2026 Playoff predictions, roster/rotation configuration etc.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The attendance isn't in question, the secondary market is. It's not anywhere near what it used to be. The World Series will get there, and probably an LCS Game 7. The secondary market relies on the 'fad' crowd and those who wouldn't normally consider attending. I don't have any doubt they will fill the stadium for every home game. But the casuals aren't going to have their interest piqued until something new is on the line.

They have sort of stagnated around 2.5 million since Covid. They've seen a little spike the last year or so. You can almost draw a straight line to Miz, whose home starts are a dramatic attendance surge. After his first start in front of 27k, the next two were 40k+.

But it wouldn't really shock me if you were able to find NLDS tickets under face value in certain sections, if they aren't playing the Cubs.

[MoreTrife]

23 hours ago, brooks_quichenick said:

I got a presale offer that started today, and for the NLDS games it was by far the most limited inventory I've seen for playoff ticket presales in the last 5 years or so.

Can I ask what kind of ticket holder you are? I still haven't gotten anything. 

[jay87shot]

I think Garrett Stallings has a pretty good chance to make the playoff roster and if he puts together another couple scoreless outing I would be ok with him starting a bullpen style game 3 or 4 over Drohan, Gasser, Harrison.

[Malik Willis]

Thinking they keep all the position players currently on the active roster for the NLDS. Also thinking Harrison is out. Thinking that leaves 4 pitchers for 2 spots: Drohan, Senzatela, Stallings, and Anderson. I think Drohan gets one of the spots to add another lefty and a guy could go multiple innings. The last one is tough. Senzatela has the best stuff and most experience but has been really shaky since coming to Milwaukee. Stallings has been lights out in limited time and can give you multiple innings but is unproven in big moments. Anderson is really good against RH but really bad against LH. I think they keep Senzatela but I think I'd take Anderson assuming he's healthy - feel like he could get you some outs if you needed him in a lower leverage situation against RH or bottom of the order LH, and Senzatela has really struggled.

[brooks_quichenick]

On 9/18/2026 at 11:00 AM, MoreTrife said:

Can I ask what kind of ticket holder you are? I still haven't gotten anything. 

Ballpark Pass+

Basically the only availability I saw was the sides of the 400 level. Single seats scattered elsewhere.

I'm sure they've been holding some inventory back but it seemed a bit extreme. I've had the same presale for the last 4 years and have been easily able to get Loge seats every year until this one.

[Brewin]

I'm guessing this will be not a highly shared opinion, but I strongly believe Dustin May will start G3 of the NLDS. I understand Gasser has pitched better recently, but May has playoff experience with LAD and has the arsenal that can dominate a lineup when he's right. 

I don't know how long his leash will be, but will be surprised if he isn't tabbed to start 

[Brewcrew82]

NLDS is pretty much completely sold out and the Wisconsin resident pre-sale just started like an hour ago.

Seems to me the demand is as high as ever.....

[Outlander]

Good to see the demand is high and it is convenient to have the games during the weekend. With that said there should still be opportunity if somebody wants to go, especially if it conflicts with the Packers game for Game 2.

[owbc]

The playoff games that have trouble selling are ones that conflict with the weekday work schedule. 

Also a team that had been consistently excellent and regresses to only being “good”, like if we win 88 games and have to play the wildcard in the future. 

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, Brewin said:

I'm guessing this will be not a highly shared opinion, but I strongly believe Dustin May will start G3 of the NLDS. I understand Gasser has pitched better recently, but May has playoff experience with LAD and has the arsenal that can dominate a lineup when he's right. 

I don't know how long his leash will be, but will be surprised if he isn't tabbed to start 

I think it is a bit of a tossup, but the more recent trend has been Gasser getting stronger and May regressing.  I think they both start since we need 4 starters. 

[Team Canada]

It may be matchup-based. If May has a good last start, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get G3, but either way the leash is going to be short. Maybe they'll piggyback G3 depending on how it goes and G4 would just be a straight BP game.

[long ball]

I’m going to throw a final stab at this before the roster is released. 
 

position players (14)

Contreras, Sánchez

bauers, Vaughn, Ortiz, Pratt, Turang, Hamilton

chourio, Mitchell, Frelick, Lara, Lockridge

yelich 

pitchers (12)

Misiorowski, Henderson, May, Gasser

megill, uribe, hall, Ashby, Romero, Senzatela, Patrick, Harrison. 
 

