The Milwaukee Brewers have been the talk of baseball recently because of their 14-game winning streak.
That run also gives us a chance to appreciate a particularly unusual big league season — the Brewers’ super streaky run through 1987.
It was those ‘87 Brewers who won their first 13 games of the season, triggering the same free burger promotion by a local chain that went into effect when this year’s streak hit 12. That 13-0 start — which included Juan Nieves throwing the first no-hitter in team history in win No. 9 — stood as the franchise’s longest winning streak in a season until this year’s Brewers surpassed it Saturday.
Milwaukee was 20-3 in 1987 before crashing back to earth with alarming quickness. May had barely begun when the team lost 12 in a row. The Brewers snuck in another losing streak of six games before the month was over — only to follow with an immediate six-game winning streak.
It wasn’t just team streaks that made that season notable in Milwaukee. Hall of Famer Paul Molitor produced a 39-game hitting streak that year, a run that hasn’t been matched since.
By the time the season was over, Milwaukee was 91-71, finishing third in the AL East in an era when you had to win your division to make the playoffs.
With Molitor and Robin Yount leading the way — plus a few terrific seasons on the mound by Teddy Higuera — the Brewers of the 1980s never totally lived up to their potential after winning the American League pennant in 1982. In 1983, they went 87-75, which was good for only fifth place in their seven-team division.
Nowadays Milwaukee is in the NL Central, and 87 wins is often good enough for at least a wild card. Of course, this year’s team can set its sights much higher. Even after their winning streak was snapped Sunday, the Brewers are 33 games over .500. They need to go just 19-20 the rest of the way to set a franchise record with 97 victories.
Trivia time
The final out of Nieves’ no-hitter came on a spectacular play involving a pair Hall of Famers. Who were they?
Line of the week
In just his second week in the big leagues, Miami’s Jakob Marsee matched a franchise record with seven RBIs in a 13-4 rout of Cleveland on Wednesday night. Marsee hit a three-run homer, a two-run homer and a two-run double.
Marsee, who made his debut Aug. 1, has 12 extra-base hits in his first 53 at-bats.
Comeback of the week
Arizona was down by two with two outs and nobody on in the top of the ninth — a 1.1% win probability according to Baseball Savant. James McCann hit a solo homer, and after a hit batter and a walk, Ketel Marte’s three-run homer lifted the Diamondbacks to a 6-4 win over Texas on Wednesday. That was the second straight day Marte put his team ahead with a ninth-inning homer.
Honorable mention: Milwaukee’s 13th straight win came Friday night, when the Brewers trailed Cincinnati 8-1 after two innings. They had it tied by the end of the fourth and eventually won 10-8.
Trivia answer
Baltimore’s Eddie Murray hit a flyball to right-center field, and Yount saved the no-hitter with a diving catch for the final out.
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