In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates is away on assignment, so former Wisconsin State Journal Sports Editor Bill Brophy joins Lucas to talk about what everyone is talking about these days: the Brewers. As of recording on Tuesday evening, the Brewers are on an 11 game winning streak and currently hold the best record in all of baseball. At 60-40, they have also overtaken the Cubs NL Central leaders after months of chasing. Brophy gives the credit to Pat Murphy, who he calls a true old school manager. He isn’t afraid to sit guys out when they aren’t doing too hot or have a conversation with them about changes that need to be made. Just look at Joey Ortiz, who before the All Star Break was struggling to hit the ball and is now starting to find contact after changing up his stance.

The Brewers have a lot of great athletes top to bottom, even if they are still lacking a real power hitter. Even without that power hitter though, their starting rotation is strong enough that as long as they can get a few on the board they have a real chance at winning. Brophy was sent to Arizona during spring training this year, so he got a chance to see some of the relatively unknown names that now make up the lineup, including Jacob Misiorowski. Did Brophy think he would turn into The Miz, a star so big he gets recognized buying toilet paper? No way, he says. Even he was taken by surprise by his performance in the majors so far. Then you add in Brandon Woodruff, who seems to have gotten even better after his surgery, and the Brewers might have one of the best pitching rotations in baseball.

Still, they need that big bat, and with the trade deadline just around the corner some names have been thrown around. But then who do you replace? Lucas thinks Caleb Durbin will have to be the one to go. He’s been a good asset at 3rd base, but if someone needs to go it’ll likely be him. Is there a lot of baseball yet to be played? Of course there is. As Pat Murphy put it, it’s still July. But for now, Brewers fans can celebrate a little bit at the very least.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the MLB Home Run Derby was Monday night to mixed reviews. Cal Raleigh won the event and remains one of the top hitters in all of baseball. It was a family affair for the Big Dumper, with both his father pitching to him and his brother catching behind him. Over 20 years ago, the event was held at Miller Park in Milwaukee, and none other than Tom Oates was there (he has the newspaper column the next day with his byline to prove it). In addition to almost getting nailed with a fly ball during batting practice, Oates made some prophetic statements after the 2002 on the state of steroid usage at the time. Thankfully, that part of the sport has mostly cleared up.

Tuesday night was the All Star Game (taking place after the recording of this podcast), and Brewers pitcher Jacob Mizerowski is continuing to make headlines with his addition to the team. The problem is that this time, most of the headlines are negative, with people agree that a pitcher with only five starts under his belt made it to the All Star Game. Oates understands the anger a little bit, after all some players try their entire career to be asked to join the game. But at the end of the day, the All Star Game is a TV show, not a game that will decide who’s going to the playoffs. If the fans want to see the Miz (guess what, they do), then why not have him in the game!

Meanwhile, the rest of the team in Milwaukee is staying red hot, putting the most wins on the board before the All Star Break in their entire franchise history. Both Lucas and Oates admit, they’re a little surprised. Go back a handful of episodes on this very podcast, and you’ll find them wondering whether or not the team did enough in the offseason. They didn’t make any big, splashy moves, but that doesn’t seem to matter. They have one of the best pitching teams in all of baseball right now, and even if their hitting isn’t on fire it’s still clearly doing enough. Oates gives the kudos to the front office, for everything from team culture to player acquisition and development. They’ll be just one game behind the Cubs coming out of the All Star Break, and hopefully they make some splashy moves then.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Brewers stay hot as Jacob Misiorowski returns to the mound Tuesday evening to go head-to-head against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw. The Miz had a small hiccup against the Mets, but it’ll still be exciting to see him take on an elite pitcher like Kershaw. Kershaw’s been around for a long time, recently passing 3,000 strikeouts, maybe one of the last to do it considering how starting pitchers are used today. But while the hype still hasn’t died down for The Miz, the next few games he pitches will be really telling. Now that he has a few starts under his belt in the majors, teams are starting to watch him and make a plan on how to deal with him. Whatever happens, his hype and the return of the great Brandon Woodruff makes for exciting baseball.

