'm not mistaken, was like nine and a half. It was like nine and a half, eight and a half, nine and a half, somewhere right there.

Speaker 1: 13:41

You know, I look at this schedule for Green Bay and I got to myself thinking I was like okay, let's, let's go through it, let's see who we think the Packers can beat, who we think is going to be some close games, what we think the record will be for the Green Bay Packers. So right away I look at this Eagles game week one. Eagles game week one. That's going to be a tough game in Brazil. Packers man, I mean that's going to be a rough one. I'm going to say that's going to be a tough game. I think the Packers can win that game. I just got that bad feeling about that game.

Speaker 1: 14:19

I'm going to take an 0-1 start for Green Bay. I'm going to take an 0-1 start there but I think they'll bounce back. I think they'll beat the Colts week two. I think they'll beat the Titans week three. Vikings week four. At Lambeau. The Vikings always seem to play the Packers tough, especially right off the bat. But I'm going to take the Packers with a win there for a 3-1 start off the bat. But I'm going to take the Packers with a win there for a 3-1 start. The Rams will be tough. The Rams will be really tough on the road. I think the Packers will lose that game, but I think they'll bounce back. They'll beat the Cardinals and I think, because the game against Houston's at home, I think they will win that game against Houston. I got that feeling they will win that game against Houston.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Jaguars on the road. I feel like the Jaguars are still behind. I think they will win that game. I think they will win the game against the Lions at home. The Bears on the road will be tough. The Bears on the road will be tough. I'm going to skip that game for a second. I'm going to skip that game. 49ers at home. I'm going to take a loss to the 49ers at home but a win against the Dolphins at home, that following week, lions at Detroit. I think that's going to be a loss. I'm going to take a loss there. I think they do travel to Seattle and win that game, and I think they will. They will beat the Saints. I think they'll go to Minnesota and win that game and then that game against the Bears I feel like is a bounce back win, because I think they will lose that game to the Bears at Chicago. I just got that gut feeling that the Bears are pulling out against Green Bay. I got that gut feeling they'll pull one out against Green Bay.

Speaker 1: 16:01

I have Green Bay pegged for about five, five or six losses. I could see five or six losses on this schedule. The Houston one is up in the air for me. I think the Houston one's up in the air. I think the Colts game could be up in the air too. I think the Colts game could be up in the air and I think that Houston game could be up in the air for me. I'll be honest with you. I think I think they could be anywhere from seven losses. I think they could be in that seven loss range. I think anywhere from five to seven losses.

Speaker 1: 16:35

I could see the Packers pegged as this season I think their toughest games, like I said, the Eagles, I think the Colts could be. I think the Colts are very underrated going into this next season. The Rams, sean McVay, always tough, so I got them being a tough matchup. I have them losing that game at LA, but I think they can win that game right. I, the Packers, I believe, will be they. They aren't. They aren't as highly talked about by a lot of analysts as I think they'll be this season. I think they have the ability to win this schedule. I just there's some games in here the one against the Eagles, the Rams, the Colts, the Texans, and then after that that game at Chicago, the 49ers at home because the 49ers always seem to have the Packers number. Seattle at Seattle could be a rough one. That could be a rough one to watch there and then the Lions at the Lions. I think that'll be a tough one there.

