The Brewers got a welcome sign on Friday, and it came at the right time.
Milwaukee does not have to set its National League Division Series roster until Saturday morning, but the club offered a encouraging update on Joey Ortiz before the official decision. Ortiz has been managing knee and abdominal injuries, yet the expectation is that he will be ready for the NLDS opener.
"It looks like it's progressing in the right direction," Murphy said. "He's still ... he still has some pain.
He's going to tell you, 'no,' and all that kind of stuff. He wants to play very badly.
I would say at this point, we are planning on him being available."
Brewers Manager Pat Murphy on Joey Ortiz’s status👇“At this point, we are planning on him being available.” pic.twitter.com/F1w337ehCx
That would be a meaningful boost for Milwaukee, because Ortiz’s season turned in a big way after he moved from shortstop to third base. There was a stretch in 2026 when his bat was dragging badly enough that the injury news might not have mattered much. Before Cooper Pratt made his big league debut and changed Ortiz’s role, Ortiz was hitting .207 with one home run and 14 RBIs in 60 games.
Pratt debuted on June 16, and from June 17 through the end of the season, Ortiz looked like a different hitter. Over those 74 games, he hit .310/.348/.491 with an .840 OPS, along with eight home runs, 33 RBIs, nine doubles and four triples.
That surge turned him from a player who looked vulnerable to a minor league assignment into a key piece for Milwaukee down the stretch. Now, barring a last-second setback, the Brewers expect him to be part of the mix when they begin NLDS play on Saturday.
The challenge waiting for them is a major one. San Diego enters the series as the hottest team in baseball, and Milwaukee will need every bit of help it can get. If the Brewers can get past the Padres, they would move on to the National League Championship Series to face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves.
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 🡒]