CINCINNATI -- Christian Yelich was on the phone with family in California late Monday night when he got word that the Bucks were trading superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat. It made him think about two things.
One, how badly he wants to help the Brewers bring a championship to Milwaukee the way Giannis did in 2021.
And two, how he hopes to avoid the bittersweet emotions Antetokounmpo must be feeling as he faces leaving his adopted home.
“I would like to have this be my last team,” said Yelich, who is 34 and in his ninth season with the Brewers. “It just feels right to finish here, and I’m proud of what we’ve done here as a team. I think at this point in my career, it would be really weird being anywhere else.
“I just don’t see it or want it. And we’re still really good.”
Yelich knows what it feels like to be traded. He was drafted by the Marlins in 2010 and played parts of five big league seasons in Miami before the January 2018 swap that sent him to Milwaukee and saw him develop into a star. He won the 2018 NL MVP Award and finished runner-up in '19, part of an unprecedented stretch in which Wisconsin produced MVPs in baseball, basketball (Giannis was NBA MVP 2019 and ‘20) and football (Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won NFL MVP honors in 2011, ‘14, ‘20 and ‘21).
Now, Yelich is the last one standing of Wisconsin’s MVP triumvirate. He and the Brewers committed to a long-term pact in March 2020 that runs through '28, which would be his age-36 season. The deal includes a $20 million mutual option for ‘29.
“I still have at least two more years, and then we’ll see what happens after that, whether we want to keep going or not,” Yelich said. “I don’t know how many more years I’m going to play, but I’d like all of them to be with the Brewers if I could have it my way.
“This young group of players, it’s fun to be around them and watch them start their careers and help them along the way. It’s cool to see what this place has become over the last nine to 10 years.”
He went into Tuesday night with one hit in his first 12 at-bats on this road trip and four hits in his last 26 at-bats going into the day. But Yelich’s impact is felt in ways that don’t show up in box scores, as infielder Joey Ortiz explained Monday night after the Brewers’ 10-inning, 2-1 win over the Reds.
“Yeli’s coming up and down the dugout, letting us know, ‘We got it. This game’s not over,’” Ortiz said. “And just like that, we were able to take the lead in the 10th inning and keep the lead and win.”
In Yelich’s first eight seasons, the Brewers qualified for the postseason seven times and won five NL Central titles, including the last three in a row. In that span, he has made three All-Star teams, won two Silver Slugger Awards and two NL batting titles -- making Yelich the first batting champion in franchise history.
The only thing missing is a trip to the World Series, and a championship like the one Giannis brought to Milwaukee in 2021. Yelich and his teammates were at Fiserv Forum the night the Bucks won Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals over the Phoenix Suns, watching from a suite arranged by Brewers owner Mark Attanasio after the Brewers and Royals agreed to move their game that day to an afternoon affair.
Over the years, the two crossed paths at public events, and technically, Giannis was Yelich’s boss. He took an ownership stake with the Brewers in 2021.
“It was cool to get to know him, and hopefully we can do something like they did at some point,” Yelich said. “It’s obviously hard to win championships in any sport, so it would be something to be really proud of.”
Yelich remembers witnessing that pride firsthand when the Bucks held their championship parade.
“I think it would be even crazier if we ever won,” Yelich said. “It would be so awesome. Hopefully we get that done.”
The Brewers are positioned to give themselves another chance this year. They went into Tuesday’s game against the Reds at Great American Ball Park atop the division once again, with a five-game cushion on the second-place Cardinals.
“It’s cool to see what the Brewers have become over the last nine to 10 years, and to see the respect we’ve gotten in the league and in the game amongst your peers,” Yelich said. “I think I understand a little of what Giannis is feeling. Winning a championship and leaving would be tough. It’s a chapter of your life you would look back on fondly.
“Sometimes you think you’ll be in one place or one situation forever, and then when the door closes, it takes a while for it to see in and for you to realize, ‘Wow, that was pretty special.’ Even for me, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for almost 10 years.”