Speaker 1: 17:30

I see the Packers between five and probably seven losses. But I'm going to trend up. I'm going to go in my five range, like I originally said there, but I could see it anywhere in that five to seven range. I don't think they drop down to seven and 10, like some analysts have said, seven and 10 seems crazy for the Green Bay Packers, especially with this receiving core with Jordan Love. I mean Jordan Love continues that success from last season there to end the year. And then you add that with a young, developing receiving core that I think is only going to get better and a defense that I think is going to be tremendously better under Halfley. I mean it's super hard, unless you're a Bears fan or an NFC North outside of Green Bay fan, to completely diss on this Packers team. I think they've done a lot right and I think they have a lot going for this team right now. So right now I'm sitting in that 5-7 loss range. I'm sitting in that 5-7 loss game. If it is I can't remember now, I just saw it earlier today If it was nine and a half, if it was eight and a half there, I think they cover the spread. I think they cover the spread. I think they do. I think they're over nine and a half. I really do. I really do think they'll be over nine and a half, definitely over eight and a half, but I think they'll definitely be over nine and a half too. I really do. I think they'll be in that 10 to 12 win range. I could see them in there. If they don't, you know and 10 wins probably doesn't win you the nfc north. If they don't win the north, they're a wild card team. Right, I could see them in the wild card race. Winning the division is going to be tough. Right now. You got to deal with the bears, who have a pretty lineup. Right, it's pretty. Now we got to see it right, you can put all the pieces. This is, you know. A lot of people are high up in the Bears and that's fine. The Bears have put a lot of talent together Defensive side of the ball, offensive side of the ball. The left side of the offensive line sucks. The right side of the offensive line is good. I am not completely not saying that the Bears couldn't be something. What I'm saying is, sometimes you can put together the prettiest roster in the world Phoenix Suns you can put together a pretty roster with Bradley Beal and Devin Booker and Kevin Durant right, you can throw this pretty roster together Doesn't mean it's going to work right. You can throw this pretty roster together Doesn't mean it's going to work right. I mean, it seems like all these NBA analogies I'm going to give you are going to be involving Kevin Durant. But the Brooklyn Nets now, injury did bar that team. But Kyrie, james Harden, kevin Durant didn't work out right. Oklahoma City I believe they tried to build a little bit of a super team down there. Russ and PG3. I mean PG13, paul George I can't remember his nickname off the top of my head now, but you throw together, you have these super teams right. Ask the Dodgers in baseball or the Yankees in baseball, right, how these super teams work. Sometimes you can throw together all the pieces in the world, all the star power in the world. It doesn't always lead to championships. Plain and simple. Plain and simple. You can throw the best roster together. You possibly can, but if it doesn't mesh, if the offensive line doesn't mesh, if the wide receiving core can't get on the same page as the quarterback, if the quarterback can't get on the same page as everybody else, if the head coach stinks, right, look at the Bears organization. They haven't been a good organization in a long time. Right, and you throw this money-making quarterback into a bad organization, it could still fail. You could throw Patch Mahomes into a bad situation. With bad head coaching, bad play calling, bad decision making, bad, everything. They could find a way to make it fail. Right Now it doesn't seem like that because Patrick Mahomes makes the most out of everything he's got right. But I'm just saying, end of the day, you can have a pretty lineup, you can have the prettiest lineup in the world. It doesn't always work. I'm not going to say that the Chicago Bears cannot be something this year, because I definitely think they could. I definitely think they could if Caleb Williams pans out to be the man that they think he is right and DJ Moore and Keenan Allen stays healthy and Roma Dunzey ends up developing into this top wide receiver that a lot of people like to make him out to be right. Right, they're saying that he's just as good as Malik neighbors and he's just as good as this and he's just as good as that. Okay, I think Roman Doonday is a very good receiver. Do I think he is bodes and you know, leaps ahead of Marvin Harrison? I don't think so. Right, I don't think so. I think Roman Doonday can be a very good receiver, but in what system? Would Brock Purdy succeed with Iberfalus and the Bears? I