By Andy Tarnoff Publisher Published Apr 21, 2014 at 2:14 PM

No one hates bad baseball teams. Sure, people feel sorry for them, or they just ignore them. But you don’t read national sportswriters talking smack about the Royals. Players from opposing teams don’t pick fights with them, either.

But lately, the Brewers – currently the best team in baseball – are finding all sorts of new haters. Whether they’re ripping on Carlos Gomez’ swagger or presuming that Ryan Braun most obviously still juicing, the Crew is facing all sorts of new heat.

And that’s awesome.

You expect people to fear the Yankees. You might even expect the Brewers players to underperform when they play the Cardinals – remember back when Ned Yost threw at Pujols?

But look at the Pirates. The Brewers have absolutely dominated them for years, and while Gomez shouldn’t have thrown punches on Sunday, the Bucs taunted him out of frustration. He’s just that good now.

Need proof? Look at these tweets from national sportswriter Jeff Pearlman. Moralizing aside, the assertion that Braun used steroids after he tested positive, in 2012, then now, in 2014, is preposterous. Braun is being tested all the time. Pearlman calls him "slime" but won’t concede that he’s naturally a great player.

Or this gem from Jeff Passan:

And Pearlman's newfound hate for Gomez? Whatever, dude:

I especially liked the quote from the Pirates’ Russell Martin:

"The fair thing would be to have our team hold down Maldonado so that Travis can go back and sucker-punch him right in the face. That would be the fair thing to do. I don’t know if we ask the Brewers if they’re going to be down for that."

If I ever get in a fight, I know I want Maldonado on my side.

Point is, people are taking notice of the Brewers, starting to concede that this team isn’t a fluke.

The Brewers will gladly take the fear and hatred all the way to the post-season if given a chance.

Andy Tarnoff Publisher

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.