The Brewers got to 103 wins by living Pat Murphy’s “win tonight” mantra every single night, and that same edge-of-the-seat style left Milwaukee with a bullpen that’s been asked to carry a heavy load. Now the postseason shifts the conversation from volume to trust: who gets the ball when the game tightens and the outs get expensive?
At the top of that list, the answer is pretty clear. Trevor Megill led the club with 30 saves, while Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe each finished with six, and Aaron Ashby added four. Entering the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, Ashby, Uribe and Megill stand as Murphy’s most trusted trio, the arms he’s most likely to lean on when the game is on the line.
The real question is what comes next.
If Milwaukee needs a fourth reliever in a close playoff game, Patrick looks like a strong candidate. He was sharp in the postseason last year, then put together a 3.40 ERA this season while clearing the 100-inning mark for the second straight year.
Right behind him could be DL Hall, who delivered a 1.91 ERA and backed it with upper-90s velocity and nearly seven feet of extension, a combination that makes his fastball play harder than the radar gun says. His curveball did plenty of damage too, averaging 2,752 RPM and holding hitters to a .086 average even though it was his second-most-used pitch.
JoJo Romero has also pushed his way into the picture. The trade deadline pickup posted a 3.38 ERA in 11 appearances for Milwaukee and should be one of the fresher arms in the bullpen after a midseason appendectomy shut him down for a month. Murphy has mostly used him in the middle innings in high-leverage spots, and that role could carry straight into October.
Another name worth watching is rookie left-hander Shane Drohan. He spent time both in the rotation and the bullpen, but his relief work was especially strong, producing a 1.47 ERA. Beyond him, right-hander Antonio Senzatela and potentially southpaw Kyle Harrison fit more into matchup-based usage, with Harrison not a lock to make the postseason roster.
So while the Brewers have plenty of options, the trust tree gets narrower as the pressure climbs. Murphy has a deep group to choose from in the NLDS, but once the game gets tight, the hierarchy is starting to take shape. Dustin May and Robert Gasser were not part of this bullpen picture because they worked as starting pitchers this year, and one of them is likely to start Game 3.
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 🡒]