"It wasn’t pretty the whole way. We took a beating sometimes, had ups and downs, and we were able to find a way and sneak in."

Said Christian Yelich, quoted in "Can The Brewers Beat The Dodgers? Christian Yelich Thinks So/Milwaukee's Offense Needs To Turn Things Around If The Brewers Hope To Make A Playoff Run" (Wisconsin Public Radio). The Brewers finished the season — the 60-game season — at .483. They were in 4th place in their division. But somehow they're in the playoffs. They're going up against the Dodgers, who finished the season at .717. But maybe they can "find a way and sneak in."

Here are the predictions for the playoffs at FiveThirtyEight. I don't understand how they're doing the playoffs in this crazy year. Why is the worst team playing the best team at this stage? Here's an explanation:

Something about baseball I saw because I follow Aaron Rodgers, who liked this.

Be better than this. Nobody needs help facing you https://t.co/DlUDwjJn4X

— Christian Yelich (@ChristianYelich) November 15, 2019

Background:

The camera shifts, right after Yelich’s eyes move, to show Darvish already off the rubber. Almost like... He went from concentrating on Darvish to not doing that, because Darvish stepped off... https://t.co/Yp4gBdmO7G

— Spencer Michaelis (@smichaelis234) November 15, 2019

And: A new article in the L.A. Times: "Yu Darvish is conflicted over Astros sign-stealing allegations."

Darvish was surprised by the allegations that surfaced this week in a story by the Athletic ["The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 — part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball"]."Four people who were with the Astros in 2017, including pitcher Mike Fiers, said the team used a camera in the outfield to steal signs at home games....

“What’s been reported up to this point is that they used cameras at their home field, so I don’t know if there was anything like that,” Darvish said. “But what they were doing was so high-level that I can’t honestly say there’s no chance they were also doing it on the road.... If you ask me if I got hit in Game 7 because they stole signs, I don’t think so,” he said. “The Astros have great players who don’t have to do that. So I think that whether or not they stole signs, the results wouldn’t have changed.”

Most startling thing in my Twitter feed yesterday... gets the tags "naked" and "baseball."

Looking for @ChristianYelich’s #BodyIssue photos?

Relax. We’ve got you “cover”ed. #ThisIsMyCrew #ESPNBODY pic.twitter.com/k9YOSqXRCm

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 4, 2019

I had to refresh my recollection of this "Body Issue" thing. Why don't I notice it every year? Possible answer: It's not in my Twitter feed and I follow just about exactly one sports-related account: the Milwaukee Brewers. (I say "just about" because I can think of at least one individual player that I follow... and I can't remember ever seeing him naked.)

Here's Yelich getting interviewed.

“So, what do you want to talk about today, Adam?” Christian Yelich said with a grin.

More on baring all for The Body Issue (and more to come later on the site). pic.twitter.com/Bgrv6q8FgN

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) August 26, 2019

I love the line: "I'm not really worried about the whole being naked thing."

Of course, we love Yelich here at Meadhouse — naked Yelich, clothed Yelich... all forms of Yelich.

I'm creating a "Yelich" tag for this, so "naked," "baseball," and "Yelich."

Maybe concentrate on winning the game...

Here's something that went out in the Milwaukee Bucks' Twitter feed last night (as they were losing the third game in a row in the Eastern Conference finals):

🍻 @DavidBakhtiari and @AaronRodgers12 go head-to-head in a beer chugging competition!! #GoPackGo | #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/etedPaiJ9G

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 24, 2019

In Wisconsin MVP’s crush beers. @ChristianYelich | #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/qTnMl4K3eN

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 24, 2019

Even if they'd won, what kind of example is this? Beer chugging? And it's touted in the Wisconsin State Journal, under the headline "Brew Crew: Watch as Christian Yelich refuses to be upstaged by Aaron Rodgers, David Bakhtiari in beer chugging contest." ESPN has "Brew-haha: Yelich, Rodgers chug at Bucks game."

