You would think that after 162 games we would have a pretty good idea who the Milwaukee Brewers are and what we should expect in the weeks ahead.
However, not only are the playoffs often difficult to predict, the Brewers have a roster that is in flux as the opening round of the postseason gets underway.
For example, the likely pitching rotation for the club’s opening playoff series is Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester and TBD, an act slated to appear on many Summerfest stages when that schedule is released but a performer of little comfort when the local team will probably need to go four deep at some point in order to reach their goal.
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Fortunately, we have seen plenty of fall baseball in Milwaukee since 2018, so we know that October heroes are often the players we least expect and that the pitching usage patterns that have some rhythm over six months of regular season play are typically cast aside in short series.
In short, it is time to expect the unexpected, embrace the drama and enjoy the thrill of it all.
I come offering few predictions because playoff baseball rarely goes according to plan.
Over 162 games, hot streaks, cold spells and the very things that can lead to the unexpected, such as the Colorado Rockies winning a three-game series, tend to even out as the cream rises to the top. In a short series — three, five or seven games in the postseason — just about anything is possible as teams of relatively equal levels of success (the Brewers won the most games in the sport this year with 97 wins, while Cincinnati had the fewest wins among playoff qualifiers with 83) go to battle in hopes of advancing to the next round against even stronger competition.
To that end, the element of luck can determine the outcome of a series. For much of the season, the Brewers played a part in creating their own success, as the team’s speed forced opponents to make errors and the club has generally capitalized on those opportunities. If that trend continues, it could be an especially exciting fall in these parts.
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Deep bullpens matter this time of year and the Brewers are stocked in that department, on paper. However, some injuries down the stretch have cut into some of that depth, but most of those pitchers are expected to be back in action when Milwaukee hosts Game 1 of a National League Division Series on Saturday. Aaron Ashby has excelled in a multiple-inning role this season, and if the club can get someone like DL Hall back and throwing like he did for most of the summer, that would give the club a potent combination to deploy many ways throughout the playoffs. Jacob Misiorowski could be a game-changer if asked to throw an inning or two at a time ahead of Jared Koenig, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill.
Or, it could fizzle. An area of strength for much of the season has key pieces that were out of action until the final days of the regular. They did not get a chance to be fully tested in MLB action prior to the games that matter most, which could prove to be too much to overcome.
A lot has to go right for a team to win a championship, but so many things have for the Brewers this year and there is no reason to expect that to end now.
Priester had been terrific since being plucked from Boston in an early-season trade when the Brewers badly needed pitching because nearly every other starter was injured. Milwaukee took a chance on Andrew Vaughn once all the pitchers got healthy and Aaron Civale wanted out of town. That was a stroke of luck that provided the club with a first baseman when the expected starter at the position suffered an injury.
Isaac Collins, taken by the Brewers from the Rockies in an unheralded move in late 2022, has become a key cog in an outfield that has been without Garrett Mitchell most of the season.
The Brewers had no obvious answer at third base coming into the season, but the club rolled the dice and figured that one candidate out of a list of several contenders would emerge, and Caleb Durbin answered that call.
Time and time again, especially since late May, the Brewers have found some magic. Whether it is the power of friendship, pocket pancakes or Bob Uecker pulling all the right strings while taking in the action from the big press box in the sky, there is reason to believe in this team.
It takes skill to get to this point, and an extra dose of luck over the next several weeks would help, but it should be a run ride, one that hopefully culminates with the Commissioner’s Trophy as the guest of honor in a parade down Wisconsin Ave. in late October.