Is it time for Milwaukee Brewers players to stop glancing at the Wild Card standings? Not likely.
Why are they holding on? Through the weekend, 13 of the 16 National League teams were either leading a division or within six games of the Wild Card. Compare that to the American League, where only six of 14 teams fell into the same category.
"It's gotten more and more like this the last couple of years, where the Wild Card is kind of up for grabs," said Brewers newcomer David Bell, traded to Milwaukee from Philadelphia on July 28. "There are a lot of teams that have a chance to win it, and it's going to come down to which one can get hot over the last two months."
As recently as Saturday, only four NL teams -- division-leading New York, St. Louis and San Diego and Wild Card-leading Cincinnati -- had a winning record. Arizona and red-hot Los Angeles joined that group on Sunday.
"It's weird," said Kevin Mench, who came from Texas, along with reliever Francisco Cordero in the July 28 trade that sent Carlos Lee to Texas. "It's basically a three-team [Wild Card] race in the other league right now. I guess there's a lot more parity in baseball right now."
That may be the case, but the Brewers have everything working against them.
Right-hander Ben Sheets, who already has been on the disabled list twice this season, suffered a chest muscle injury Saturday and is questionable for his next start. Infielders Rickie Weeks (wrist), J.J. Hardy (ankle surgery) and Corey Koskie (post-concussion syndrome) are out.
Lee led the Brewers in home runs and RBIs when he was traded, and although Cordero has been sharp in the closer's role, Mench has struggled adjusting to a new league, and the rest of the offense has struggled with him.
Then there is the team's inability to get it done away from Miller Park. Through the weekend the Brewers were 32-23 at home this season -- only the first-place Cardinals had more home wins among NL clubs. But they were 20-36 away -- only the last-place Pirates had fewer road wins.
The Brewers have not been to the postseason since losing Game 7 of the 1982 World Series in St. Louis. They have not had a winning season since 1992, though they snapped a streak of non-losing seasons but going 81-81 a year ago.
Still, a number of Brewers players insist they are still in it. Cincinnati (57-54) led the NL Wild Card race through the weekend, followed by Arizona, Los Angeles, Colorado, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco and Milwaukee. The Brewers (52-59), a season-worst seven games under .500, were still just five games back of the Reds.
"It's a lot harder to make up ground in the Wild Card race when there are that many teams bunched up," said Brewers manager Ned Yost. "In the division race, if one team loses you pick up ground. In the Wild Card, three or four teams have to lose for you to pick up ground.
"But if you do what you're supposed to do, it takes care of itself. If we don't win, forget looking at the Wild Card. It's not going to matter. We've got to win ballgames."
At this point, the Brewers might actually have a better chance in the NL Central, where they trail the Cardinals (60-50) by 7 1/2 games, the Reds by 3 1/2 and the Astros by one, but Milwaukee missed a great opportunity over the weekend, losing two of three games to a St. Louis club that had lost eight in a row. The Brewers have 10 games left against the Astros, seven left against the Cardinals and none against the Reds.
Sunday's 7-1 loss at Busch Stadium ran the Brewers' streak of consecutive losing road series to six. They have lost seven of their last eight series overall heading into a three-game homestand against the Cubs at Miller Park this week.
After that, it's back out on the road to Atlanta and Pittsburgh, continuing a grueling month that has the Brewers playing 18 of their 28 games away from home.
"We're at the point in the season where there's enough time left, but there's not that much time left," said left-hander Chris Capuano, who leads the Brewers with 10 wins but has been stuck there since July 6. "We have to start winning."
That's exactly what the Dodgers have done. They lost 13 of 14 games coming out of the All-Star Game and appeared to be spiraling out of contention, dropping seven games behind the leaders of both the Wild Card standings and the NL West. But L.A. responded with nine straight wins entering Monday's game at Colorado, leaving the Dodgers one game behind the Wild Card-leading Reds and two behind the division-leading Padres.
"That's why I keep waiting for us to get hot," said Yost, who believes his Brewers are capable of doing just that.
Even with Sheets and Tomo Ohka back in the fold -- the team will know more about Sheets' chest muscle injury this week -- the Brewers have treaded water.
They have not won more than two games in a row since a four-game run just before the All-Star break, and they have not won more than four straight since starting the year a promising 5-0.
"It's real important to go out and win as many games as possible," Bell said. "Winning the division has to be the first goal. We're going to have to play very well the rest of the way to get to the playoffs.
"But the bottom line is that we have a chance. That's all you can ask for at this time of the year." Let's win crew!