I was going to say Old Yeller.

UPDATE: They are going to name him Yeli. 🐶 pic.twitter.com/J95rP1Rh5m

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 15, 2019

So Christian Yelich gave them their puppy before last night's game... then went on to hit 3 home runs.

And, for those of you who worry about treating dogs right and bringing up children correctly, the giving of the dog surprised the kids but was coordinated with the parents and the dog's breeder.

ADDED: My idea for the dog's name was influenced by the misspelling of Yelich's name that is imprinted on my brain. I hear the word "yell" and think there are 2 Ls. But the name has nothing to do with yelling: "Yelich is an Americanized spelling of the Croatian and Serbian surname, Jelić." I can't find a meaning for Jelić, but I trust it's not about yelling.

My ability to spell has always been hampered by my desire for meaning. In 8th grade, I lost a spelling bee because I wanted to see the ostrich in "ostracize." Also, double letters — they're the bane of spelling.

Anyway... I originally misspelled "Yelich" and only noticed because I looked at the photograph of the kids and thought they'd misspelled it. I've corrected my mistake.

"Anne, you are funny. The things that rile you. That's why we love you. But 'dirty?'"

"It was an infraction, for sure, but 'dirty' is reserved for intentionally trying to hurt a player."

Wrote stonethrower (calling me by my first name and spelling it wrong), in the comments to my post on Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, in which I said, about Manny Machado, "Look how dirty he played twice when sliding into second."

After Game 4, last night, I now have Christian Yelich to back me up: "Machado called ‘dirty player’ by Yelich after benches clear" (WaPo):

“He’s a player that has a history of those types of incidents,” Milwaukee slugger Christian Yelich said. “One time is an accident. Repeated over and over and over again, you’re just a dirty player. It’s a dirty play by a dirty player, and that’s what it is. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, but you can’t respect someone who plays the game like that.”...

Just a few weeks before the 26-year-old Machado likely hits the open market as one of the most desirable free agents in baseball, the big-hitting shortstop has become the latest star to tread the well-worn line between fierce competitors and dirty players.....

Manny Machado kicked Jesús Aguilar. Many #takes will follow. pic.twitter.com/uMopidt8IJ

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) October 17, 2018

"It's a dirty play by a dirty player. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, but you can't respect someone who plays the game like that."

Christian Yelich on Manny Machado pic.twitter.com/TocySpu8fK

— Stephen Watson (@WISN_Watson) October 17, 2018

This just happened.

Morning at Meadhouse. Yes, we could throw some stuff in the car and drive straight south and be in summer, but isn't it pretty? Not that I think there's any chance of getting ski trails groomed on April 4th.

We wake up to news that the liberal candidate crushed the conservative in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race yesterday.

And the glorious news of the baseball game, which we'd fallen asleep to in the 8th inning:

Tonight’s @Cardinals-@Brewers game is the first in @MLB history to both start AND end with back-to-back homers. pic.twitter.com/hqKjK53KGA

— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) April 4, 2018

I was up early, re-watching "Roseanne" and taking notes for a big post I'm going to need a few minutes to write. Meade came downstairs the middle of this project and said he wanted to interrupt this big effort of mine to see the end of the baseball game, which seemed kind of intrusive to me. I finished my re-watch — with 5 pages of handwritten notes — and we switched to the baseball game. Meade never let on in all that time that he knew how it ended. And it got down to the one last pitch, with 2 out in the 9th, and 2 strikes on Yelich. Yelich hit a home run, Braun was up, and the first pitch to Braun was another home run. Only then did Meade let on that he knew that would happen — even though I'd pressured him repeatedly, do you know how this ends? — and I got the full fun of seeing that happen in time-delayed "real time" — even though I was fighting the undercurrent of emotion that was, got to get the first post of the day up

And please wait for the next post to talk about the YouTube thing.

We're just getting started. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/uPS3LS9NpV

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 4, 2018