Brewers Fail to Make a Splash, While The Cubs Look to Catch Up

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates returns to the microphone after some time away to spend with family.

• The MLB trade deadline has come and gone, and the Brewers have once again failed to make a big splash. Lucas never thought that Tarik Skubal was really on the table, but Oates was hoping for at least one more starting pitcher. That said, Oates doesn’t think that there was any big conspiracy around Skubal throughout the entire league; a rental just isn’t worth some of our top prospects.

• One team that did make a few big moves at the deadline was the Cubs. Now that they’re only five and a half games back with a few new pitching arms, do they have a chance to catch the Brewers? They addressed some key needs in their lineup, but the Brewers aren’t exactly an easy team to beat these days. Unless you’re the Pirates. 

• Meanwhile in college sports, Congress seems to be moving on their Save College Sports Act to address the NIL situation. Both the Big 10 and the SEC are firmly against it, of course, but Oates thinks that something needs to be done. If not, then we can expect college sports to consist of five big spenders at the top every year while everyone else fights for scraps at the bottom. 

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

A weekly podcast with insights and analysis on the Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks from two of Wisconsin’s most experienced sports journalists. Mike Lucas is a veteran sports columnist for the Cap Times and was a Badgers radio color commentator for over 25 years. Tom Oates was a sports reporter and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal for 40 years.