For years, October baseball has been sold as a power contest. The teams that get to the finish line usually leave a trail of home runs behind them, and the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers entered the postseason with a profile that didn’t fit that mold.
They hit the fewest home runs in the National League during the regular season, which made them a risky pick in some eyes. Then they went out and authored one of the most dominant postseason runs in MLB history.
What made Milwaukee so hard to pin down was the way the offense kept changing shape. Some nights it was the long ball.
Other nights it was a string of base hits, a defensive mistake, or a late rally that flipped everything in an instant. The Brewers never seemed locked into one script, and that versatility became a defining feature of their championship march.
The NLDS against the Padres offered the clearest example of that mix. Game 1 was a power game, with Jackson Chourio launching a two-run homer and William Contreras following with a go-ahead solo shot in the seventh inning of a 3-2 win.
The next day, Milwaukee won in a completely different way. Chourio came through with a two-out, two-strike walk-off single against Mason Miller to seal a 4-3 victory and a 2-0 series lead.
In that game, the Brewers’ four runs came on RBI singles and a fielding error by Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth.
Milwaukee only added one more homer in the series, a solo shot from Contreras in Game 3, which the Brewers lost. Even so, the numbers still tilted their way. They finished with a 33-23 edge in hits and a .340-.278 advantage in on-base percentage, and that helped explain why their offense outperformed San Diego’s even without leaning heavily on the long ball.
The NLCS sweep of the Dodgers looked different again. This time, the Brewers did damage with power, and plenty of it.
Brice Turang tied Game 1 with a homer off Tarik Skubal, Contreras matched the moment with a game-tying blast in Game 2, and Jake Bauers delivered a big swing in Game 3. Garrett Mitchell added left-on-left home runs in Games 3 and 4, and Milwaukee overwhelmed Los Angeles by out-homering the Dodgers 7-1 in the four-game sweep.
The World Series against the Rays showed the same pattern of adaptability. Milwaukee opened the Fall Classic with 3-2 and 5-4 wins, then broke Game 3 wide open with a 10-1 rout.
Sal Frelick’s game-tying homer in Game 2 was the only one the Brewers needed to build a 3-0 series lead, and Game 3 was all about relentless contact. An eight-run, two-out rally in the fifth inning turned the game into a runaway, every Brewers starter reached base, eight of nine drove in a run, and Chourio finished with four hits.
Even when the Rays got some power back in Game 4, with Cooper Pratt and David Hamilton each going deep in Milwaukee’s loss, it didn’t change the larger story. The Brewers finished the job in Game 5 without a home run, scratching out four runs on eight hits to close out the series.
That’s what stood out most about this run: opponents never found one reliable way to shut Milwaukee down. The Brewers could win with late-inning hits, with home runs when pitchers missed their spots, or by grinding through quality at-bats until the other side cracked. They kept pitchers from settling in, and that constant pressure made them so difficult to stop.
Milwaukee’s postseason run pushed back on the idea that October success has to come from power alone. The Brewers did out-homer every opponent they faced, and the home run certainly mattered, especially in the NLCS. But they also showed how a team can win in October by getting on base, forcing mistakes, and delivering when the moment calls for a single instead of a blast.
In Other News...
Brewers Young Core Just Added Another Reason For Championship Buzz
The Brewers young core picked up another layer of credibility when Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio were named 2026 National League Gold Glove Award winners. Turang added a second career Gold Glove at second base, while Chourio earned his first in left field, a fitting nod for two players who spent the season setting the tone for Milwaukee with their gloves as much as their bats.
For a club built around run prevention and athleticism, the recognition matters well beyond the trophy case. Both players led the Brewers in defensive metrics during the season, reinforcing the idea that Milwaukees best teams can be anchored by impact defense up the middle and in the outfield, even as the roster continues to mature around them. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Reached A Defensive Milestone Few Teams Ever See
The Rawlings Gold Glove announcements gave the Brewers a rare defensive double, with Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio both taking home honors in the same season. For a club that has long valued run prevention as much as run production, it was a fitting nod to two players who made their marks in different corners of the field, with Turang standing out at second base and Chourio emerging in left.
Turang picked up the second Gold Glove of his career after leading MLB in defensive runs saved at his position, while Chourio earned his first after pacing the National League in fielding run value. Both now move into Platinum Glove consideration, with the winners set to be revealed at a ceremony in New York City on Nov. 6. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Get A Huge William Contreras Offseason Signal
There had been some offseason chatter around William Contreras and whether a catcher with his profile might draw trade interest, especially with free agency approaching. But the latest read from ESPN insider Jeff Passan points in a different direction, and for Milwaukee that is the kind of early winter signal that matters, because Contreras has become one of the most important pieces on the roster and just added a World Series MVP to his resume.
For a Brewers team trying to keep its core intact while sorting through the rest of the roster, keeping Contreras in place would be a major stabilizing move. His value goes well beyond the numbers, and the front office now appears to have at least one foundational decision made, even if other parts of the bullpen picture are still very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]