Next up in our bests/worsts series: the Brewers and their racing sausages.
Next up in our bests/worsts series: the Brewers and their racing sausages. (USATSI)

Over the course of the next month, we'll venture through the history of each of the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, discussing some of the best and worst moments, players, teams, etc. It's more a fun snapshot for discussion purposes than a be-all, end-all declaration. We continue today with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers have existed in their current form since the 1970 season. Then-owner Bud Selig purchased the expansion (and bankrupt) Seattle Pilots franchise in 1969 and moved them to his hometown in Wisconsin. What are some of the high and low points in the history of the Brewers franchise? Let's take a gander.

Best team: 1982

The 2011 squad won more games (one more game, to be exact) but the 1982 Brewers went 95-67 and had the best run differential (+174) in franchise history by a decent margin. In a winner-take-all game against the Orioles on the final day of the regular season, the Brewers won 10-2 to clinch the franchise's only AL East title.

How did the 1982 Brewers do it? With offense. They scored 891 runs on the season, 77 more than the next best team (California Angels) and the most in baseball since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers scored 955 runs. It was the most runs scored by an AL team since the 1950 Red Sox scored 1,027 runs. Check out Milwaukee's regular lineup:

C Ted Simmons - 23 HR and 112 OPS+
1B Cecil Cooper - 32 HR, 121 RBI and 142 OPS+
2B Jim Gartner - 99 OPS+
SS Robin Yount - named AL MVP after leading league in hits (210), doubles (46), total bases (367), slugging percentage (.578), OPS (.957) and OPS+ (166)
3B Paul Molitor - 129 OPS+ and scored 136 runs, the most in the AL since Ted Williams scored 150 runs in 1949
LF Ben Oglivie - 34 HR and a 118 OPS+
CF Gorman Thomas - 39 HR, 112 RBI and 137 OPS+
RF Charlie Moore - 85 OPS+
DH Don Money (148 OPS+) and Roy Howell (85 OPS+)

That's some serious firepower there, led by the two Hall of Famers in Yount and Molitor. The pitching staff, led by Pete Vuckovich (18-6, 3.34) and Mike Caldwell (17-13, 3.91 ERA), was more than solid. And, of course, they had Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers slamming the door in the ninth inning. He saved 29 games with a 2.60 ERA in 79 2/3 innings.

The 1982 Brewers came back to beat the Angels in the best-of-5 ALCS after being down in the series two games to none. (We'll get more into Game 5 in a little bit.) The Brewers lost the World Series in seven games to the Cardinals and it remains the only pennant in franchise history.

Yeah, they lost the World Series, but this Brewers club is the best in the history of the franchise.

Best manager: Harvey Kuenn

Phil Garner has by far the most wins in franchise history, but he has a below-.500 record overall (563-617). I'm going with Kuenn, who led the 1982-83 Harvey's Wallbangers teams to a 157-117 (.576) record. He was also at the helm for six of the franchise's 14 postseason wins.

Worst team: 2002

Man the 2002 Brewers were terrible. Worse than I remember. They went 56-106 with the worst run differential (minus-194) in franchise history. They did have Richie Sexson swatting 29 home runs, but behind Ben Sheets (11-16, 4.15 ERA), the next lowest ERA by a starter was Nick Neugebauer's 4.72 mark. Yikes. As a reward for their awful season, the Brewers had the second overall pick in the 2003 draft and used it to take Rickie Weeks.

Best team of the past 25 years: 2011

The 2008 squad deserves credit for being the first Brewers team to qualify for the postseason since that 1982 season, but the 2011 squad won six more games (96-66) and won the franchise's first division title since 1982. They also had a better run differential (+83 to +61) than the 2008 team as well.

Led by Weeks, Prince Fielder (38 HR and 164 OPS+), NL MVP Ryan Braun (33 HR and 166 OPS+) and Zack Greinke (16-6, 3.83), the Brewers won the NL Central by six games and beat the Diamondbacks in the NLCS on Nyjer Morgan's walk-off single in the decisive Game 5 ...

... before losing the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Best player: Yount

Pretty easy call here. The Hall of Famer spent his entire 20-year career with the Brewers and hit .285/.342/.430 (115 OPS+) with 3,142 hits and 77.0 WAR. He is the franchise's all-time leader in just about every meaningful statistic, including games played (2,856 -- exactly 1,000 more than second place Molitor), hits, WAR, runs scored (1,632), doubles (583), triples (126) and home runs (251).

