The 2023 Milwaukee Brewers Are Officially Postseason Bound

It's not the milestone the Brewers are aiming for. They'll wait until their next win (or the next Cubs loss) to line the clubhouse with plastic and don the ski goggles for champagne sprays and beer showers. They want the NL Central crown, and they'll have it. They want the NL pennant, and that will be hard but exhilarating work. On Friday night, though, they took one important step on that path, securing a place in the tournament.

How It Went Down
In what was supposed to be just another bullpen day for the Miami Marlins, the Brewers had one of the most violent second innings in the history of baseball, scoring 12 runs. After some much-needed rest, Christian Yelich went 3-4 with two home runs, five RBI, and an astounding 10 total bases. Maybe an extended break is exactly what he needed to return to form.

On the pitching side of things, Corbin Burnes went five shutout innings and struck out six. Trevor Megill and Andrew Chafin kept the Marlins at zero runs and Bryse Wilson gave up a solo home run to Jon Berti to close the lead to 15 runs. In the ninth inning, closer Rowdy Tellez used his perfect command of the zone to paint corners and pitch a scoreless ninth inning, while recording his first career strikeout as a pitcher.

It was the perfect way to sew up their place in the postseason. A dominant display of force over a competitive opponent that may end up being their first round matchup should have fans excited for what’s to come.

Like Your Annoying Coworker's Pen, Things Are Clicking
It hasn’t been the smoothest season. The Brewers have lost the division lead to both the Pirates and the Reds at least once this year but have managed to reclaim and hold it since August. Part of the struggle was the abysmal hitting in the first half. Before the All-Star break, the team combined for an OPS of just .689, 25th in MLB. Players like Jesse Winker, Luis Urias, and Luke Voit were freezing cold and swinging dead bats. 

After some roster adjustments, new faces like Mark Canha, Carlos Santana, Sal Frelick, and Josh Donaldson joined the lineup in the second half and began to revive the team at the plate. Furthermore, some players made big strides to improve on their pre-All Star figures. Here are the three biggest upgrades:

To bolster an already formidable starting rotation, Brandon Woodruff returned to pitching full-time and at peak form. Burnes and Freddy Peralta went from 3.94 and 4.70 first-half ERAs to 2.84 and 2.42 ERA figures in the second. Inconsistent bullpen pieces like Matt Bush and Peter Strzelecki were removed to make room for the likes of Abner Uribe and a more refined version of Trevor Megill.

What's Next
This playoff run will not be an easy one. The Wild Card is full of scrappy teams (aside from the Marlins, I guess), and the Dodgers and the Braves are both monumental challenges in their own right.

This team hasn’t always made the perfect move, but the roster has been managed well, making hard decisions when needed and the team is already seeing big returns. Let’s hope for continued dividends through October--and perhaps even into the start of November.