Ron Roenicke Captains Sinking Brewers Ship to Port in Milwaukee

Maybe Gordon Lightfoot will write a song about the 2014 Milwaukee Brewers. He wouldn't have to change the lyrics much from one of his old hits, that's for sure.

A promising crew is lost at sea near the shores of Whitefish Bay.

That's the gist of the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" that Lightfoot wrote in 1975 about a famous sunken Great Lakes freighter.

The main edits necessary to account for the 2014 season would include substituting "Ron Roenicke" for "captain" and "Milwaukee Brewers" for "Edmund Fitzgerald." Were Lightfoot to insert those minor changes, the new song would almost certainly top the charts again in Wisconsin. 

The Brewers led the NL Central for 150 days starting April 5 before plummeting off the top of the mountain while mired in a rut that saw them lose 19 of 26 games. The team's playoff hopes are all but capsized as the last playoff spot in the National League floats away on the horizon. 

The Red Sox had their "Curse of the Bambino," and the Chicago Cubs have their "Curse of the Billy Goat," but what about the Milwaukee Brewers?

Isn't it about time the Brew Crew were awarded their own famous curse to help rationalize the team's inability to claim a championship?

And most certainly that curse should be shaded red—Cardinals red.

Forget the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates erased the Brewers' last chance at postseason glory in 2014. It was those classic Brewers killers, the St. Louis Cardinals, who broke the team's spirit once again.

The curse seems to have started when the Brewers lost the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals in seven games and then was revived when the Brewers moved to the NL Central. The Cardinals clobbered the Brewers in the 2011 NLCS and then stole the division once again in 2014.

Did the Cardinals commission a voodoo doll to be made of Bernie Brewer prior to the '82 series that guaranteed their dominance over Milwaukee for decades to come?

At this point, it sure seems that way.

Team owner Mark Attanasio made his bones in the investments industry, so you can be sure Roenicke is safe for another season in Milwaukee. The current owner of the Brewers is likely well-schooled in statistical analysis, and he will likely hope and pray that the team's collapse was an aberration, not the norm.

The problem is that baseball, like any professional sport, doesn't work like a science. Injuries, free agency and many other factors dictate a team's success as much as roster and chemistry.

The Brewers will hope to bring back a strong starting rotation next season, but it's difficult to count on that eventuality. More likely, the team will disappoint—again.

The Cubs seem to finally have their house in order and could be tough competition alongside the Cardinals and Pirates in 2015. That leaves the Brewers vying for the fourth or fifth spot in the division.

Honestly, it probably won't matter who the manager is next season.

However, to allow Roenicke to return to the team after such a historic collapse sends the wrong message. According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, only four teams since divisional play started in 1969 have failed to make the playoffs after leading their division for at least 150 days.

The 2014 Milwaukee Brewers will soon officially round that group out to five.

If Roenicke isn't fired after one of the worst collapses in recent MLB history, then what exactly does get a manager fired?

The manager of a team is supposed to steady the ship in the face of adversity. After the 2011 NLCS implosion and the current 2014 free fall, Roenicke has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he can't provide the team with difference-making leadership during the most critical moments.

Attanasio will undoubtedly keep Roenicke for at least one more year, but that decision won't pave the way for glory.

After the recent sinking of the Milwaukee Brewers 2014 season, the team's owner would be better served enlisting the help of a medicine man.

The Brewers simply won't win the World Series until the curse of the St. Louis Cardinals is broken.

And without some sort of spiritual intervention, that won't be happening anytime soon.