The Brewers are down to the final stretch before the 2026 playoffs, and one of the biggest decisions left in front of them is still unresolved.
Milwaukee has three days before opening its NLDS run at home against either the San Diego Padres or the Chicago Cubs. If the Padres win on Wednesday night, they’ll be the team heading to Milwaukee.
Either way, the Brewers already know Jacob Misiorowski will start Game 1 and Logan Henderson is lined up for Game 2. What they have not announced yet is the Game 3 starter, and that is now the question hanging over the club.
That choice would look a lot simpler if Kyle Harrison had not struggled down the stretch. In that case, he would have been in the mix for one of the first two games, or at the very least would have given Milwaukee a cleaner option for Game 3.
The same goes for Brandon Woodruff, who would have been in line for one of those early starts if he had not gotten hurt. Instead, the Brewers are left weighing two names that have separated themselves from the rest: Robert Gasser and Dustin May.
May looked like the clear answer when Milwaukee acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals, especially once Harrison’s struggles became impossible to ignore.
That still might be where this lands. But the finish to the regular season wasn’t especially smooth for him.
May has not gone beyond three innings in a game since Sep. 11, and in 10 appearances for Milwaukee, he has worked fewer than four innings six times. The early buzz around his arrival has cooled some.
Gasser, meanwhile, finished strong. Over his final six appearances of the season, he posted a 1.67 ERA across 32 1/3 innings.
Milwaukee went 5-1 in those six games, and Gasser did not allow more than one run in any outing since Sep. 1.
On paper, the choice looks pretty straightforward. Gasser has been the better pitcher lately, and that should matter most for a Game 3 assignment. May’s playoff experience gives him an edge, but Gasser’s late-season run makes the case for him hard to ignore.
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Brice Turang Just Raised A Big Brewers Question
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Now the Brewers have a decision to make, and it goes well beyond celebrating a breakout. Turang is under team control through 2029, which gives the front office time, but it also opens the door to thinking about a longer-term extension while the organization weighs a strong infield prospect pipeline. The question is whether Milwaukee wants to lock in one of the games best young second basemen now, before the internal roster picture gets even more complicated. [Read more 🡒]