24 of these spots are no brainers and not really up for debate (barring any unforeseen injury announcement). 
 

the brewers have consistently being going with a 12 pitcher roster in the last couple post seasons. So I’ll assume that’s the way they go (even though I think there are more good options for a 13th pitcher than 14th position player). 
 

I went with Lockridge over Naylor for a few reasons. Mostly, it allows you more flexibility to pinch hit for Mitchell, Frelick, or Lara- even if it’s early in the game (say with Sánchez or Vaughn). Lockridge has 1 elite skill that could swing a game as a baserunner. Naylor offers nothing other than an emergency catcher. Truly, when was the last time you saw a catcher leave a game with an injury? It feels like keeping the last roster spot for that unlikely scenario is too conservative. I don’t really want Lockridge or Naylor getting any PA though. 
 

For the 12th pitcher I landed on Harrison. I don’t feel good about it and I’ll be terrified of any appearance he makes. The Padres most dangerous hitters do lean right handed heavy, but I like that Harrison can offer multiple innings if needed. This is admittedly an upside play over Drohan and Anderson and a 5 game series isn’t really a place for an upside play, but just the way they’ve handled Harrison and talked about him leads me to believe he makes the roster. For what it’s worth, I think I’d pick Drohan if I were calling the shots. 
 

I think I’d pitch Henderson in game 2. I want a guy making his first post season start to know when he’s pitching. None of this “we will decide after we see how game 1 goes”. Maybe that’s what they say publicly, but with the plan all along to go with Henderson in game 2. Game 3 and 4 would be essentially bullpen games with Gasser and May hopefully giving 2-4 quality innings on their “bulk day”

 

in theory I don’t hate Henderson going game 3, because it still would likely make him available in the bullpen of game 5 if needed. It would also still allow him to start game 1 of the nlcs on 4 days rest of Misiorowski pitches game 5 of the nlds. It also gives you an off day following a heavy bullpen day in game 2. 

[Frisbee Slider]

54 minutes ago, long ball said:

position players (14)

Contreras, Sánchez

bauers, Vaughn, Ortiz, Pratt, Turang, Hamilton

chourio, Mitchell, Frelick, Lara, Lockridge

yelich 

pitchers (12)

Misiorowski, Henderson, May, Gasser

megill, uribe, hall, Ashby, Romero, Senzatela, Patrick, Harrison. 

Do we want a 13th pitcher?

[long ball]

10 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Do we want a 13th pitcher?

I think there are more viable pitchers for a 13th slot than there are position players for a 14th slot. Like who is more likely to be useful? Grant anderson/Drohan/Harrison or Brandon Lockridge/Bo Naylor?

 

probably a pitcher 

[SF70]

49 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Do we want a 13th pitcher?

I know I do. 

I want Harrison on the playoff roster and in order to make that happen for sure they need 13 pitchers. May-Drohan-Harrison will all be important to have available on the staff — much more than Lockridge or Naylor.

[MadTownBrewCrew]

McCalvy’s article today said that May has a 1.23 ERA in 3 games covering 22 innings against the Padres this season.  I’m thinking that he’ll start game 3 in San Diego.

[formerlybis]

Here's a question for everyone - how much will the Brewers play Bauers in RF? That's a little bit of a dance that'll depend on situations, and I'm not sure he's fully healthy, either.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, it's like who do you really need to pinch run for on this team?

Contreras and Bauers are too valuable in the box to replace with a pinch runner.

None of Turang, Pratt, Ortiz, Hamilton, Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, Frelick, or Yelich really require one.

That leaves Vaughn and Sanchez as the only real guys you'd pinch run for.

Say Vaughn starts, and gets a hit in the middle innings so you pinch run with Lara. Then when Lara comes up you like the match up with Sanchez so he pinch hits and gets on. You still have Frelick to run for him and take over in the field. Plus Hamilton waiting on the bench for an emergency of some sort.

Easier for me to see a scenario where having a 13th pitcher is more useful than a 4th pinch runner. 

[SF70]

11 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Yeah, it's like who do you really need to pinch run for on this team?

Contreras and Bauers are too valuable in the box to replace with a pinch runner.

None of Turang, Pratt, Ortiz, Hamilton, Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, Frelick, or Yelich really require one.

