Caleb Durbin was a huge part of the Milwaukee Brewers' success last year. But this season, they're marching on to the World Series without him.
After a February trade to the Boston Red Sox, Durbin had an excellent second full season in the majors. But the Brewers became a true juggernaut, winning a franchise-record 103 games with sporadic, yet intermittent contributions from the three players they got in the six-player deal.
The Brewers punched their ticket to the World Series on Thursday night, stomping out the back-to-back defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a clean four-game sweep. Durbin could do nothing but watch from home, as the Red Sox were eliminated before October even began in the Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees.
Durbin's reaction to Brewers making Fall Classic
Red Sox and Brewers fans alike could reasonably be curious about Durbin's thoughts on Milwaukee making his first Fall Classic appearance in 42 years. Fortunately, those fans can now hear Durbin's reaction, as shared on Saturday by Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.
According to Speier, Durbin said that Milwaukee making it to the World Series was "a little bit bittersweet. It’d be more bitter if I wasn’t super happy with where I was (with the Red Sox)."
In Durbin's absence at third base, the Brewers have deployed a platoon of late that features ex-Red Sox bench player David Hamilton and a resurgent Joey Ortiz. In fact, Hamilton gave Milwaukee a surprising boost in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series with an RBI single and a home run that gave their 6-4 win a late cushion.
However, Durbin was undeniably better throughout the course of the season than anything the Brewers had at third base, putting up 4.4 bWAR and earning recognition as a finalist for the Gold Glove Award in the American League — which the numbers say he should win.
It's not as if Durbin should be unhappy with where he landed; he said as much in the quote above. But for a player whose professional career has been an underdog story since he was drafted in the fourth round out of Division III Washington University in St. Louis, it's a little strange to see the underdog team move forth without him.
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