This week’s edition of Bases Covered Live sees a clash between two of MLB’s best right now, as the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers welcome the New York Mets to Wisconsin for another Sunday night showdown. Here are five things to know before tuning in.
- Click here to tune in on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport on Sunday August 10 from 7:00pm BST. Available on other European broadcasters, check local listings here.
1. After signing Juan Soto to the largest contract in sports history in the offseason, the star-studded Mets have been battling it out at the top of the NL East, going tit-for-tat with the Philadelphia Phillies as they look to repeat last season’s Postseason run that carried them all the way to the NLCS.
2. The Brewers, on the other hand, have been baseball’s hottest team since May. The back-to-back reigning champs of the NL Central looked like they might be losing their grip on the crown when the Cubs started the year in dominant fashion, but the Brew Crew battled back to reclaim top spot at time of writing, as well as the best overall record in the Majors.
3. While the Brewers have the edge in the teams’ overall head-to-head record, it’s the Mets who dealt the biggest blow in recent years. They took last season’s Wild Card Series between the two sides in devastating fashion: facing a two-run deficit going into the ninth inning of the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, the Mets’ power-hitting first baseman Pete Alonso crushed a three-run homer that would prove decisive in sealing what was the Mets’ first postseason series triumph since 2015.
4. Despite embarking on a thrilling postseason run after that Brewers win, the Mets ultimately fell short in their quest to win a third World Series title in franchise history. Their last was back in 1986, and they haven’t reached the Fall Classic since they were beaten by the Royals in five games in 2015. The Brewers, meanwhile, are one of only five MLB teams to have never lifted the Commissioner’s Trophy, only appearing in the World Series once, in 1982.
This is a clash between two top teams looking to put history behind them.
5. The venue for this contest, the Brewers’ American Family Field, is nothing if not unique, with enough quirks to fill a curiosity shop. In addition to the sixth-inning Sausage Race, keep an eye out for Milwaukee mascot Bernie Brewer and his home run slide, perched up in the stadium’s rafters.
