How Brewers Are Using Their Bye Week Ahead of NLDS

On the first workout day of their weeklong bye before the NLDS, the Brewers didn't play a game-like scrimmage. That was by design.

"Don't try to contrive or recreate real at-bats, because you're not going to get those," Pat Murphy said on Tuesday afternoon.

Instead of replicating a game, the Brewers held a specialty workout, deliberately dialing down the intensity to work on some of the basics. Even though September was the club's winningest month of the regular season, Murphy felt his players were slipping on executing fundamentals. Outclassing opponents at the little things has been integral to their regular-season success.

"Let's work on some fundamental things," Murphy said. "Let's work on some specific things, and we'll go from there."

And so, while Grant Anderson and Logan Henderson threw live at-bats to select hitters with no defenders, a rotation of baserunners worked with Spencer Allen on leads and jumps at first base, an area where Murphy said he wanted improvement. The workout lasted about one hour.

The other reason for starting slowly was that the Brewers needed a break. Like most teams, they're banged up after six months of baseball. Jake Bauers has been playing through shin splints and a fractured toe; Joey Ortiz is dealing with an abdominal strain and a knee contusion; and Cooper Pratt and Andrew Vaughn are recovering from illness. Jacob Misiorowski, Henderson, and Shane Drohan are among the pitchers who set career highs in innings pitched. A few days to get guys off their feet is a luxury the Brewers earned by winning a franchise-record 103 games.

"I didn't feel like we limped to the finish line, but, you know, it's 162 games," Drohan said. "Everybody's going through something, so I feel like these couple days off are going to be huge for us, so we can just come out of the gate firing."

Taking greater advantage of the time off could be key for the Brewers, who ran out of steam in last year's NLCS sweep against the Dodgers. To make a deeper postseason run, they'll need to have enough left in the tank through October.

"We're planning on being the team that no one expected that's going to continue to win, but learning from what we did last year -- the emotional series that we had in the division series, knowing that we got to recover and be ready," Murphy said. "Then we lose a game, Game 1 against the Dodgers, and just didn't recover the way I'd like to."

The challenge is striking the balance that makes the bye week an asset, not a detriment. Statistically, there's no evidence that the bye disrupts a team's momentum and leaves them rusty for the start of the NLDS. Last year's Brewers roared out of the gates with a 9-3 victory in Game 1 over the Cubs and eventually won the series. Still, baseball is a mental game, and there's a perceived danger in letting off the gas pedal too far. The Brewers will progress to more intense workouts by the end of the week.

"For years, I've heard managers and players say, 'That layoff killed us. We just got out of our rhythm.' That's real. That could happen," Murphy said. "But it really comes down to the ballplayers, and it comes down to their understanding, their awareness, and their willingness to say, 'Look, I've got to stay on.' Today, maybe not, but probably starting [Wednesday]."

"We kind of experienced this a little bit last year, so we know what we might need to get better at," Brice Turang said. "Just having full trust in what Murph wants to do, and then mentally just being prepared to go."

For Misiorowski, the week off won't look much different. By starting him in the regular-season finale on Sunday, the Brewers lined him up to pitch Game 1 on Saturday on the five days of rest he received for most of the year.

"For myself, it's going to be pretty normal," Misiorowski said. "I'm going to be doing my normal stuff [the days] between, so it's going to be normal rest."

The downtime also gives the Brewers a few more days to evaluate roster candidates. That includes Kyle Harrison, whose stuff bounced back over his final few outings but with mixed results. Given his upside, the Brewers seem likely to take that decision all the way up to the buzzer, and how he looks in his side work during the bye could influence whether he makes the cut as a reliever.

"That last outing meant something," Murphy said. "It was leverage. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what this week brings. It's not a tryout, but we're looking for consistency, the secondary stuff to be consistent. I think he could definitely grab a spot here."

The Brewers' most important games lie ahead. This week is about best positioning themselves to succeed when the lights turn back on.

"I think the vibes in here are great," Drohan said. "I think everybody's appreciating these couple days off."

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