One reason baseball ranks behind lawn darts in American sports popularity is that there are so few lovable teams.

The Yankees? It's like rooting for a hedge fund.

The Phillies? Just another checkbook champion.

But this year is different. This year, we have the Milwaukee Brewers. If you can't root for the Brewers, your rooter is busted.

The Brewers are a foamy phenomenon. How could a team with a smaller television market than Raleigh-Durham win the NL Central for the first time in 29 years?

This is a team whose three most famous members are stuffed sausages. How could a team with a comedian for a play-by-play guy get so seriously good?

Because it's Milwaukee, where baseball is actually fun.

The Brewers are a rolling carnival in metal spikes. One day this year, their stud left fielder, Ryan Braun, fell flat on his face between third and home and was tagged out. The next day, there was a body outline on the grass, a present from his teammates.

One night, their center fielder, Nyjer Morgan, smashed a walk-off double, only he didn't know to walk off. He thought it was the eighth inning.