Best moment, regular season: Yount's 3,000th hit

On Sept. 9, 1992, Yount became the 17th player in history to record his 3,000th career hit. At 36 years and 359 days, he was the third youngest player to get to 3,000 hits behind Ty Cobb (34 years and 244 days) and Hank Aaron (36 years and 101 days).

Molitor's 39-game hitting streak in 1987 deserves an honorable mention. The streak ended when Rick Manning hit a walk-off single, stranding Molitor (0 for 4) on deck. Manning was booed by the home fans for denying Molitor another chance to extend the streak. Weird, but the hitting streak was a great moment in franchise history.

Best moment, postseason: Cooper's ALCS winning single

With all due respect to Morgan's walk-off single in the 2011 NLDS, I'm going to Cecil Cooper's two-run single off Luis Sanchez in Game 5 of the 1982 ALCS, which turned Milwaukee's 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead. It proved to be the pennant winning hit. Remember, they were down two games to the none to the Angels and came all the way back to make the only World Series trip in franchise history.

Worst moment: Braun's suspensions (both of 'em)

Braun, the franchise cornerstone fresh off being named NL MVP and signing a $105 million extension, was suspended 50 games for a failed performance-enhancing drug test after the 2011 season. The suspension was overturned on appeal and Braun ripped test courier Dino Laurenzi, who mishandled the sample. That led to the suspension being overturned. Then Braun was suspended again for PEDs in 2013. Not a good look. For Braun or the franchise.

Best trade: The Blockbuster

On Dec. 12, 1980, the Brewers traded David Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano and Lary Sorensen to the Cardinals for Simmons, Fingers and Vuckovich. (St. Louis had acquired Fingers in a trade with the Padres just four days earlier.) Those three were centerpieces of the great early-1980s Brewers teams that make the first postseason trips in franchise history. The four players they gave up went on to have nice careers, but this was the trade that put Milwaukee on the baseball map. It was a franchise-altering blockbuster.

Honorable mention goes to the 2008 CC Sabathia trade. Sabathia was a monster during his half-season with the Brewers (4.9 WAR in 17 starts!) and helped the club to its first postseason berth in a quarter-century. The Brew Crew gave up four players, the best of whom is Michael Brantley, who just broke out as a star in 2014, six years after the trade.

Worst trade: Gary Sheffield

In a nutshell, the Brewers traded 23-year-old Sheffield (and minor leaguer Geoff Kellogg) to the Padres for a back-end starter (Ricky Bones), a fourth outfielder (Matt Mieske) and a passable shortstop (Jose Valentin) in March 1992. Sheffield went on to become one of the best hitters in history and a dominant offensive force in his prime.

There's more to this story, however. Sheffield made it no secret he was unhappy in Milwaukee and ripped then-owner Bud Selig. He later admitted to intentionally making errors by throwing balls into the stands back during his days as a third baseman. The Brewers had to trade him, they had no choice, but what they received for Sheffield didn't come close to matching his value.

Worst tease: Sheets

Ben Sheets' 2004 season is going to go down as one of the most underappreciated pitching seasons in history. He went 12-14 because the team stunk (67-94), but he had a 2.70 ERA (162 ERA+) and a 0.98 WHIP with 264 strikeouts and only 32 walks in 237 innings. His 8.25 K/BB ratio was easily the best in baseball (Randy Johnson was next at 6.59). For that, Sheets finished eighth in the NL Cy Young voting, behind guys like Carl Pavano and Carlos Zambrano.

Sheets looked poised to emerge as one of baseball's best pitchers, but injuries set in the next year and he made only 94 more starts for the Brewers before leaving as a free agent before the 2009 season. His career with the Brewers ended with an 86-83 record and a 3.72 ERA (115 ERA+). Very good, but not what the Milwaukee faithful had hoped after 2004.

Best logo: The Glove

It's perfect. It's a baseball glove made out of an "m" for Milwaukee and a "b" for Brewers. This isn't just the best logo in Brewers history, it's one of the best logos in sports history.

Best home run celebration: Fielder's explosion

This, loyal Eye on Baseball readers, is how you celebrate a walk-off home run:

Best ballpark feature: Sausage Race

They're sausages! And they race around the field in the middle of the sixth inning of each home game! To the action footage:

Keep in mind that something like this -- listing the bests and worsts in the history of a franchise -- is very subjective, so if you disagree with our list or have anything else to add, tell us about it in the comments.

Up Next: On Wednesday, we'll look at the best and worst moments for the St. Louis Cardinals.

>> Want more franchise bests/worsts? CHC