By Andy Tarnoff Publisher Published Sep 16, 2014 at 2:05 PM Photography: Eron Laber

Entering play tonight, the Brewers are 1.5 games out of the playoff picture. Right now, all of Milwaukee should be very excited about the Brewers, starting with me.

Yet, for some reason, we’re not.

This was a team that, even as it sat alone in first place for most of the season, we expected it to come crashing back to Earth. Something seemed fishy as it raced to 50 wins. As it slowly fell apart, culminating with a 10-game losing streak, we all smugly and vindictively said, "We told you so."

Still, the Brewers are very much in the hunt, and winning the division isn’t even out of the question.

So what’s wrong with us? Well, I can’t speak for you, but I’ll tell you how I feel.

It’s not that I’ve become used to success. When I really got into the Crew in 1994, the team was was bad, and for most of the seasons since then, I’ve supported the Brewers during these very lean years.

I think – at least what I’m telling myself – is that this year’s Brewers just aren’t great, and if they sneak into the playoffs, they’ll quickly be exposed and beaten. It will be like 2008’s postseason again; except we won’t have the excitement of getting there for the first time in 26 years. I tweeted that very idea a week ago, and more than a few people told me they had the same sinking feeling.

Maybe the team isn’t the likable group of overachieving, excitable players it used to be. Don’t get me wrong: Carlos Gomez is everything we could ask for, but Ryan Braun is an always-injured fallen angel, who has turned into a .273 singles hitter. Jonathan Lucroy remains a fan favorite, but gone are characters like Nyjer Morgan and John Axford. I still love Lyle Overbay, but who gets excited over Matt Clark or Gerrardo Parra? Even Aramis Ramirez acts and plays like he’s 50 years old.

Or maybe I just don’t believe the team is really that good. Yes, K-Rod has an incredible 41 saves, and Mike Fiers has been lights-out, but this team has only one player (Lucroy) batting over .300). I don’t think anyone will hit more than 30 home runs.

Or maybe I gave up when Doug Melvin failed to land a superstar at the trade deadline? Perhaps subconsciously I felt like if he wasn’t ready to go for broke, neither was I.

I just can’t imagine getting psyched up for the rally at Summerfest, then sitting down to watch the Brewers get swept. 2008 and 2011 were roller coasters of emotion: and both of those teams were better than the Brewers are today.

Obviously, not everyone feels this way. The Brewers are averaging 34,387 fans per game at Miller Park, which is eighth among all clubs – but considering that Milwaukee is the smallest market in baseball, this is impressive.

And talking to our building manager, Sheldon Oppermann, he’s still watching every game with enthusiasm. "I just want a little October baseball," he pleads.

But he also points out that since the Brewers’ Labor Day collapse, he has a hard time finding a bar that is showing the game. More often, he says, the TVs are set to college football talking heads.

Why is that?

In the lean years, we could point to the Packers as the reason fans tuned out, but except for a surge of excitement early this spring, the indifference has been there all season.

So what’s going on here? Since when has the expectation of winning the World Series been the indicator of Brewers excitement? I just don’t know.

What do you think?

Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.

Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.

Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.