The Brewers are moving on, and Game 4 gave Milwaukee a clean snapshot of why. A 3-1 win over the Padres on Wednesday night sealed the NLDS and sent the No. 1 seed in the National League into a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
It sets up a familiar matchup, too. The Brewers and Dodgers will meet in the NLCS for the second straight year, but the story coming out of this series-clincher was all about who rose and who couldn’t quite finish the job.
William Contreras was right in the middle of it from start to finish. Milwaukee’s catcher stayed hot across the entire series, then added a 2-for-5 night in Game 4 to cap a strong four-game showing. He finished the NLDS slashing .357/.471/.429, with two home runs and two RBIs.
Christian Yelich looked like the version of himself Milwaukee has leaned on for years. His regular season didn’t go the way he wanted, but the four games against San Diego told a different story. Yelich also slashed .357/.471/.429 in the series, and his Game 1 spot in the lineup against lefty Robbie Ray suddenly made a lot more sense.
Robert Gasser delivered one of the biggest surprises of the night. He came into Game 4 with just two games of playoff experience, both from last season when he threw 2 2/3 total innings in a pair of bullpen outings.
This time, in his first postseason start, he gave Milwaukee four innings, allowed one run, and surrendered just three hits. That’s exactly the kind of lift the Brewers needed.
Then there was Garrett Mitchell, who may have made the play everyone remembers from this series. In the eighth inning of Game 4, Manny Machado sent a drive to center field that looked dangerous enough to change everything.
Mitchell tracked it down and made the catch, keeping San Diego from tying the game. Per OptaSTATS, he became the first player since at least 1995 to rob a game-tying or go-ahead home run in a playoff game.
"Garrett Mitchell is the only MLB player in the wild card era (since 1995) to rob a potential game-tying or go-ahead HR in the 8th inning or later of a postseason game," OptaSTATS shared.
Machado was excellent for the Padres over the course of the series, but Mitchell’s grab erased what would have been a massive swing. Instead of a tied game, it went down as a long out.
Ray’s night brought the other side of the ledger into focus. He started Game 1 for San Diego and lasted only 2 2/3 innings while giving up two runs. Then in Game 4, he came out of the bullpen, worked one inning, allowed a run, and took the loss.
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