How the Brewers Built a Small-Market Baseball Powerhouse

On the other side, I'm not giving enough love here to what the Rancho Cucamonga Brewers have done. That's what Bob and I have dubbed them. Because, I mean, hey, Bauer, hey, Bob, I remember him when he was with Snell with the Rays back in the day. And everyone thought he was a good player, but he wasn't really. They didn't know where they were going to fit him in. I mean, Pat Murphy has done such a whale of a job with this team, the organization itself. How are the Brewers where they are now? How did they get here? Just a great job developing these players, drafting them, and picking guys off the scrap heap. Guys like you said, Bowers and so many of these guys. Garrett Mitchell's been hurt so much. He jumps out. Adar Uribe pitching every day in the postseason until game four. But just get these guys, develop them right. And they've got a great nucleus. They still have one of the top farm systems in baseball, and they're just going to get better. I mean, they could go on a little, you know, run here. You know, we've got the four straight division titles. I don't see them slowing down. There's no reason in the world why they won't be back year after year for a number of years now. You know, I'm not saying they could be the next Dodgers with a, you know, 14-year dynasty. But, you know, they've been in the playoffs, I think, seven of the last nine years. They could get this thing to keep going. You know, correct me if I'm wrong, Bob. You're the historian here. I think the World Series, the two World Series that they've been in, 82, they got beaten seven by the Cardinals. And I think Henry Aaron's team, back in the late 50s, they made the World Series against the Yankees. I mean, with a lockout coming up, how do teams like the Rays and the Brewers not justify saying, hey, look, you can win in small markets? You know, you're talking about profit sharing and all that. If you get a Rays-Brewers series, doesn't that counter everything what people are saying about profit-sharing? Because the richest teams in baseball won't be in the World Series. Yeah, I mean, don't forget, Danny, the team with the lowest payroll in baseball is Cleveland Guardians. They're playing, too. So either way, Cleveland or the Rays, it really doesn't matter. Cleveland's a bigger market, but a smaller payroll. But yeah, the union is absolutely loving this. So when it comes to a bargaining table, they'll say, what do you mean competitive balance? We've got great competitive balance. You don't need money to win. On the flip side, you can say these teams are the union's worst nightmare, too, because they're winning. You don't have to have a big payroll. So you don't have to go by the big free agents. So it can kind of work both ways. But the union is absolutely loving this. It's the dream of them.