don't know about that one. I truthfully don't know about that one. Would Jordan Love succeed with Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys? Probably not. Sometimes players need certain coaches, they need certain play calling, they need to be in a certain style. Now, with Lincoln Riley, caleb Williams was in more of a pro set offense or pro formation, whatever you want to call it. So maybe that is going to be the thing that jumpstarts him and gets him right in, right in and fluid and ready to go. But what I'm seeing, what I'm saying, is that it's a long season and sometimes it starts out bad. Look at the Packers. Sometimes it starts out cold, sometimes it gets better. Sometimes it starts out cold and it gets worse. Right, it's a wait and see. With the Chicago Bears, it's a wait and see Could they be good? Yes, could they be good? Yes. But I think right now, if I look at the NFC North, my two proven teams, my two teams that I feel like I feel the best about if I was an outside fan looking in, if I was a betting man Green Bay, the Lions, those are my two, if I was a betting man, I'm thinking about these two teams. The Bears could be a sneaky one to some people. They won't be. To others they will be. But if I you know to wrap it up there with the Packers covering the spread for the over, do I think there'll be over or under their predicted win total? I think there'll be over. I think there'll be over. If it's by game, if it's by two, I think there'll be over. Is that's going to be an undefeated season? This isn't going to be a two loss season. I'm not going to lie. I think they are 12 and five. That would be 13, and four would be the final record If they, if they finished with four losses, I could see them sitting in that range too. But I seriously think they will be in that 10 to 12 range. I think they will be. That's where I have the Packers pegged for this upcoming season here. So I also saw I don't know who runs the page sideline sources on instagram, but there's a video going around. It's quay walker and they're working with him with a hand-eye coordination drill where they're covering his helmet with a towel and they throw the ball and then they, you know, move the towel and he's got to try and adjust, catch the ball. And this reporter, whoever it is, from um sideline sources they go this is next level. And they said the packers wide receiver drill is intense. I was just looking at. I was like did one of the receivers take the number seven jersey? And I'm really looking at at that. I'm like, hold on, I've seen this video. So I looked into it more and I was like that's Quay Walker. And you could tell it looked like Quay Walker. But you know, my my guessing, guessing got the best of me. So then I was thinking about it even more. I'm like that's Quay Walker. I'm like man, oh man, you're going to post a video. At least get your facts right. Right, at least get your facts right. And at least be semi. You know in tune to at least who's in the video, right? So at least I got the Packers Right. At least I got the Packers Right when they said the Packers were the ones doing it. But I mean that was a cool. It was cool to see that too. It was cool balls thrown, you get your. I mean they flip the towel up and then you just got to adjust to where the ball is. I thought that was a interesting and very fascinating drill to look at there, and I mean surprising how good some of these guys are in that. In that drill I feel like the first ball would hit me right in the head. I seriously do. I think the first ball would hit me right in the head. I wouldn't know what to do and then I'd be like, okay, okay, dial back in here we go. Face mask again. Right, I just get in the face mask a couple of times. I'd be like, all right, I'm done with this. Let's get to some sponsors of the show here quick before we get into a little bit of brewer talk for the day First Game Day Supply in Onalaska. Do you have a sports club or team? Are you looking for some sweet custom uniforms or apparel? Check out the awesome crew at Game Day Supply in Onalaska to help your team get the sweetest gear. Find them on Facebook at Game Day Supply or online at gamedaysupplynet. Also, pittsville Farm and Home Center. At the store they serve you anything from hydraulic hoses to red roses. Stop in and see the awesome crew at Pittsville Farm and Home Center in Pittsville, wisconsin. Marshfield Motor Speedways, located just three miles outside of Marshfield on County Road H. Get down there. This summer you got tons of family fun for all ages Great food, great drinks, great atmosphere. Nothing better than a great summer day or night down at the track there. 