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THE PANEL DISCUSSES MILWAUKEE 21, PITTSBURGH 10
COLIN COWHERD
“Look, folks… this wasn’t baseball. This was momentum as a lifestyle choice. There are shootouts in the NFL with fewer points than this.
Milwaukee’s identity all year has been ‘When it rains, it pours.’ And today? Category 5 hurricane. Jason Gonzalez is the classic Brewers player in this universe: overlooked, under-discussed, probably drafted after a JuCo stint and a job stocking shelves. But he gives you five RBI like it’s nothing. Boom.
Pittsburgh? This is what I always say about ‘cute’ teams: they’re fun when everything’s comfortable. But when a team punches you in the mouth? When you need your ace—or even your No. 3 starter—to give you something? The Pirates folded like a lawn chair at a barbecue.
And Jose Salas saying, ‘I’ll talk when we win the World Series’? Buddy… your staff just gave up 21 runs. Press conference isn’t coming.”
BOB COSTAS
“There was a certain absurd majesty to this game. The kind of surreal, over-sugared spectacle that would make even the Harlem Globetrotters say, ‘Tone it down.’
You had Pruneda with three home runs, tying a franchise postseason record. You had Milwaukee putting up crooked numbers in innings the way some teams distribute souvenir T-shirts.
The Pirates hit six home runs and lost by eleven.
A baseball historian could spend years combing through the dusty archives of 1900s baseball and still struggle to find a game that was simultaneously this explosive and this sloppy.
And yet… amid the chaos, there was beauty: Gonzalez turning on the first pitch in the first inning — a declaration that the Brewers were not ready for their season to end. Baseball, in its wildest form.”
MIKE FRANCESA
“Lemme tell ya somethin’… this wasn’t a game. This was a travesty, okay? Twenty-one runs? Twenty-one!? I don’t wanna hear about wind, I don’t wanna hear about launch angles, I don’t wanna hear about PNC Park… the Pirates pitchers STUNK.
You can’t— you cannot— give up SEVEN runs in the sixth inning and say you’re tryin’ to win a postseason game. Caudill wasn’t good, but Pittsburgh made him look like Cy Young compared to that parade they ran out there.
Schmitt? Done. Diaz? Awful. Toco? Atrocious. Garcia? Shoulda stayed in the dugout. I mean, Salas refusing to speak? Good! What’s he gonna say? ‘Hey, we gave up three touchdowns’?
And Milwaukee— listen, they hit the ball. They absolutely crushed it. That lineup today? Terrific. But the Pirates EMBARRASSED themselves. That’s the story.”
CHRIS “MAD DOG” RUSSO
“OOOOHHHHH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!! A TWENTY–ONE SPOT!! IN A PLAYOFF GAME!!
I mean COME ONNNN!! What are the PIRATES DOING!!??
Pruneda hits three home runs — THREE! — and they STILL GET BLOWN OUT! You wanna talk about wasted performances? That’s as wasted as it gets! And the errors! FOUR ERRORS! FOUR! They played defense like they were wearing boxing gloves!
And Milwaukee — give ’em credit — EVERYBODY hit! Ramirez hit one into the Monongahela River! Gonzalez with a moonshot! Arroyo! Escobar! The Brewers were runnin’ around the bases like it was the Boston Marathon!
And the Pirates pitchers… YOU CAN’T PUT THESE GUYS BACK OUT THERE! You CAN’T! I mean CASTRO was their BEST GUY and he gave up inherited runners! YOU CAN’T WIN LIKE THAT!
Game 5 is gonna be NUTS! But if I’m Milwaukee, I’m feelin’ GREAT. And if I’m Pittsburgh… hide the children!”
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