The Brewers are playing great all around, and Woodruff’s big win over the weekend really gave the team the shot in the arm that they need. Everyone is starting to hit the ball really well, and putting some real power behind those hits. Add in Woodruff throwing 96 mph fastballs in his first return to the mound in nearly two years, and it’s hard not to get excited. Woodruff has had eight years in the majors, all of them with the Brewers, and he’s someone who’s well liked and respected in the locker room. The Brewers are a young team these days, and having veteran leaders like Woodruff and Christian Yelich around are important to building up the team. When you mix veteran leaders with competitive and winning young guys, like Turang and Frelick, you have a real recipe for success.

Freddy Peralta, meanwhile, will be heading to Georgia after he was selected to play in the All-Star Game. In theory, at least. He also might be pitching for the Brewers this weekend, which would make it difficult for him to also throw in the All-Star Game, but that just means another pitcher would go in his stead. The Home Run Derby will also take place next week, and the lineup is not looking too impressive. Of course, the Home Run Derby is not the main focus of the year, and all the real top hitters are likely resting up so that they can focus on winning games. But speaking of Home Run Derbys, the Brewers will be hosting an alumni Home Run Derby later this month with Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez playing team captains. There are some… interesting names on the list of players that they can pick from, but it’ll still be fun to watch some of the older guys get out there and hit some home runs. But what will the fans think of Ryan Braun when he returns to Milwaukee? Have they forgiven him for his mistakes, and for covering up those mistakes? Or will he get the Brett Favre treatment?

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Bucks made a series of moves in recent days, maybe most disappointingly releasing Dame Lillard. He was a 2024 All Star MVP and played 113 games with Milwaukee, an undeniable great player! But not a great fit for Milwaukee, Oates thinks. You can’t have two ball-dominant superstars on one team. Add in the fact that he will be out most of next season, is approaching 35, and would cost too much for the Bucks, and it’s no real surprise that he’s out. In his place is Myles Turner off the heels of an NBA Finals appearance. He has to be happy, as without Haliburton the Pacer will not be nearly as competitive next year. Turner was signed on a four year contract, and at 29 he’s exactly what the Bucks need: young and athletic. Unfortunately, the Bucks also had to lose a few more players, namely Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton. Lopez was great in his prime, but has slowed down in recent years. And Connaughton is a bit of a fan favorite, but doesn’t have the ability to keep up with the Doc Rivers Bucks. Will the team be good enough for Giannis to be happy? No, Oates says, they aren’t a winning team quite yet. Lucas says they need one more good player to really round things out and be competitive.

In a whirlwind of other basketball news, Nigel Hayes-Davis is back playing in America after he signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns. Hayes improved in his time in Wisconsin, and seems to have improved more in Europe, so it’ll be great to see him play in the NBA. He’ll certainly have some play time, it’s not like the Suns are a particularly competitive team these days anyways. Over in Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has signed a massive $71 million contract with the team. Is it excessive? Yes, but will it actually help the Thunder next year (if they do in fact need help after winning a title)? Big money contracts can hamper a team, making it more difficult to find guys who can lift up those big money players. Just look at the Bucks! Finally, a handful of Badgers are NBA bound. John Tonje is going to Utah after he was picked in the second round, and Steven Crowl will play in their summer league this year. Do either have a chance to actually see some playtime? Maybe, but not right away.

Finally, the Brewers offensive is heating up again, and so is their shiny new pitcher Jacob Misiorowski. Not only can The Miz throw good heat, but his throws have some movement to them too. It’s one thing to throw a 100 mph pitch right down the middle, it’s a lot harder to hit one that’s moving around on you. There were concerns about his pitch control when he first came up, and those concerns aren’t completely gone, but as long as he isn’t walking five guys every inning, we won’t complain.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Wisconsin Badgers football team announced that they are suing the University of Miami. They’re accusing the school of tampering with the Badgers’ signing of Xavier Lucas, who supposedly already signed a contract with Wisconsin before being called away to Miami. What do those contracts look like? Who knows, the schools are all pretty secretive about the whole deal. But the NCAA and the Big 10 are certainly backing Wisconsin in this fight. A legal win for Wisconsin would give some validity to signed contracts and might even give the NCAA some teeth in fighting school hopping and poaching of student athletes from any college sport. But, it could also lead to issues down the road for the NCAA too, as pretty soon it would be hard to argue that the players aren’t employees, and employees can unionize, and we know the NCAA doesn’t want that. But while we don’t know how strong these contracts are exactly, they have to be strong enough for Wisconsin to think they have a chance here. The bottom line is this though: we’ll have to wait for the courts to do their thing and Lucas isn’t playing in Wisconsin no matter what.

