Brewers’ Pat Murphy Doesn’t Hold Back After Clinching Postseason

The Milwaukee Brewers punched their ticket to the postseason Friday night with a 20-0 thrashing of the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field, locking up their fourth straight October appearance and eighth berth in nine seasons.

Garrett Mitchell supplied Milwaukee’s first grand slam of the year during a four-homer outburst that also included shots from William Contreras, Brice Turang and Jake Bauers. The Brewers collected a season-high 23 hits, jumped out early and never let the Reds breathe. Dustin May and Garrett Stallings combined on a two-hitter.

The win lifted Milwaukee to 92-56, the best mark in the majors and a franchise-record 36 games over .500. The Brewers lead the Chicago Cubs by 10 games in the National League Central with 14 games left. Their magic number to wrap up a fourth consecutive division title is four.

The Elias Sports Bureau said the 20-run margin was the largest by any club on the day it clinched a playoff spot, topping 17-run wins by the 2001 Atlanta Braves and 1996 New York Yankees.

Manager Pat Murphy spoke afterward with Tricia Whitaker of Apple TV.

“These guys have done what other people didn’t think they could do for a while now,” Murphy said. “They just keep getting better; they keep understanding what it takes to play winning baseball. I’m proud of them.”

He added, “We set the bar so high that you never really felt like ‘Hey, we’re doing it,’ but now it’s become a reality.”

The Brewers did not treat the night like a finish line. There was no champagne spray in the clubhouse, only a toast. Murphy made that point plain.

“At least the first step is down,” Murphy said. “We got many more to go, but we’ll make sure to stay on track.”

The team posted video of Murphy’s remarks to the players. He told them the work was just beginning.

“This is Step One,” Murphy said. “I’ve got about a number of other ones that we can accomplish this year if we stay a team. Not everybody’s going to be comfortable. You guys have been through it. You should be really proud of what you accomplished so far.

“Once again, no one picked you to do it. But once again, in the face of that, you went out and you play and get it done. And you didn’t complain or explain, but it’s not comfortable. It’s painful. You have to sacrifice, and everything brings something new for you.

“I want to take a second before we toast, just to recognize the people that maybe go unnoticed here. You think about the clubbies. You think about the media personnel. Think about the docs. You think about the trainers. You think about the bat boys. You think about our bullpen catchers. You think about the guys in the video room. You think about the strength coaches. You think about that.”

He closed with, “This is step one. Let’s get after it. Immediately.”

Murphy later told reporters the achievement should not be shrugged off.

“It’s not something to take lightly because it’s really hard to do,” he said. “We want to see how far we can go and how complete this can be. Remember that the message to the team is that we checked off one box, but we’ve got a lot more to go.”

Mitchell said the group still needed to mark the moment.

“You have to celebrate the moment, no matter how big or small,” he said. “With how long a season is, you have to be able to celebrate the moments when you have them. You never know when you’re going to get them, and you never know when the last one’s going to be. So, a small toast.”

Veteran Christian Yelich struck a similar tone.

“I know we’ve made it look like it’s not that hard, but it’s extremely hard to get to this point every year,” Yelich said. “It shouldn’t be taken for granted. And there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, still.”

Turang put the night in perspective.

“This isn’t the end goal,” he said. “We all know what the end goal is, and that’s what we’re chasing. So this is a small little step. We just enjoy it tonight, and then tomorrow we go out and try to win a game.”

Milwaukee is on pace for about 101 wins, which would top last season’s franchise record of 97. The club has ranked near the middle of the pack in payroll while posting the sport’s best record, taking over first place in mid-May and staying there.

Last October the Brewers finally won a playoff series, beating the Cubs in the NL Division Series before the Los Angeles Dodgers swept them in the NL Championship Series. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series. Murphy’s group is chasing more than another invitation this time.

The Brewers can clinch the Central as soon as Sunday if results break their way. For one night they allowed themselves a toast, then pointed toward the next box on the list.