MILWAUKEE -- Saturday’s NLDS opener had the feel of a heavyweight fight, with the Brewers and Padres trading punches all night before Milwaukee finally landed the last one in a 3-2 win.
The game turned on the bullpens, and it turned fast. San Diego’s late-inning pair of Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon carried a reputation for shutting doors, but the Brewers were the first to crack one open. William Contreras jumped on Morejon’s 3-2 sinker and sent an opposite-field solo shot to right field in the seventh, breaking a 2-2 tie and snapping Morejon’s 8 1/3 scoreless postseason innings dating back to the 2024 NLDS against the Dodgers.
Milwaukee had to survive its own tense moments to make that lead hold. Lefty DL Hall was asked to clean up Abner Uribe’s bases-loaded jam in the seventh, then worked through two more outs in the eighth. Trevor Megill finished it with a four-out save as the Brewers’ relief corps absorbed plenty of pressure of its own.
Even with both bullpens stretched - San Diego’s relievers covered 5 1/3 innings and Milwaukee’s worked five - the matchup may tilt differently in Game 2. The Brewers are set to send Logan Henderson to the mound for his first postseason start, while the Padres will counter with ace Michael King. King is coming off a sharp outing against the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series, when he allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings in Game 1.
The Padres also came in with a clear approach against Jacob Misiorowski, and they stuck to it. Milwaukee’s ace opened the game by throwing the fastest postseason pitch in the Statcast era, a 104.8 mph heater, but San Diego wasn’t overmatched by the velocity. Padres hitters whiffed only four times on 28 swings against his fastballs and fouled off 30 pitches, helping drive up his pitch count.
They were just as ready when he went to his other pitches. Every one of San Diego’s four hits, along with a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the second inning, came against either a cutter or a slider.
After a 25-pitch first inning, Misiorowski needed 33 pitches to get through only eight hitters in a two-run second. The crowd lost some of its early energy, and Misiorowski was done after four innings and 88 pitches.
That could matter again if this series reaches a Game 5, when Misiorowski would most likely be the Brewers’ starter. After Saturday, the Padres have to feel better about their chances of handling him the next time around.
Milwaukee also showed it can win this kind of game with the long ball, even if that wasn’t the club’s calling card in the regular season. The Brewers finished last in the NL and second-to-last in the majors in home runs, but Pat Murphy said Friday, "home runs are thrown … and you have to be ready when they are thrown. Maybe we weren't quite as ready as some other teams to hit them."
And as much as one win only counts as one win, Game 1 still matters plenty in a best-of-five. Teams that win the opener have gone on to take the series 116 times in 160 best-of-five postseason series, a 73% clip. Under the current LDS setup, home teams that grab Game 1 have advanced 42 of 56 times, or 75%.
The Brewers already know what that looks like. They won Game 1 over the Cubs in the 2025 NLDS and finished the job in five games.
The Padres, meanwhile, lost Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the Dodgers and fell in five. That puts even more weight on King’s start Sunday, because teams that go up 2-0 in best-of-five series have won 83 of 93 times, and in Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams that win the first two games at home have advanced 33 of 36 times.
In Other News...
Brewers Hold On After Wild Ninth Inning Call Sparks Padres Fury
A bizarre ninth-inning moment at American Family Field became the defining flashpoint of Game 1 of the National League Division Series, when Ty France sent a fly ball high enough to strike a cable on the roof before Jackson Chourio made the catch for the Brewers. The umpires ruled it an out under the ballparks ground rules, deciding the ball had hit over fair territory, and the call immediately turned a tense postseason game into the kind of replay-worthy controversy that tends to linger long after the final pitch.
For Milwaukee, the ruling helped preserve a hard-fought win, but it also left the Padres simmering over how the final inning unfolded. Craig Stammen and Pat Murphy both addressed the play afterward, along with players involved, as the odd sequence became less about the mechanics of a ruling and more about the pressure-cooker reality of October baseball, where a single strange bounce can reshape a whole series opener. [Read more 🡒]
Jacob Misiorowski's Wild NLDS Start Left Brewers Fans With One Concern
Jacob Misiorowskis NLDS debut gave Brewers fans exactly the kind of electricity they have come to expect from the rookie right-hander, and then some. In Game 1 against the Padres, he reached a new velocity peak with a 104.8 mph pitch and kept the fastball coming, piling up 52 pitches at 100 mph or harder while working four innings and striking out six.
For Milwaukee, the appeal is obvious. Misiorowskis stuff can change a series in a hurry, and he left the opener having allowed two runs on four hits and a walk before the Brewers turned to the bullpen with the game still hanging in the balance. The only real question now is how that kind of effort shapes what comes next, because outings like that can be a weapon and a warning at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Willson Contreras Just Changed An Early Brewers Playoff Storyline
The Brewers opened their NL Division Series with a tight 3-2 win over the Padres, and the biggest swing came from a familiar face who had been at the center of a late-season flashpoint. Willson Contreras delivered the go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning after Jackson Chourio had already dragged Milwaukee back into the game with a tying two-run shot earlier, giving the Brewers the kind of timely power they have been chasing as October pressure ramps up.
Contreras performance carries extra weight because manager Pat Murphy benched him late in the regular season over a lack of hustle, a decision that had left his role under the microscope going into the postseason. Instead of letting that become the headline, Contreras answered in the first game that mattered most, giving Milwaukee an early playoff storyline built around response, not resentment, even if the full impact of that turnaround is still unfolding. [Read more 🡒]