Bend, Don't Break: Brewers Held the Line in San Diego to Advance to NLCS

Last week, Jake Bauers reflected candidly on last year's Brewers team, which was swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. After the best regular season in franchise history and an emotional win over the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS, they looked like shells of themselves in a largely non-competitive series. Once the Dodgers punched first with a Game 1 win, the Brewers looked exhausted and defeated.

"When I think back to last year, I think there was an element of maybe a little bit of lack of belief that we could do it, maybe a little too much doubt," Bauers said. "I think going into this postseason, there's a different feeling around the team."

The Brewers' offense got away from its strengths in last year's NLCS. Against tough Los Angeles pitching, their hitters stopped responding to adversity and started expanding the strike zone. Bauers felt that would be different this year.

"I think we've built a really good team, a really good culture, and I think we believe in each other," he said. "I think we all know that whether one person doesn't get it done, there's someone right behind them that's going to be ready to pick them up. And that's something that we've done all year, and I think that's only added to the confidence."

Unlike in last year's NLCS, the Brewers weren't fazed by adversity. Yes, they caught a break on Ty France's redirected flyout off American Family Field's roof in Game 1, but a lot went wrong in a tense NLDS against the San Diego Padres. Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson were not their sharpest. The infield defense was shaky. They made more hard contact (45%) than the Padres (30%), but well-struck outs kept them from building more comfortable leads.

Through it all, the Brewers stayed consistent in two ways that ultimately won them the series in four games: they pitched exceptionally, and they stuck to their disciplined approach. Milwaukee pitchers posted a 1.80 ERA and 3.47 FIP in the series to outlast San Diego's vaunted bullpen. Its offense chased just 26% of pitches outside the strike zone and swung at 63% of pitches in the zone, slightly better than their regular-season swing decisions.

That consistency amid adversity came to a head in Game 4, where the Brewers held off the Padres to advance to the NLCS. San Diego repeatedly threatened to send the series back to Milwaukee for an elimination game, but while the Brewers bent in multiple key moments, they did not break.

Robert Gasser was tested immediately in his first career postseason start. One out into the bottom of the first inning, Jackson Merrill blooped a single and Manny Machado bunted for a hit. Instead of turning an inning-ending double play on a ground ball to third, Joey Ortiz strolled to the base and held onto the ball after retiring the lead runner. His unnecessary caution nearly created a big inning, as Gasser walked Austin Hays to load the bases.

Gasser bore down, though, getting ahead to Xander Bogaerts and inducing an inning-ending pop-up with a 0-2 sweeper. He went on to work four innings of one-run ball, keeping the Brewers in the game and allowing them to avoid using their higher-variance relievers in the middle innings.

Offensively, the Brewers made some loud contact early against Walker Buehler, without much to show for it. Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich hit hard groundouts in a scoreless first inning. They scored with nobody out in the third on consecutive singles by Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell, but hopes of a big inning were dashed when Ortiz drilled a 108-MPH ground ball right at Bogaerts for a double play. After the Padres tied it on a Fernando Tatis Jr. homer a few minutes later, Frelick smoked a 100-MPH grounder up the middle to a shaded Bogaerts in another unsuccessful scoring situation.

The Brewers didn't change their approach, though, staying selective and striking at the right pitches. After Mitchell led off the fifth with a triple, Jackson Chourio muscled a Bradgley Rodriguez sinker into center to score the go-ahead run. They added another on Frelick's sac fly in the sixth.

By then, the defense locked back in. Pratt, who committed his third error of the series an inning earlier, robbed Tatis of a single with a diving stop in the fifth to help Aaron Ashby through his first of three scoreless innings. In the eighth, a shaky Abner Uribe nearly allowed a game-tying home run to Manny Machado, but Garrett Mitchell reached over the short wall in center to bring it back for the second out. Brice Turang then called off Jake Bauers to snag an inning-ending pop-up on the run in foul territory. Trevor Megill slammed the door with a perfect ninth.

The Brewers weren't their best. The Padres made them work for nearly every out and nearly every run. They hardly seemed fazed, which should serve them well in an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers. By winning the series in four games, they'll get three days off to recharge for the series instead of last year's one-day break after the Cubs series.

After Megill struck out Gavin Sheets to end the series, the Brewers lined up and shook hands in a subdued celebration similar to a regular-season win. It was another reflection of how their standards and expectations have grown. They still face real challenges and concerns in reaching their first World Series since 1982, but this team is showing signs of being different than those that fell short before it.

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