The Milwaukee Brewers made it all the way to their first National League pennant without touching their roster.
Through the NLDS and NLCS, Pat Murphy rolled with the same 13 pitchers and 13 position players. Milwaukee needed just eight games to get past the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, and that meant two arms in the bullpen never even got the call. Right-handers Chad Patrick and southpaw Kyle Harrison were available throughout both rounds, but Murphy never had to turn to either one.
Now, with the World Series ahead, that unchanged roster has one possible wrinkle: Brandon Woodruff.
At 33, the veteran right-hander is trying to fight his way back from an anterior capsule strain in his shoulder, the same injury that led to surgery in October of 2023. He last pitched on July 4 and seemed to be headed for another operation not long after, but his rehab has taken a better turn than expected. He has been throwing bullpens during the postseason, and Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported one week ago that he was close to facing hitters.
“Brandon Woodruff threw a 31-pitch bullpen this afternoon at Dodger Stadium. The intent is being ramped up, and facing batters could be next.
How’s the stuff? “If you ask me, it’s pretty good.””
Woodruff also made his case plainly during the Brewers’ pennant celebration. As Hogg reported, he told the Journal Sentinel, “It’s going to be hard to keep me off that roster.
I’m going to do everything I can. I’m in a good spot.”
That has only added to the sense that he could make Milwaukee’s postseason roster for the first time since 2021, when he last appeared in October in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.
The risk is obvious. If Woodruff is on the World Series roster, his first game action in nearly four months would come on the sport’s biggest stage.
But the Brewers may be able to carry that gamble. Patrick and Harrison were essentially depth options in the NLDS and NLCS, the kind of pitchers reserved for the deepest corners of a game, and the Brewers now have a full week before the World Series begins.
They do not need to protect every bullpen spot the same way they did earlier in the postseason, even if the series goes seven games. That opens the door for Woodruff to replace one of those unused arms, if Milwaukee believes he gives them a better shot to win.
This isn’t about sentiment. The Brewers won’t make room for Woodruff just because he’s a franchise legend.
They’ll only do it if they think he upgrades the roster. But after the run he’s made, that decision is now the one real question left before the Fall Classic.
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