The 2013 Milwaukee Brewers season has come to close, a year many will remember for all the things that went wrong – or happened off the field – than what occurred on it. It was a strange year, one that ended with the team hoping to play spoiler and stay out of last place rather than contending for the postseason.
There was little buzz around the team once the season overlapped with football in September, but it doesn’t mean there weren’t some good (and surprising) stories to be told along the way.
Here are the top news story of the year:
Ryan Braun is suspended
Where there is smoke, there is often fire, and the league’s Biogenesis investigation eventually exposed the flame to the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player.
John Axford is traded
The subject of trade rumors since the late summer of 2012, Axford had another up-and-down campaign. He lost his closer’s job. He was dominant. He was mediocre again. The Brewers final had enough and moved a key piece of the 2011 National League Championship Series team to a division rival.
Yovani Gallardo is arrested
The year didn’t start well for the new Brewers ace, as the veteran right-hander was arrested for driving under the influence just weeks into the season.
A baseball season is long, and it affords some great storytelling along the way. Here were some of our favorite Brewers stories of the year:
Road to the majors isn’t always smooth
Reliever Brandon Kintzler took an unusual path to get to Miller Park. Two other former Brewers top prospects are now hoping to follow his lead.
The Legend of Rickie Weeks
Rickie Weeks made a name for himself long before he ever became an All-Star.
Gennett, Hand reflect on crazy call-ups
It seemed like the Brewers called up the entire Class AAA team at some point during the year, and two of those players talk about the wild ride to Miller Park.
How Gomez tapped his potential
Months before he became an All-Star, Carlos Gomez broke down how Manny Ramirez helped him at the plate.
Segura quickly becomes a franchise player
The Brewers shortstop proved early that he is a cornerstone for the franchise and turned into an All-Star in his first full season.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
