The Brewers have turned their playoff celebration into a running tribute to the people and places that helped build the franchise’s path to the World Series.
After beating the Padres in the NLDS, Milwaukee celebrated with champagne bottles labeled with the name of every city officially incorporated within Wisconsin, a nod to the fan base across the state that had been carried into the clubhouse moment.
The idea got even more detailed after the Brewers finished off the Dodgers with a four-game NLCS sweep, closing it out with a 6-4 win at Dodger Stadium. This time, the bottles carried the names of every player who had appeared in at least one postseason game for the Brewers, along with the year or years they played. That list stretched from Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers & Co. in the 1981 ALDS against the Yankees to the players helping fuel this run, including rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt, who is in his first postseason and, as the story goes, can hardly believe it.
Behind the scenes, the customized bottles are the work of the Brewers’ clubhouse crew, led by vice president of team travel and clubhouse operations Dan Larrea. Larrea has been with the organization since the 1990s, and he also helped create the “win wall” in the Brewers clubhouse years ago, where the team stacks up its season brick by brick and win by win.
Taken together, it’s a celebration that says as much about the franchise as the scoreboard does.
“You know, the dream wasn't just to go to the World Series. The dream is to win it,” said Brewers captain Christian Yelich.
“We'll be locking it in here soon, and we're excited to get back to Milwaukee to see everybody and to play in front of our fans. It’s just amazing to give people memories, families memories, and people with their kids, or even people that are just grown up that have followed the team for a really long time.
It's special, you know? Special for all of us.”
Former Brewer Erik Kratz, who spent one season with Milwaukee in 2018, said the gesture hit home because of how the organization operates.
"No way did I do anything for this team to win, but when you’re included in that kind of stuff, you start looking back and you start thinking about in 2018 what little thing did you do positively that affected this team," Kratz said on Foul Territory.
"What I think the Brewers did really well, and it culminates to this point where they’re in the World Series, is everybody matters, and everybody has a piece in the next step for them. It was such a cool representation of that to have a bottle with my name on it."
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