That leaves Vaughn and Sanchez as the only real guys you'd pinch run for.

Say Vaughn starts, and gets a hit in the middle innings so you pinch run with Lara. Then when Lara comes up you like the match up with Sanchez so he pinch hits and gets on. You still have Frelick to run for him and take over in the field. Plus Hamilton waiting on the bench for an emergency of some sort.

Easier for me to see a scenario where having a 13th pitcher is more useful than a 4th pinch runner. 

Exactly, and with the bullpen’s being as strong as they are for both teams I want the 13th pitcher for extra innings.

[long ball]

26 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Yeah, it's like who do you really need to pinch run for on this team?

Contreras and Bauers are too valuable in the box to replace with a pinch runner.

None of Turang, Pratt, Ortiz, Hamilton, Chourio, Mitchell, Lara, Frelick, or Yelich really require one.

That leaves Vaughn and Sanchez as the only real guys you'd pinch run for.

Say Vaughn starts, and gets a hit in the middle innings so you pinch run with Lara. Then when Lara comes up you like the match up with Sanchez so he pinch hits and gets on. You still have Frelick to run for him and take over in the field. Plus Hamilton waiting on the bench for an emergency of some sort.

Easier for me to see a scenario where having a 13th pitcher is more useful than a 4th pinch runner. 

So I don’t disagree overall. The scenario I was seeing in my head was this:

 

late game, Morejon (lefty), he’s facing the bottom of the order than includes Mitchell and Frelick. Sánchez and Vaughn both pinch hit for Mitchell and Frelick. Replaced in the field/bases by Lara and Lockridge. 

[RWeeksFan23]

3 hours ago, MadTownBrewCrew said:

McCalvy’s article today said that May has a 1.23 ERA in 3 games covering 22 innings against the Padres this season.  I’m thinking that he’ll start game 3 in San Diego.

That just means he's due for a dud against them lol

[Samurai Bucky]

7 hours ago, long ball said:

I’m going to throw a final stab at this before the roster is released. 
 

position players (14)

Contreras, Sánchez

bauers, Vaughn, Ortiz, Pratt, Turang, Hamilton

chourio, Mitchell, Frelick, Lara, Lockridge

yelich 

pitchers (12)

Misiorowski, Henderson, May, Gasser

megill, uribe, hall, Ashby, Romero, Senzatela, Patrick, Harrison. 
 

24 of these spots are no brainers and not really up for debate (barring any unforeseen injury announcement). 
 

the brewers have consistently being going with a 12 pitcher roster in the last couple post seasons. So I’ll assume that’s the way they go (even though I think there are more good options for a 13th pitcher than 14th position player). 
 

I went with Lockridge over Naylor for a few reasons. Mostly, it allows you more flexibility to pinch hit for Mitchell, Frelick, or Lara- even if it’s early in the game (say with Sánchez or Vaughn). Lockridge has 1 elite skill that could swing a game as a baserunner. Naylor offers nothing other than an emergency catcher. Truly, when was the last time you saw a catcher leave a game with an injury? It feels like keeping the last roster spot for that unlikely scenario is too conservative. I don’t really want Lockridge or Naylor getting any PA though. 
 

For the 12th pitcher I landed on Harrison. I don’t feel good about it and I’ll be terrified of any appearance he makes. The Padres most dangerous hitters do lean right handed heavy, but I like that Harrison can offer multiple innings if needed. This is admittedly an upside play over Drohan and Anderson and a 5 game series isn’t really a place for an upside play, but just the way they’ve handled Harrison and talked about him leads me to believe he makes the roster. For what it’s worth, I think I’d pick Drohan if I were calling the shots. 
 

I think I’d pitch Henderson in game 2. I want a guy making his first post season start to know when he’s pitching. None of this “we will decide after we see how game 1 goes”. Maybe that’s what they say publicly, but with the plan all along to go with Henderson in game 2. Game 3 and 4 would be essentially bullpen games with Gasser and May hopefully giving 2-4 quality innings on their “bulk day”

 

in theory I don’t hate Henderson going game 3, because it still would likely make him available in the bullpen of game 5 if needed. It would also still allow him to start game 1 of the nlcs on 4 days rest of Misiorowski pitches game 5 of the nlds. It also gives you an off day following a heavy bullpen day in game 2. 

Harrison got lit up the last time he saw them.  I think Drohan gets the nod.