A Great Relief: Aaron Ashby, In the Role He Was Meant For, Nails Down Brewers' Return Trip to World Series

The situation never presented itself last year, mainly because the Los Angeles Dodgers completely shut down the Milwaukee Brewers’ offense.

Also, because of where the Crew’s starting rotation was at entering the postseason, much less the 2025 NL Championship Series, manager Pat Murphy felt the best use of his ace left-handed reliever, Aaron Ashby, was to get the pitching staff off to a good start and hope from there.

It mostly worked from the Ashby perspective as he started three postseason games, including Games 1 and 3 of the NLCS.

A year later, Ashby serving as an opener wasn’t even a thought. Of the various weapons Murphy has in his holster, Ashby is the most versatile, but also is a silver bullet. When you want to put an opponent out of their misery, you pull the Ashby trigger.

When it came time to slay the Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions who have been favored to win a third straight since the last out of last year’s Fall Classic, Ashby did the grittiest work of a Brewers bullpen that, other than one glitch, kept a potent Dodgers offense off-balance. Because of that, the Brewers are headed back to the World Series for the first time since 1982 with a 6-4 victory over the Dodgers on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. It was a four-game sweep of the mighty Dodgers with their megapayroll.

Ashby is responsible for a big part of that.

The bespectacled left-hander, who vultured 13 wins throughout the regular season, was masterful for the final three innings of Game 4. This time, he picked up the biggest save of his career.

With his curveball as sharp as it has ever been, Ashby went the final three innings, seemingly getting stronger with each out. The 28-year-old, taken by the Brewers in the fourth round in 2018, came on to protect a 5-4 lead. Sure, the Brewers had the cushion of more games to lose, but when you have a chance to take down the dragon, you take down the dragon.

Ashby started off a little rough by giving up a leadoff double to Andy Pages, stirring the fervent fans at Dodgers Stadium. Enrique Hernandez bunted Pages to third, bringing up the top of the order and the resurgent Shohei Ohtani. The four-time MVP ended his slump with his first homer since Aug. 18 to put the Dodgers up 4-0 in the second inning. Ohtani fouled off a first-pitch slider, then wiped him out with a sinker and another slider way outside that he flailed at. Another former MVP, Mookie Betts, grounded out to rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt.

That figured to be half of Ashby's job with right-handed closer Trevor Megill getting ready in the bullpen for the ninth. In the eighth, Freddie Freeman, the third of the Dodgers' MVPs, led off the eight by flying out to Jackson Chourio in left. Will Smith, who hit the decisive homer in Game 7 of last year's World Series, then doubled into the right-field corner and went to third when Sal Frelick couldn't handle the ball, getting the nerves of Brewers fans working. But Ashby, with the tying run 90 feet away, got Kyle Tucker to fly out to Garrett Mitchell, who raced in to make the catch in shallow center. Teoscar Hernandez struck out, putting the Brewers three outs away.

While conventional wisdom had Murphy calling on Megill to close it out, Murphy rode the hot hand and stuck with Ashby to at least begin the ninth. Tommy Edman pinch-hit and ran the count full before grounding out to Pratt at short. Two more outs. Pages, the first batter he faced in Game 4, struck out on four pitches. One more out. Ashby got in front of Hernandez 0-2, then hit a liner that seemed headed over Chourio's head, but he reached up and plucked it out of the air for the final out. Ashby had the save, not just a regular save, a three-inning save. The Brewers were going back to the World Series.

It capped a three-game performance in which Ashby pitched 6⅔ innings, allowing just two hits and no walks, punching out six. He hasn't allowed a run in 12⅓ innings in six appearances this postseason.

Ashby gets the headline, but it was the work that right-hander Dustin May and left-hander JoJo Romero, the two players the Brewers acquired at the trade deadline from the St. Louis Cardinals, following the abbreviated start by rookie left-hander Shane Drohan, who was making his postseason debut by pitching a potential clincher.

Sure, May did give up the three-run bomb by Ohtani that could have been a dagger in the Brewers. But he bounced back from that and gave Murphy the innings he needed in this game. May shut down his former team for two more innings, getting the Crew through four innings. Meanwhile, the offense got a pair in the fourth thanks to NLCS MVP Jake Bauers' two-run double to make it 4-2.

Romero was the next piece of the puzzle and just as big as Ashby. After walks helped bring in two more Brewers runs, the game was now tied. Garrett Mitchell would homer in the fifth to put the Crew up 5-4. Romero was nails. He allowed a hit, but retired six of the seven hitters he retired. His fifth inning was his biggest challenge. Facing the MVP  triumvirate of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman. Strikeout, groundout, strikeout. He was credited with the victory, giving the bullpen all four wins in this series.

It is a unit that was already pretty respected across MLB, but with the performance the bullpen put on throughout the series against the Dodgers, the relievers took it to a new level.

Because of that, the Brewers are back where they were 44 years ago. The World Series.

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