Former Brewers player ripping Milwaukee after playoff loss is pure joy for Pirates

Unfortunately, all has been pretty quiet for a while in Pittsburgh Pirates land. Given that the Pirates have an owner in Bob Nutting that has seemingly no interest in fielding a winning team, baseball playoff season very often does not feature Pittsburgh in a meaningful capacity. Given that, Pirates fans just have to take some joy from the suffering of others, and that especially includes division rivals.

The Milwaukee Brewers have seemingly gotten all the breaks the last few years in the NL Central. They have consistently finished (other than 2022) at or near the top of the division despite refusing to spend on their roster, thanks largely to the missteps of the other teams in the division. They are basically what the Pirates' brass wish they could be, and it is infuriating.

Luckily, the Brewers found out once again that they are not built to actually compete in the playoffs after they got their hearts broken by the Mets in the NL Wild Card round. In an even more poetic turn, one of the causes of their demise was former Brewer Jesse Winker, who has now made an enemy for life of an entire metropolitan area. In the wake of the win, Winker declared that he will hate the city of Milwaukee forever after loads of drama involving him during the series itself.

Jesse Winker-Brewers beef has Pirates fans cackling and thankful Pittsburgh didn't acquire him

Just to be clear, Winker is an absolute tool. He made no friends with his attitude and work ethic in Seattle, and his short tenure with the Brewers went extremely poorly. There was a point in time where some thought that the Pirates should acquire Winker, and Pittsburgh fans should be thankful that that didn't happen.

Seriously, just look at this guy.

That said, seeing the Brewers go down at the hands of Winker and the Mets and the subsequent fallout has been absolutely delicious. There are few things that can help soothe the sting of another disappointing season like watching a division rival and a guy like Winker eat each other. It honestly doesn't really matter who is actually at fault. Having the Brewers' pain stretched out more and more is more than enough.

Going into 2025, the Brewers may end up regretting not taking advantage of their playoff opportunities more. The Cardinals will probably remember how to build a decent ballclub again, as sad as that is to think about. The Cubs are motivated to compete again, the Reds have a brand new manager who knows what he is doing, and the Pirates could even make some noise, given just how good the front of their rotation with Paul Skenes could be. This theory assumes that they do, well, anything of note this offseason. Could happen!

For the moment, it is just nice to see some misfortune fall elsewhere in the division.

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