Milwaukee Brewers Clinch 2026 NLCS Berth Behind Dominant Bullpen

After Gasser departed after giving up just one run in four solid innings, Brewers’ manager Pat Murphy needed Ashby to keep the Padres at bay in the middle innings. Murphy summoned his lefty set-up man for a multi-inning outing in hopes of bridging the gap to the back-end guys, Uribe and Megill.

Ashby delivered and got the outs he and his team needed.

Entering the game in the fifth inning with Milwaukee leading 2-1 and 15 outs to get, Ashby faced the 9-1-2 batters in the Padres’ lineup. After punching out Samad Taylor, Ashby induced ground-ball outs from Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Jackson Merrill to retire the side in order. 12 outs to go.

The Brewers’ offense provided another run in the top of the sixth on Sal Frelick‘s sacrifice fly, increasing Milwaukee’s advantage to 3-1. In need of a shutdown inning, Ashby got it, facing the minimum after Austin Hays grounded into a 1-4-3 double play, wiping out a one-out walk to Ty France. Nine outs to go.

Ashby quickly retired the first two San Diego hitters in the seventh before issuing a walk to pinch-hitter Miguel Andjuar. All that did was set the Petco Park fans up for disappointment, as Ashby struck Taylor out for the second time to quell the threat. Six outs to go.

Because Ashby was able to give Milwaukee the three-inning stint, Murphy was able to revert to the tried-and-true tag team of Uribe and Megill for the final stages.

Ashby delivered, thanks much to his manager’s faith in him.

“I told him (Murphy) when I walked in here, ‘Thank you for trusting me with the game right there,’” Ashby said. “When a manager has trust in you like that, it gives you even more confidence to go out there and do what you’re capable of.”

The eighth inning, however, was not free from heart-stopping drama.

Uribe promptly walked Tatis to lead off the inning, sending the tying run to the plate and Brewers’ fans to the Maalox bottles. Merrill struck out, and Milwaukee’s Public Enemy Number One, Manny Machado, strolled into the batter’s box.

With Uribe’s 0-1 offering, a 99 mph sinker, Machado drilled a long fly ball into right-center field. Thinking he had just tied the game, Machado stood a few feet from home plate, admiring his handiwork while all of Wisconsin stopped breathing.

Milwaukee’s center fielder, Garrett Mitchell, had other ideas. He tracked the ball down all the way to the wall and in front of eager Jeffrey Meier-wannabes to rob Machado and deflate the growing hopes of Padres fans.

The threat was not over, as France stepped in to replicate his roof-scraping swing from Game One into the open-air, night sky. Instead, he fouled out harmlessly, and the Brewers headed to the ninth inning up by two. Three outs to go.

San Diego summoned two pinch-hitters along with shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the final inning to face closer Megill. Milwaukee’s fireman, who had converted 30 saves in the regular season, needed just 15 pitches to vanquish San Diego and commence the champagne celebration.

Pitching coach Chris Hook had a strong feeling that Wednesday would unfold just as it did.

“Our bullpen, we’ve been doing this for the last three weeks of the season,” he said. “It’s a really good rehearsal for what we’re going to have to do. … To see it come to fruition has been great.”

Over the four games against the Padres, Milwaukee’s bullpen drove the bus all the way to the championship series. The relief staff threw 19 total innings and gave up just one earned run while striking out 16 and registering a 1.00 WHIP.

End Of My Brewers Rant: Goodbye, San Diego. Hello, Los Angeles

Milwaukee now has the opportunity to exorcise the demon and nemesis named the Dodgers. Brew Crew Nation knows all too well the challenges that it faces when challenging the two-time defending World Series champs in the next round. The Brewers were turned away by the Dodgers the last two times they reached the championship round, both in 2018 and 2025.

As they say in the stock market, past performance is not indicative of future results. While rosters are different from the past series, the Dodgers’ starting pitching may be as formidable as any staff in playoff history. They boast two Cy Young Award winners and last year’s World Series MVP, and that does not include Shohei Ohtani.

The Brewers are well aware of the steep mountain they will need to climb. After winning a franchise-high 103 games this season, however, simply reaching the Final Four is no longer the standard by which Milwaukee operates. On Sunday, the quest to reach their first World Series in 44 years begins.