Packers Plagued with Injuries and The Brewers Aren’t a Fluke

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers had their first preseason game over the weekend, it was a disappointment. Not only did they lose and look unready to play, but Jordan Love was hurt and will be missing the rest of the preseason. He had surgery earlier this week on his thumb, though he should be ready to go by the opener. While that’s about the best possible news you could get when you hear “starting quarterback” and “surgery” in the same sentence, it’s still some cause for concern. He had a few injuries last year, but none of them were recurring. When you have several separate injuries, it just means he’s getting hurt, Oates says. It’s when someone has recurring injuries when people should be concerned. 

Love isn’t the only injured player on the Packers roster. Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Romeo Doubs all also went down with various injuries. If Matthew Golden had any worries about playtime this year, those worries should be put to rest. Reed is the biggest worry of the bunch, Oates says. He might be the Packers best receiver, and not having him at the season opener will hurt a lot. 

Of course, the Brewers remain the talk of the town. They still hold the best league in all of baseball, and it’s starting to feel like they just can’t lose (though this podcast was recorded Tuesday evening before they took on Paul Skenes and the Pirates). Pat Murphy had a good way of describing the team: woodpeckers. They just keep going and going and driving you nuts. One of their biggest concerns at the beginning of the year was hitting, especially at the bottom of the lineup, and now they are scoring 4-5 runs a game reliably without a ton of power. They’re a team that’s really learned how to just put the ball in play, something that comes in handy when you can’t afford any of the league's big name sluggers. Al LaBouef is the team's head hitting coach, and has contributed greatly to turning the team into a persistent powerhouse. He coached most of the guys in the minors, so most of the team is already highly familiar with him. What he’s done is make a team that creates a ton of fun-to-watch at bats. Are Brewers fans getting maybe a little too excited? Maybe, but what you can’t say is that the team getting to where they are now is nothing but a fluke. 

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.