Remember, the plan is for 2006 and beyond.
But the Brewers are 33 games into the season and are (relatively) comfortably in 2nd place. That's two games ahead of the rival Cubs and a ridiculous margin in front of last year's wild card Astros. I don't think anybody is seriously considering the Crew a contender just yet, even for the wild card, but it's surely a sign of the times when David Pinto, at Baseball Musings, can write:
This is kind of like a friend of Elena Dementieva's saying to me, "Jeff, I don't know if she's really into you, but she'd definitely like to get to know you better."
Only it's better, because the Brewers have lots of potential for improvement, while I've probably reached (and passed?) my peak of desirability to the lovely Ms. Dementieva.
My point, if I do indeed have one, is that all of the sudden people are taking this team seriously. We may be ranked about 36th in MLB in home runs, have more strikeouts than the AL West combined, and be otherwise write-off-able by every reasonable statistical measure (most of which I emphatically believe in). But somehow this team is winning, and they're doing it despite some mediocre performances and without one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Life is good.