I realize they lost Sheets and Sabathia, but other than that, it’s the same team.  Except they should have a real manager for the entire season.  Yovanni Gallardo is healthy, Parra has a whole season under his belt (and he was pretty good before hitting that rookie wall), and Suppan has looked like he fixed things that caused the wheels to come off last September.  Don’t forget about Dave Bush and Looper — both guys who can eat up innings and win about half of their games.

While that may inspire a lot of folks out there, that pitching staff stacks up with a lot of other teams in the league.  Throw in Hoffman in the closer role, Villanueva and McClung and pitching doesn’t look too bad.  Throw in the fact that the rest of the team has some better backups than last year and they’ve gone through a pennant race and realized that every game does matter.  Lastly, you throw in the way they’ve played this spring and there’s reason for optimism.

What the Brewers need is for Braun to stay healthy, Hart to avoid such a prolonged hitting slump as the end of last year, and avoid some injuries to the starting pitching.  The Cubs probably have the most talent — lots of money to spend can do that for you — but they also have a ton of egos and durablity questions.  The Brewers are next on the talent scale in the Central.  If the Brewers can stay close to the Cubs in the first half of the season, chances are good the Cubs will fade in the second half.  And if they don’t, the Brewers should be able to stay close with the Mets and Phillies for the Wild Card again.

The Crew should be in another race again in September.  Playing relevant games in August and September should be exciting for the fans.  This fan wants to see them playing relevant ball in October.