The year was 2008, the final week of the Major League Baseball regular season, and Ryan Braun was carrying the Milwaukee Brewers into the postseason with multiple clutch home runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs.

Move ahead to 2014, Ryan Braun is hitting a measly .275 with 18 home runs and seems to be out of the lineup at least a few days a week due to injury. Performance enhancing drugs did a lot for Braun over the years, and also gave aid to the Brewers in their recent playoff runs.

The team has lost 15 of their last 18 games and it really cannot get any worse in brew town as the season comes to a close. The once ever so prominent squad with a mix of young players and veterans has fallen apart over the past two weeks and it’s now all hands on deck in Milwaukee.

On Monday the team finally decided to call together a team meeting as they sit on the outside of the playoff race looking in.

This season even at the highest of the Brewers peaks at the top of the NL Central, fans remained pessimistic about making the playoffs and staying healthy for a whole season as expectations coming into the year weren’t all too high.

Those pessimistic fans can now pump their fists as they had it all right about the Brewers, they weren’t as good as they had made it out to seem.

Jonathan Lucroy, Scooter Gennett and Wily Peralta are the three Brewers that have lived up to expectations this year meanwhile Braun, Jean Segura and Yovani Gallardo have all failed to impress their coaches and their teammates.

Segura by far has been the biggest disappointment. After making his first all-star appearance in 2013 thanks to his strong bat, lightning quick speed on the basepaths and stellar defense, Segura has fallen back to a sub par shortstop during a season where he has been needed.

Despite Segura’s lackluster season, throughout the first half of the season Jonathan Lucroy was able to pick up his slack with MVP like numbers hitting over .300 and leading the league in doubles. Along with this, young flamethrower Peralta was the first in the National league to reach 15 wins, however since the milestone he has struggled to find his groove on the mound.

Although the Brewers haven’t given fans much to cheer about over the past month, all hope cannot be lost. The team sits a game out of the final wildcard spot in the NL race and has all the makings of a playoff team. However, making all the pieces click once again will be tough.

As a Brewers fan these next few weeks are going to make you bite your nails off, and the team is going to need a heavy dose of Lucroy offensively if they even want a sniff of the postseason.

If all else fails, well just remember it’s Packer season once again.