Brewers clinch third National League Central title in four years

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers have grown accustomed to clinching playoff berths just about every year, but this latest celebration differed from the rest because it was so unexpected.

"It was like nobody thought we were going to be here today," shortstop Willy Adames said Wednesday after the Brewers won their third NL Central title in four years. "Now we're here. I don't know what they're going to say after this."

Milwaukee became the first major league team to reach the postseason Wednesday afternoon when the Chicago Cubs' 5-3 home loss to the Oakland Athletics enabled the Brewers to wrap up the division crown.

The Brewers' clubhouse emptied of players with one out to go in the ninth inning in Chicago, a couple of hours before Milwaukee's scheduled first pitch against Philadelphia. A muffled cheer could be heard after the final out when the Brewers won consecutive division titles for the first time in 42 years.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said he watched the final outs of the Cubs' game with 90-year-old longtime Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker.

"We were doing our show and I watched it with him," Murphy said. "What's better than that? Awesome."

The party began in earnest Wednesday night after Jake Bauers' ninth-inning RBI single gave the Brewers a 2-1 victory over the Phillies. Blue-and-gold streamers fell into the American Family Field stands as the team gathered in shallow center field.

That led to a champagne-soaked celebration in the locker room before players returned to the field to pose for a team picture while receiving a standing ovation from the fans who remained.

Not everyone could drink the champagne. Rookie outfielder Jackson Chourio is still only 20 years old.

"I think maybe I'll grab a Coke or something," Chourio joked through an interpreter.

This marks the Brewers' sixth postseason berth in the past seven years, a remarkable accomplishment for a small-market team that made the playoffs only twice in a 35-year stretch from 1983 to 2017.

Although the Brewers have made a habit of outperforming preseason expectations, the odds seemed stacked against them even more than usual this year.

Craig Counsell, the winningest manager in Brewers history, left for the rival Cubs last offseason. Corbin Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, was traded to the Baltimore Orioles.

Two-time All-Star right-hander Brandon Woodruff didn't pitch all season as he recovered from shoulder surgery, and two-time NL reliever of the year Devin Williamssat out the first half of the season because of stress fractures in his back. All-Star outfielder Christian Yelich and pitchers Wade Miley and Robert Gasser went down because of season-ending injuries.

None of it stopped Milwaukee.

"You can do all that to us, but it's still about people, and you have no idea what their best is," Murphy said. "These guys don't know what their best is and didn't know what their best was and still don't. But they know one thing: pulling together, competing. Being doubted is something that can vault you forward into a championship."

The Brewers took over first place for good at the end of April and never looked back. Now they've won back-to-back division titles for the first time since 1981-82. That 1982 season marked Milwaukee's lone World Series appearance, which ended with a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee benefited from the leadership of Murphy, who had been Counsell's bench coach since 2016. Rather than following Counsell to Chicago, Murphy stayed in Milwaukee and got his first full-time opportunity as a major league manager two weeks before his 65th birthday. Murphy's only previous MLB managerial experience had come as an interim skipper with San Diego in 2015.

Murphy has kept the locker room loose while guiding a team that hasn't lost more than three straight games at any point this season -- the only MLB team to be able to say that this season.

"He's brought the edge that we play with," Williams said. "We're ready to fight every day."

The Brewers have succeeded with what Murphy refers to as an "all-hands-on-deck" approach.

Milwaukee has used 17 starting pitchers this season (only the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels had more). Twelve Brewers pitchers have earned a save, two shy of the record of 14 set by the 2021 Tampa Bay Rays. Milwaukee entered Wednesday with a 3.65 ERA that ranked fourth in the majors.

The Brewers relied largely on their pitching the past few seasons and ultimately came up short in the playoffs, as they've lost nine of their past 10 postseason games. This year's Brewers lineup appears to pack more punch.

Milwaukee entered Wednesday ranked fourth in runs (733) and 11th in OPS (.735) after finishing 17th in runs (728) and 23rd in OPS (.704) last year.

Yelich was leading the NL in batting average (.315) and on-base percentage (.406) before back issues ended his season in late July. William Contreras has developed into one of the game's best-hitting catchers. Adames is the first Brewers shortstop to have a 30-homer, 100-RBI season, something even Hall of Famer Robin Yount never accomplished in Milwaukee. Chourio is the youngest player to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in one season.

"This is exactly what you as a competitor want to be a part of, right?" first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. "It didn't necessarily look exactly the way that maybe some of us thought, but what's cool is that we still were able to find ways to get the job done."