What Does the Brewers Bullpen's Path Past the Padres Look Like?

The Milwaukee Brewers were the best team in Major League Baseball this season, winning a franchise-record 103 games and clinching their fourth straight National League Central title. Finishing with the best record in the league earned them a date with the winner of the Wild Card Series between the top two Wild Card entrants, which netted them this date with the San Diego Padres.

The Brewers struggled with the Padres during the regular season, dropping four of the six games between the two teams. Some of those losses were due to bullpen struggles that were uncharacteristic, for a Milwaukee squad rich in relief options. Let's dive a bit more into that, because the pen walked a high wire in Games 1 and 2 and will be tested even more sternly in Games 3 and 4.

Abner Uribe
Uribe was one of the top relievers in baseball this season, posting a 1.97 ERA with 62 strikeouts and an opponent average of .199 across 61 outings and 59 1/3 innings pitched. It was the second consecutive season in which Uribe posted a sub-2.00 ERA, making him one of the most feared arms in the league. He did not, though, strike fear into Padres hitters.

Uribe made two appearances against San Diego in the regular season, posting a 13.50 ERA with two walks and two strikeouts across two innings pitched. Both of those outings came in early May. He was solid in one, but gave up a go-ahead three-run home run in the other. Uribe did have a walk in both outings, something he allowed just 19 of during the regular season. Those struggles carried right over into his appearances in Games 1 and 2, too. He hit a batter, walked another and allowed three hits, all of them well-struck. He could have had better defensive support, and a couple of tough calls went against him, but San Diego batters seem to have the measure of Uribe. Ideally, he'll be less vital in whatever's left of this series, or at least pitch against a different pocket of the Padres lineup. The top four batters in their usual order have each seen him twice already.

Trevor Megill
Megill turned in another outstanding season in 2026, posting a 2.63 ERA and 0.89 WHIP while striking out 69 batters across 63 appearances and 61 2/3 innings. His 30 saves were tied for 10th-most in MLB; it was his second consecutive season collecting 30 saves. Megill didn't struggle against San Diego to the extent that Uribe did, but he did have a bit of a bumpy outing during the regular season that gives us some insight into his close call Saturday night.

Megill appeared twice against the Padres this season, posting a 3.38 ERA with three strikeouts and one walk across 2 2/3 innings pitched. San Diego got him for a run on two hits in an outing on May 12. That came before Megill was the unquestioned closer; he was setting up Uribe that day. A Fernando Tatis Jr. single and a Miguel Andujar double were the keys to the miniature San Diego rally; Megill actually struck out all three batters he got out that day, including Ty France. He was dominant when he saw them again in August, getting five outs to keep the winning run from scoring in both the ninth and 10th innings. In the middle of that appearance, though, he issued a telling intentional walk to Tatis. In Sunday's Game 2, Megill pitched the top of the ninth and kept the Brewers' deficit to one run, but Tatis hit a ball all the way to the left field wall, where Jackson Chourio hauled it down.

The stuff and swing paths match up favorably for Megill against most of the Padres order, but Tatis and France pose significant danger for him. We saw that in the regular season, and again over the weekend. While the Brewers have escaped damage late in each of the two games so far, their bullpen hasn't exactly figured out the top half of the San Diego lineup.

The third member of the Milwaukee three-headed monster, Aaron Ashby, did allow a .286 average to Padres' hitters in two outings, but he escaped without giving up any runs. He looked best of the set in the first phase of the NLDS, too, though he had the advantage of working against the bottom half of the batting order and seeing some left-handed batters. 

This series could still come down to whether Milwaukee relievers can get out Padres batters in a close, late-game situation. We've seen multiple pieces of evidence that Uribe and Megill are vulnerable to those hitters, and now, each has pitched against them very recently. Ashby might be the X-factor. Though he's a lefty (and, thus, is in some real danger when facing the likes of Tatis, Manny Machado and France), he could be the difference-maker during the remainder of this series, as the Brewers try to close it out and advance to the NLCS for the second year in a row.

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