'Every team is in the same boat:' Christian Yelich looks forward to 60-game season
MILWAUKEE -- Sunday, July 5 marked the second day of practice in the Milwaukee Brewers' abbreviated Summer Camp. Baseball is clearly a game of numbers, and in a 162-game season, those numbers average out to what a players' ability is. Former MVP Christian Yelich knows all about those averages and says with a 60-game season, you can throw that out the window.
"I think this year is unique in the aspect that you just don't know what you are going to get from anybody," said Yelich. "You're going to have really good players have really bad years. It is going to happen. You don't have that large sample size to even everything out, so if you get off to a tough start or a bad start, you are really behind the eight ball, not only as a player, but if your team gets off to a bad start...you take a 1-10 start or a 2-10, something like that, you are in a tough position just because you don't have extended period of time to make that up."
The game on the field will remain relatively the same when the Brewers start their season, but a lot will be drastically different.
Miller Park is empty for the Brewers' practices. It is going to be empty for their games, and Yelich is going to have to find a different way to find motivation without that energy in the crowd.
"I think it is going to be through your teammates and coaches," said Yelich. "Every team is in the same boat. We are all going to have to do that. The teams and the players that are great at self motivating each other and themselves are the ones that are going to have success."
But before he came back to Milwaukee, he found that motivation to change something else...getting rid of his mustache.
"I came off the beach one day, took a shower, looked in the mirror, saw it," said Yelich. "You know, it's time. Shaved it. That's exactly how it went down. Just that quick."
So now, the cleanly shaved Christian Yelich is back with the Brewers, enjoying practice and being back with the guys. Plus, he is just ready to play some real baseball.