ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Christian Yelich knew the question was coming. Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy occasionally gathers a group of player leaders for a get-together to ensure everyone, in his parlance, "is on the bus" -- together, committed, unified -- and he began the July 29 meeting with the same question he does every time: "What ya got?"

Yelich had settled on his answer and understood its significance. He is no braggart, preferring to endear through humility, a rare characteristic for a former MVP. This was not going to be humble. The Brewers -- everything they stood for, everything they were, everything they aspired to be -- had compelled him to speak his truth, and that truth, coming from the mouth of the man who two months later would be named the team's captain, became their ethos when Yelich answered first.

"We're going to win the World Series," he said.

It's easy for a player to suggest that, easier to think it.…