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Jackson Churio has another, another dynamic moment, and I'm going to be honest with you, jackson Churio, not sitting on an all-star or not an all-star, but sitting on the rookie of the year talk line is absolutely a crime. It absolutely irritates me and just completely drives me insane. Jackson Churio has been unreal since I believe I was just going to pull up that stat I had before here. But he is one of six players in MLB history with 15 plus home runs, 15 plus stolen bases at the age of 20 and 157 days. Got to make sure you add that in there. And then also Jackson Churio, over his last 30 games, is hitting .320 with 18 RBIs and six home runs .320. He's got a slugging of 528, and he's got an on-base percentage of 361 over that stretch. I don't know what else you have to do to at least just get your name talked about in that same category, because all we hear is Paul Skeens, paul Skeens, this, paul Skeens, that, Paul Skeens, everything in between. Paul Skeens has been fantastic. Don't get me wrong. Paul Skeens has been nothing but fantastic for the Pirates this season. I will be the first to admit I was not. You know, when he first came up, then they put him in the all-star game and I wasn't so. I wasn't so about that and everything like that. But Paul Skeens has been unreal for the Pirates. But what Jackson Turio has done for the Brewers keeping them afloat in the first because when I say he's kept them afloat he has been a big reason why the Brewers are still in first place in the NL Central. He has a massive reason in that Christian Jelic went out with an injury and Jackson Turio stepped in essentially saying don't worry guys, I know Jelic is out, I know he was having one of those years. Right, we'll be fine, we'll be fine and just steps up in the biggest way for the brewers when they need it. You look at the dodgers in game two. He has that big two-run home run early on. You look at this uh game late in this one a late inning, seventh inning, go ahead. Rbi single goes two for three on that game with in a total. There he is checking every box that you could possibly want. He's checking the boxes along the way for this rookie of the year conversation. Now am I saying that Paul Skeens isn't checking boxes? No, paul Skeens is definitely checking some boxes right now. What I'm saying is end of the day. If you aren't talking about Jackson Churro or Jackson Churro for any kind of Rookie of the Year award conversation. You're not watching, you're not seeing, you're not understanding or looking at the. If you're watching on MLB Network, if you're watching anywhere, if they're not talking about it, they're insane. I guess I don't watch MLB Network enough to know. But if you're not seeing this, you need to expand and maybe look in a new horizon of baseball. Don't go one dimensional right. Paul Skeen's this, paul Skeen's that. Look around, right, look around, because this guy, this guy, jackson Turio, is the real deal, is the real deal. I was just about to the point where I was sending him down to AAA when he was struggling, when they needed offense. I was just about there and then he turned it on and I was no, this is Jackson Turiel. This is him. Because if you really look at him over his years and time in the Brewers organization, every level that he's been to, he started slow, he started slow, he started slow and it was like, okay, we're waiting on this high level, highly talked about, highly ranked prospect to be that next, that guy at the next level. Right, we've been waiting. So then you see it at double a and you're like a real slow start. Where's the guy that was at A? And then all of a sudden he turns it on right and then he gets up to triple. A Same thing, and now he's up in the bigs Same thing. Started a little bit slow, had some flashes, but started slow, got the confidence, got the mentality that, hey, I can do this at the next level. Now we're seeing Jackson Churrio, full spectrum, we're seeing the whole thing right now. Defensively, there's some room for improvement, right. I feel like if you had one knock on Jackson Turio's game right now, it would be on the defensive side. He makes the safe plays, right, he makes the safe plays, but he's not the guy to bail out. He's not the guy who has the instinct out there. Now you're talking about a guy who, yes, he can play center field, right, he naturally was playing center field, but he's a natural shortstop, right. So getting up to the bigs and judging fly balls at the big league level probably not that easy, right? So Jackson Churio not being talked about for rookie of the year definitely irritates me. That definitely irritates me. So I just a little I mean got off topic there a little bit, but it was one of my talking points of the day was Jackson Sherrill not in the talks for rookie of the year is a crime. It is a crime and I want to know who's making these lists and who's going to be the person who puts up the candidates, because I'm going to find them and I'm going to send them a very not nice worded letter. Let's go with that. Let's go with that. Let's