The Milwaukee Brewers have reached the playoffs for the 10th time in franchise history and sixth time in the last seven seasons.
The team, which captured the National League Central Division crown for the second consecutive season and the third time in four seasons, will take on the New York Mets in the wild-card round and will host the best-of-three series at American Family Field beginning Tuesday afternoon.
After reaching its lone World Series in 1982, which the Brewers lost four games to three to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Brewers missed the playoffs for 26 consecutive seasons but have become a model of post-season consistency over the past several seasons despite playing in the smallest market among the 30 Major League Baseball teams.
“I never realized when I bought the team how hard it would be to get to the playoffs,” said Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, who purchased the franchise in 2005. “To get to this point and the sustained success that we’ve had, I’ve got a huge amount of pride in what we’ve been able to do. That’s really hard to do.”
Milwaukee finished this regular season with a 93-69 record, marking the 11th time the Brewers have recorded 90 or more wins since the founding of the franchise in 1969.
Most prognosticators figured the Brewers had little chance to make the post-season this year after losing long-time manager Craig Counsell to the rival Chicago Cubs and the trade of 2021 Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Brewers’ winning ways this season have been even more remarkable considering a rash of injuries to key players like All-Star closer Devin Williams, who missed a significant portion of the season due to stress fractures in his back, and 2018 MVP and franchise cornerstone Christian Yelich, who battled through back issues before finally opting for season-ending surgery in August. Various physical ailments have sidelined multiple members of the pitching staff throughout the season.
Yet, the Brewers once again find themselves in the playoffs, taking on a team from baseball’s largest market. However, Milwaukee’s run of playoff appearances in recent years has been tempered by early exits, including a two-game sweep at American Family Field by the Arizona Diamondbacks in last year’s wild-card round.
Since getting to within one game of the World Series in 2018, the Brewers have been victorious in just one of its last eight playoff games – but post-season expectations remain high for Attanasio, the Brewers organization and fans. “We have hope,” he said. “Every year the goal is to get to the World Series.”
Attanasio, accompanied by Senior Vice President and General Manager Matt Arnold and President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger, conducted a wide-ranging session with select local media members on Monday at American Family Field before the team took to the field for a practice session in preparation for its playoff opener.
Here is some of what was discussed. (Responses were provided by Attanasio unless otherwise noted.)
On the pressure to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs:
“We’ve only got about 10 players [from last year’s team] that are returning to the playoff roster. For those guys on the field, it’s completely different. Whatever the team has done in the past, they just want to get out there and play and play hard. You’ve got young guys who are just excited to be part of this and veterans who know how hard it is. Obviously, we all want to win. The burden of not getting to the playoffs was very different. That’s a marathon and 26 years of not getting where we need to get. What we did from the outset in 2005 is try to build something sustainable. It’s great that our fans have high expectations. The corollary to not having high expectations is just being morose because you’re not any good. I embrace the expectations.”
On the importance of player development in remaining sustainably competitive amid roster turnover and injuries:
Matt Arnold: “We have incredible support to develop our players from ownership. It starts there. We have really good people, not just here but at all of our affiliates. We’re a very decentralized organization.”
On the major financial commitment to 20-year-old rookie sensation Jackson Chourio:
Chourio signed an eight-year, $82 million deal in December despite playing only six games above Double-A. He finished the regular season with 21 homers, 79 RBIs and a .275 batting average.
“His attitude never really wavered. For a young guy to come in with a smile every day and to try hard and care what his teammates think. When you make an investment like that in a young player, there’s a lot of uncertainty. This is just a great young man. That is what makes me feel really good, maybe moreso than the performance.”
On the challenges regarding the pending free agency of star shortstop and clubhouse leader Willy Adames:
“Back to CC Sabathia [in 2008], I believe we made the first offer to CC, then the Yankees jumped the offer and while were contemplating increasing the offer, the Yankees jumped their offer again. They created a $40 million gap. Among other things, Willy and Robin [Yount] are probably the two greatest shortstops to play here. They’ll always be a cherished part of our history. I’m appreciative of everything he’s done here. He’s going to get an enormous free agent contract. I’m very happy for him and his family. We’ll give it our best shot but there are a lot deeper pockets out there. That’s just the reality.”
On the performance of first-year manager Pat Murphy and whether he should be Manager of the Year:
“Most [predictions] had us right ahead of the Pirates at the bottom of the division. He’s brought a demeanor and edge to the team. By far we’ve had the most challenges. To me, it’s an easy decision.”
On the slight decrease in attendance this year and whether getting back to the pre-pandemic levels is attainable:
The Brewers reached total attendance of 2,537,202 for the season, a slight drop from 2,551,347 last year but still far off pre-pandemic levels of nearly 3 million fans
Schlesinger: “We never put a ceiling on what we think attendance can be. There are a lot of factors and so many individual decisions. We have a different mix of tickets sold this year than in prior years. We have lower no-show rates, so the people who are buying the tickets have had a bigger investment in attending. Candidly, our fans have high expectations for this team. When I got here, it was can we get to .500. And next it was can we make the post-season. The expectations have risen with the performance and the fans have been great. Our TV ratings are top-three in baseball. We also look at revenue as well as attendance and the revenue numbers are as good as they’ve ever been, despite the fact that we don’t have the same attendance we had pre-pandemic. I think we can get back to those numbers. There are some decisions as to how we get there. Not to put pressure on Matt, but if we have a nice, deep October run [in the playoffs] that just adds to the level of excitement that propels us into 2025.”
Attanasio: “What we talk about is how we make the fan experience better. We don’t talk about how we get to three million tickets sold. We talk about a stadium which we cherish and how we make that current to the new stadiums that are being built. We’ve actually looked a shrinking the number of seats. As in every ballpark, there are some viewing spots that aren’t optimal. There are different ways that people want to consume entertainment now, too. They want more experiences. We’ve done X-Golf and we’ve got the [Leinenkugel’s] Barrel Yard. We’re looking at other ways where people can congregate, especially younger fans. We want to keep the young people coming. That’s why I love to see kids in the ballpark.”
On the future of live television broadcasts of Brewers games (Brewers broadcasts have been handled by financially troubled Diamond Sports Group, owner of Bally Sports.):
“I believe there are three options: re-up with Diamond; MLB media, which already houses three teams, the Rockies, the Diamondbacks and the Padres; or [we] could do it [ourselves]. I would say that the one thing that’s not under consideration is doing it ourselves. That’s a heavy lift. There are a number of teams who are looking at over-the-air but I think we’re more inclined to look at MLB media. From a macro standpoint, we need to get our games out to a much larger percent of our market. [Currently 20% of the Brewers television territory gets live broadcasts.] That’s not great. We want to get our games to as many of our fans as we can. We think the more they can engage, the more that will come to the ballpark.”
The Brewers face the Mets on Tuesday with first pitch at American Family Field scheduled for 4:32 p.m.; Wednesday’s game is set to begin at 6:38 p.m.; and Thursday’s contest (if necessary) will begin at 7:38 p.m.