Meanwhile in the NBA, Oklahoma City beat the Pacers to take home the national championship after Tyrese Haliburton went out with a torn achilles. He’ll likely be out at least most of next season, which means another top NBA player is out with injuries. The best players in the league are out here suffering, Oates says, and the owners need to really think about toning down their schedule a bit. Just look at how many Bucks playoff runs have been derailed due to bad injuries, including just this year! Meanwhile, the “experts” sitting behind a broadcast booth on national TV were accusing Haliburton of faking it to get out of playing in the finals, because what competitor would want to sit out of a national championship game?

But that’s the past, and in the near future of the NBA is the draft, taking place this week. The first two spots are likely already taken by Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper, but the rest of the spots are anyone’s guess. Where does that leave John Tonje? Oates thinks he’s a second round pick, and while that doesn’t guarantee any sort of future in the NBA he thinks he has a good chance. He’s a versatile player who can hit three’s, so hopefully someone can find a long-term home for him.

Finally, there’s set to be a great matchup at American Family Field Wednesday night as two of the top young pitchers go head-to-head: Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes. If you can catch the game, it will be a great one to watch. Misiorowski only has two games under his belt so far, but they’ve been more than impressive. Skenes, meanwhile, is more proven even with a not so great team. The matchup is great for the entire sport, Lucas says, but even more so for the Brewers as their hitting begins to wake up only a few games behind the Cubs.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates is on assignment, so Lucas brings in a new co-host for the week: Mike Mahnke! If you don’t know his name, you certainly know his voice if you’ve been to a Badger Football or Basketball game in recent decades. Mike has been the PA announcer for Camp Randall and the Kohl Center since the early 90s, and he has no intention of stopping. After taking over the role after the passing of Jack Rein, his first called football game was a nationally televised game against Colorado. Sure, the Badgers got their butts beat and the game took place on the due date for his second child (his wife was in the audience, at least it’s close to Meriter hospital), but since then Mike has been the voice of Camp Randall and the Kohl Center.

Mike grew up in Racine, and after graduating high school in 1977 started a career with the Army. After a few years overseas in Germany, he came home and started his college career at UW Madison, graduating with degrees in Theater and German Literature. While he came from a family of educators, his heart was initially set on either TV or radio, though he realized that that was not meant to be. He got a job in marketing in Madison after one semester of grad school, and works with clients both locally and nationally. While working at a firm he also began calling women’s basketball games, and eventually became the voice we know today.

Maybe his most infamous calls came just a few years into his career when he gave a personalized spin to calling the runs of Ron Dayne (or as he would say, Roooooooonnnnn Daaayyyynnneee). Mike says he didn’t even know that the fans would repeat it back to him, but later they would ask him to emulate his calls for answering machines and even wedding ceremonies. Mike was a fan of football, so he says it’s only natural that he would put a little excitement into the plays of such a great player. Years later, Mike says Dayne thanked him for giving him a little extra love on the field.