go with that. I probably won't I'm not ambitious enough for that but maybe I'll send him a voice message. I'll send him a voice message, I'll find his number and I'll send him a voice message there. But I mean looking at it as a whole in this game. Terang has a hit in this one, churrio with two hits, bow Bowers with that big home run in this one. And Brewers find a way right. Frankie Montes, I'm going to tell you this zero earned runs, right, remember that zero earned runs. He did have three runs on his ledger, but zero earned runs. The way that he battled for those last couple innings, that he was in there because his pitch count was up, what 70s? I mean ridiculous numbers in the third inning, and it was like Frankie's going to be done here. No-transcript. He might not be Paul Skeens, he might not be Zach Wheeler, he might not be Prime Justin Verlander right, but he's a gamer. I will say that about Frankie Montes. If I want a pitcher who I know is going to go to battle for me, frankie's that guy. He battles, he battles. Now the thing that's going to hurt Frankie and hurts Freddie and hurts Colin Ray, at times hurts the Brewers pitching staff as a whole, is pitch counts get high, because they do get in a lot of battles. Right, pitch counts for the Brewers are an issue the starters why they get limited at times right to lesser innings with good performances. Their pitch counts at 90 pitches going into the fifth inning it's like what are you going to do now? Right, so Frankie needs to get that pitch count a little bit better. But all in all, this performance by Frankie, he battled, he battled man and you got to love that. You got to love that. I mean not his greatest stuff, not his greatest performance. He had the three walks. There was issues early on right Dodgers got hung three on him there in the top of the first, but all in all he battled in this one. You got to respect that. You got to respect that. Mears had a good outing in this one. Koenig did give up a run in this outing. But Pajams looked good. Something that I've been waiting to say and waiting to see consistently is yo, all pie-ups look good, pie-ups look good in this outing, pie-ups look very good. And then Devin Williams. I'm going to tell you this right now between the two games that Devin Williams came into, devin Williams looks like Devin Williams and it has me excited. This guy is pumping gas. The change-ups there, I mean everything about Devin Williams. The fire, everything like that is there and I love that. I love having that back in the back end of my bullpen because guess what, when you get to the ninth inning, you feel good, he was solid. I'm not going to ever say that Trevor McGill did not do his best and give us his best stuff, the best that he could in his I mean upgraded role to the closer. But having Devin Williams back out there, that's like added insurance. That's like give me a one run lead, give me a five to four lead here against the Dodgers and get it to me in the ninth and you will be sitting pretty. And that is exactly what happened in this game. And Devin Williams was once again Devin Williams. He faced the meat of that order. We're talking Shoya Otani. We're talking Freddie Freeman, we're talking Mookie. Right, he went through the heart of that lineup One, two, three and said see you later. That is Devin Williams, that is what you love, that is what you wanted to see Devin Williams looking good out there as a whole. Five guys left on base, some guys left on early on in this one and then runners in scoring position 3-10 in this game for the Brewers. Looking at game, the deciding one in this series, series split game. Here the Brewers win that one 6-4, out hit by the Dodgers 10-7. Brewers jump out early with that 3-0 lead. The two-run shot by Churrio, the solo shot by Contreras who don't look now. Don't look now, folks, if you are not a Brewer fan. But yeah, william Contris is starting to feel it again. Last seven games, three home runs, four rbi, seven hits. He's got a 280 average, 286 over the last 15. Don't look now. But william contraris, since that calendar flip past the all-star game, is starting to feel himself again. So great to see see William Contreras stepping up at the plate there. A 2-for-4 performance for him in this one. Churrio, 2-for-4 in this game here. Adamas with that big go-ahead RBI, single late in this one. Tyler Black, though he does not record a hit, comes up with a massive RBI. A little bit of insurance there to make it 6-4 right in this one. Outside of that, not a whole lot of hitting for the Brewers Terang 2-3, churrio 2-4, contreras 2-4, adamas with that hit. Outside of that, zeroes across the board for the Brewers. In this one here 3-11, with runners in scoring position and five guys left on base. In this one here, tobias Myers was Tobias Myers. He has been fantastic for the Brewers. He has been fantastic I think I say it