In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Brewers deliver their yearly postseason gut punch with a last minute loss to the Mets. There was a lot of chatter about Devin Williams and Pat Murphy’s choice to use Williams as a closer, but what was he supposed to do? Williams might not have had it in him in game 3 against the Mets, but if you’ll forgive the cliche, that’s baseball. He’s still a fantastic closer, and putting him in was really the only call. Is it devastating that he couldn’t pull through? Yes, but sometimes, that’s what happens. Williams doesn’t seem long for the Brewers, not because of the loss but because he’s only a year away from free agency and looks likely to go to the Dodgers sometime soon. For now, we can only look ahead to next season, where Lucas has two questions: will Yelich be ready to go next spring and what is Chourio’s ceiling (high, says Oates). 

Turning to the NFL, the big news on Tuesday is the firing of Robert Saleh as head coach of the Jets. Did Rodgers have anything to do with it? We in Wisconsin certainly know that he isn’t exactly easy to work with, and he does have pull. But who knows, Rodgers likely didn’t have too much to do with it, though he probably didn’t help Saleh at all. 

Turning to the Packers, they defeated the Rams on Sunday without the help of Romeo Doubs. He was sitting at home after facing suspension by the team last week for an unmentioned reason, though the rumors are he walked off practice after causing a fracas over a lack of targets. If that is the reason, then Oates says he acted selfishly, putting himself over the team. That said, he seems to have come around and is expected to play the Cardinals this weekend.

Back to the Rams though, there was some good and some bad. The good came from Tucker Kraft, who is checking all the boxes for a great tight end. The bad came from Love’s horrible pick 6 for a touchdown in the endzone. It was a meathead play that gave the Rams a free 7 points, but it might not be all bad. It might have been what Love needed to wake up and get back into the game and learn from his mistake.

Finally, the Badgers finally looked like a great team crushing Purdue on Saturday. It’s about time! The Badgers have played a few teams they should have crushed, and this is the first time they’ve actually done that. They are starting to find some real playmakers, and several players showed the explosive power the Badgers offense needs. Now, this was still Purdue, so don’t get too excited, but still, it shows improvement. Maybe Coldplay can cheer on the team and give them the encouragement they need to keep this power going.

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.