Mike gives his thoughts on the differences between calling games at the Kohl Center versus Camp Randall. For one, he gets to sit right on the floor at the Kohl Center, instead of his little booth at Camp Randall. Sitting on the floor not only gives him a close-up view of the game, but it allows him to better feel out the fans, and lets him act as cheerleader to help rally the team. The energy is completely different, he says, with the intimate environment of the Kohl Center helping to fuel his calls. But whether he’s calling basketball games, football games, or even the occasional volleyball matches, he says he isn’t going anywhere. Even if Greg Gard continues to scout in Europe and brings in more players with difficult-to-pronounce names.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates remember Jerry Petitgoue, who passed away at the age of 84. Jerry is the winningest coach in Wisconsin high school basketball history, achieving a staggering 1027 wins in his career. Most of those wins were made in Cuba City, where he coached for over 50 years. He was a giant, Oates says, and his record will likely never be beat. Petitgoue was a flexible coach, which you have to be when you coach for over 50 years, and took home a handful of state championships. His championships spanned decades, winning in 81, 91, and 98, and each team was a little different. He developed a lot of great talent and knew how to adapt to the talent that he had. But aside from just coaching, he also taught history in Cuba City for over 30 years. Petitgoue dedicated his life to the development of young people both on and off the court, and his name will be remembered statewide and, maybe more importantly, in Cuba City, where he is remembered fondly and helped foster a love of basketball across town.

On other topics, the finances of college sports are changing. A judge has ruled that colleges can only share around $20 million with their athletes every year, effectively putting a salary cap on all college sports. Now, NIL still needs to be discussed, and the lawyers are still going to be very happy padding their pocketbooks with future litigation, but it’s finally a step in the right direction. Maybe. How will that $20 million be distributed between teams? $9 million for football, $9 million for basketball, and scraps for everything else? Just look at how many medals UW Madison’s Track and Field team is bringing in, how much are they entitled to? While there will be more lawsuits in the future, at least it’s the beginning of some guardrails and hopefully they do it right.

Moving to the NFL, Jaire Alexander is gone from the Green Bay Packers. There is a lot of good and a lot of bad with that. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the league. But he needs to be healthy, and since 2021 he’s only played in about half of the games. The Packers are going to be a bit shaky in the cornerback position this season, Lucas thinks. Even if their starters are alright, what happens when one of them gets hurt? Do you bring out Bo Melton? Finally, Aaron Rodgers finally has a team to play for this upcoming season: the Pittsburgh Steelers. They got him for a steal too at around $13 million base salary. They’ve had a rough few years with at their quarterback position, so they better not squander the fantastic deal they just got. Rodgers can still throw, and his football brain is still there. While he might not be as mobile as he once was, he’s still a threat. We will see how much of a threat he really is when the Packers play them in Pittsburgh though…

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, there is some breaking news as we begin recording as the Knicks announce that they have fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after their playoffs loss. Is he a scapegoat for that loss? Kind of. He’s not a bad coach, and he has a good track record of getting teams a long way. Sure, he got them into the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a very long time. But can he get his teams over the top? He won 56% of his games with the Knicks, and didn’t get along great with all of his players. One thing is known for sure is that whoever their next coach is will have a tough job. Not only do the Knicks have a bad owner, but they’re in New York. When you play in New York, everything you do is going to be magnified. So who will take the job? Well, Coach Bud could use a job…

Moving to the Bucks, Oates says he’s confident that Doc Rivers will be sticking around again next season. If he were to be fired, he would have been fired by now. But the question of Giannis is still being debated, at least by some pundits. He still says he doesn’t want to leave, and it’s not like the Bucks are a destitute team. Giannis seems like he wants to play his whole career in Milwaukee, Oates thinks, they just need to find the right guys to put around him.

Finally, the Brewers are red hot in Milwaukee. As of recording on Tuesday they were on an 8-game winning streak, sweeping the Phillies over the weekend. They played them at just the right time as they came off a double header and Bryce Harper was still out of commission. Winning and losing streaks never last long in baseball, but the Brewers are starting to do what they’ve needed to do all season: hit the ball. They’re pitching is still holding up, even if it’s held together by duct tape, and they can hit up and down their entire lineup. Pat Murphey’s move to make Yelich a designated hitter and keep him out of the field has been a great call too. He’s staying healthy, at least when he isn’t being hit by pitches. Their defense is looking great too, which was a big part of their success last year. They’ll need to keep this up if they want to catch the Cubs, though, and if they want to stay competitive in a great division.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.