every time Five and two-thirds, eight hits, two earned runs, one walk, one strikeout. Tobias Myers, you look at the eight hits you say, well, it wasn't a great day. It wasn't a great day. But just like I was talking about with Frankie Montes, this dude walks out there and he does not fear anybody, right, he did not fear the Dodgers. What I talked about after games one and two of this series for the Brewers was it seemed like they fear the Dodgers Right. When they see the Dodgers walk in the room they're like, oh boy, here's the Dodgers. Right, the big bad Dodgers are coming to town. Tobias Myers walked out there and said, ok, another start, let's give our best stuff, right. Eight hits, not great. Two earned runs, two earned runs against the Dodgers. Four runs in total, but two earned runs against the Dodgers, I'm not going to bat an eye at that. I'm not going to bat an eye at that. I mean, that's a solid day at the office when you're facing a lineup that includes the likes of Shoei Otani, freddie Freeman, will Smith. I mean you go through this lineup. It's like geez Louise, where do they? I mean it's money, money, money, money galore, like holy crap. Tobias Meyer's been fantastic. I'm going to be honest with you. If you ask me, right now Brewers are in a do or die playoff game. Who do I want to have the ball on the mound in that game? It's Tobias Myers. A lot of people would say Fastball Freddy. A lot of people would say Colin Ray, I got Tobias Myers. This dude is he's not Corbin Burns, he's not Brandon Woodruff. Those two I feel like they speaking of gamers, brandon Woodruff, but those two are like. Those two can be lights out. Tobias Myers can be lights out. I'm not going to lie. Tobias Myers can be lights out. But what gets me with and I'm not going to say as much Burns as I'm going to say Woodruff. Woodruff is fearless. Woodruff is fearless. He doesn't care who you are, he's going to pitch to you, right? Tobias Myers is that same exact way. He is fearless. Now that could get him into trouble at times, but to me I love that. Tobias myers for me right now been pitching great for the brewers. Elvis baguero he did have a third of an inning there. Two hits and zeros across the board. Brian hudson two innings, he actually picked up the win in this one two innings and two strikeouts. And then devin williams shuts the door with two strikeouts in this one, striking out Shohei Otani to end it. And I thought that was just like almost like a mic drop on this series. That was like your mic drop of the series was like, yep, we got him, we got him. We split the series. Don't worry about us, don't worry about us, we're fine. We're fine. We can play with the big dogs, right? I talked about it the other day when I was comparing the Brewers and the Dodgers to each other and I said can the Brewers catch the Dodgers? Are they even as good as the Dodgers? Blah, blah, blah. And I said, starting pitching Ziffy for both teams, lineup to lineup. I think the Dodgers have more star power, but the Brewers have the ability to put up runs with anybody. I think they do, right, you got your boppers in there. You have your big RBI guys Adamas, contreras, hoskins, right, sanchez when he's playing, sanchez can be a big hitter, right. And then you have your speed. You have your on-base guys Sal, terang, mitchell, churrio who is turning into being an RBI guy too right. Churrio is becoming that guy too. You have the pieces in this lineup to be able to compete in those series. It's just like it's a mentality thing. It's not the big bad Dodgers, it's the we can beat this team. This pitching staff isn't that good. I thought, you know, honestly, games one and two, kershaw and Gavin Stone pitched well. I thought they left pitches over the plate that the Brewers just didn't capitalize on. Second time around or in the playoffs, brewers faced those same opponents, our same pitchers. Maybe the script flips. Maybe the script flips. Maybe seeing these guys for the first time or, you know, seeing them for the first time in a while now you see them a little bit later could change the outcome of that one. So, brewers, I just am excited. I'm excited after watching the end of this series here, to see what they can do against the Cleveland Guardians. Coming up this weekend here that is going to be a massive heavy-hitting battle at American Family Field. Coming up this weekend here we're going to see Savalli taking on Williams in Game 1. Williams coming in this one, two and four with a 4.38 ERA. Brewers got to capitalize game one there against an iffy starter. Looking at game two of the series there on Saturday Beebe has been fantastic for Cleveland, 10 and four with 3.39 ERA. Freddy Peralta will square off with them seven and seven with that 4.11 era. And then on sunday we will see lively, who has been good for cleveland, 10 and 7 with 3.71 era. He'll be taken on colin ray, who is 10 and 4 