Still not sure who to root for this October? If you weren’t convinced by our articles on Arizona, Atlanta, Boston, or Detroit, perhaps you might want to consider the Milwaukee Brewers.
Lou Olsen will definitely be cheering on the Brew Crew this fall. He’s the Lead Writer for Reviewing the Brew, Fansided’s Milwaukee Brewer website. He very helpfully provided some reasons for Twins fans to join the Brewer Bandwagon:
Why should Twins fans root for the Brewers? Because Brewers fans have rooted for the Twins in the playoffs every year for the past decade. Brewers fans would much rather watch a small market team like the Twins win, as oppossed to the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Cubs, Angels, Dodgers, and so on. We are not talking about football here (I will never, I repeat never, root for the Vikings). The Twins and Brewers are allies. They play two friendly series each season and there is never any bad blood. Plus, we are neighbors.
You should also root for the Brewers, because secretly I know that Twins fans love Carlos Gomez. Trading him away made you all a little bit sad, believe me I know. The Twins got JJ Hardy in that deal and I had a deep seeded affection for JJ, so I feel your pain. The Brewers are the best option for Twins fans hands down. There is no way they will be rooting for the AL teams: Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, or Rangers. And there should be no reason to root for the D’Backs, Braves, or Phillies. The Brewers are the obvious choice, since they are by far the most interesting group of characters heading into the playoffs. Come on Twinkies, come to the Brewers side for a few weeks. You might like it…
Puckett’s Pond’s Notes:
As Lou points out, the Twins vs. Brewers rivalry is a lot less antagonistic than Vikings vs. Packers. In fact, since the Brewers are in the National League, it’s pretty easy for Twins fans to cheer for their border state counterparts. The Brewers are, after all, the team that Minnesota great Paul Molitor played most of his career for. As for the Gomez thing, all I have to say is that if Twins fans secretly love Go-Go, it’s a very well-kept secret!
But Lou forgot to mention the biggest reason to root for Milwaukee: they are the only team in the Major Leagues named after people who make beer! Since beer is an incredibly important part of my playoff-watching experience, it seems only fitting to cheer on the boys from Miller Park.
There aren’t many big arguments against Twins fans cheering for the Brewers. In fact, the aforementioned geographic rivalry is probably the biggest (unless you have a phobia against sausage races, in which case you probably want nothing to do with this team). The two teams do play each other in six “rivalry” games every summer, and if they were in the same league, there would probably be a lot more tension between the two fanbases.
Also, you probably could not find a team with a more different style of play from the Twins than the Brewers. While the Twins have long preached small ball and stocked up their roster with ground ball pitchers, the Brewers have a batting order filled with mashers, and the starting trio of Yovani Gallardo, Zach Greinke, and Shawn Marcum all know how to strike a batter out.
Playoff season is coming up very soon, but we still have a few more teams to check out. Next up: the Yankees.