Well, it's over.

By it's very nature, baseball is a game of ups and downs and the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers certainly had plenty of both. A tough stretch in May, capped by the sweep in Boston, had the team reeling. Then the team bounced back and put themselves in position to trade for CC Sabathia, who was the biggest thing to hit town in years. They went from the high of sweeping the Cards in St. Louis to the low of being swept by the Cubs at Miller Park a week later. A dominating August gave way to a September that nearly saw months of hard work given away. After a change at the top and some gut wrenching losses on the road, the Brewers came home and played some of the most dramatic (if not always pretty) baseball that you will ever see to help exorcise 26 years of demons and put Milwaukee in the playoffs for the first time since 1982. The Phillies then dispatched the Brewers with relative ease, but not before the fans at home had a couple of chances to thank the team that wasn't always good, but at least was never boring.

In the coming days there will be a lot of time to look towards the future. That future likely doesn't include CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, the twin aces that carried the Brewers on their backs for long stretches in 2008. This will undoubtedly lead many to conclude that the 2009 Brewers have little chance to match the exploits of this year's team. That may be true, but the Brewers still have plenty going for them:

• They have a solid, though flawed, core of young hitters to build around. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks are all tremendous talents and each one has a history of doing some things well. Each one struggled at some point in 2008, but they also were a big reason that the Brewers scored the 7th most runs in the National League and each one is still young enough to project improvement. Some of these guys may end up being traded in the off-season, but if they are it will be for something useful in return.
  
• They have a few young potential aces up their sleeves in Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra. Those two are not likely to make anyone forget about Sabathia or Sheets next season, but if they can stay healthy, chances are good that they can help ease the pain of losing the Big Two.
  
• They have useful parts in the back end of the rotation and in the bullpen. Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan are solid mid-rotation starters, and Seth McClung might be a reliever (possibly a closer) or a back-end starter, depending on what the team needs. Carlos Villanueva is very useful in relief. Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota, Brain Shouse and Todd Coffey all can be brought back if the team so chooses.
  
• The farm system is once again brimming with talent close to the majors. Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar and Angel Salome all figure to get a taste of big league action at some point next year, and each possess a set of skills that cannot be currently found on the big league team at the position they play. There are also some interesting power relief arms that could find their way up next year.
  

The Milwaukee Brewers are being built for the long haul and even though they will have to take a step back in at least one area in 2009, they won't neccessarily have to take a step back as a team.