with a 3.72 era. Their massive series coming up this weekend for the brewers taking on this Guardians team. Star power right, some star power for both teams heading into the series. Stephen Kwan has been great for them there. Jose Ramirez has been great this season. Brewers battling back with Contreras right, contreras has been great for the Brewers. I mean you can look around the Brewers lineup and figure out who you want to put next, but I'd put Jackson Churrio in that next there. But a lot of good star power in this series. Two heavy hitters, top teams in their division, squaring off this weekend at American Family Field. Nothing better, nothing better than a heavyweight battle there. So, last but not least, I wanted to avoid this until last year. The injury report. Let's get to the injury report here. And well, yesterday night we did not get the greatest news, but something that I kind of expected was coming at some point, and that was a statement from christian yelich. It's kind of been hush hush, not a whole lot been talked about finally comes out. So Christian Yelich, he put out a video. I'm not going to repeat the whole video, I'm just going to read what he had to say. After careful consideration and consultation with medical personnel, I have decided to undergo season-ending back surgery. I ultimately felt it was for my best interest of myself and the Brewers to have surgery with the expectation of being back at 100% for next season. We have a very special team here and it will be disappointing not to be able to contribute on the field down the stretch. However, I have the utmost confidence in my teammates and will be cheering them on with all of you, the great fans of Milwaukee. Thank you for all your support. Go, brewers. It sucks, it really does. But I was expecting it, I really was. It has almost been too hush-hush for me to expect. You know, there was no. Like we're going to try this. There was no. We're going to try that. There was no. Christian Yelich is going to try it out doing this. Nothing, nothing was reported for the longest time. It was like I was almost waiting for that statement to come out, and if it did, it was like crap, right. But like he said, I mean this Brewers team, jackson Churrio, like I talked about earlier there has come into the fold. If Mitchell can get going, sal keeps hitting like he is. You get Blake Perkins back. I'm not fearing the outfield, right, I'm not fearing the outfield. What we need to see is the Brewers starting pitching down the stretch here. Start to come into its own. Freddy Peralta start to find his stuff and start to be a little bit better there. Locating pitches, getting into finding a way to get quicker innings right, finding a way to get quicker innings. You get all those kinds of intangibles. You get some guys healthy. I just saw Trevor McGill and Anoli Paredes will be both, I believe, down there with high A McGill on the injured list with a low back injury, scheduled a pitch for high A yesterday there, and then it looks like Paredes will be set to follow that outing for the Timber Riders on Friday. So if you're around the Timber Riders area, you saw McGill and Paredes down there. But those are two, two huge bullpen arms to get back there that only make that bullpen that much better down the stretch. So then it's leaning on starting pitching, then it's leaning on the offense, getting hot and staying hot down the stretch. I like the Brewers. I really do. I like where the Brewers are at right now. Not having Christian Yelich sucks, it sucks, but it has not made me lose faith that this Brewers team can make some noise when it comes to the postseason. They still got good bats, they still got a good lineup and they have a boatload of talent. Now it's time to see it there. Now it's time to see it. So, with that, that's about all I got for the day. That's about all I got. It was a great day, great day. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Friday here. I really do. I hope you guys enjoy your weekend. Right, a great weekend coming up here. But like I always say, like, leave a review, subscribe wherever you are. Definitely show us some love out there. I love to see people subscribing, leaving reviews, comments, everything like that. Follow us on Instagram, facebook, twitter, wherever you can find us out there. But with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports Time to Go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoy your weekend here. But until I talk to you guys again on Monday, deuces. Oh my Lord, watch me sway. Darkness falls and we all pray, hoping for the light of day. Down to the river, I have held the devil's hand, felt the weight of my own sin, buried by the heart of man. Down to the river. Down to the river. Down to the river, oh, bury me, carry me. Oh, far beneath. Oh, fire and water me, going down deep, saying oh, bury me, carry me, oh.