A plea to the Brewers this postseason: Act like the final boss, not 'The Little Engine That Could' — SkimNews
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- Milwaukee Brewers set a franchise record with 103 wins this year, the second straight season they posted baseball's best regular-season record, yet have never won an NL pennant (their lone pennant came in the AL in 1982) and remain one of five MLB franchises without a World Series title.
- Brewers have been bounced from the playoffs in four consecutive trips by inferior seeds: a 95-win squad fell to the 88-win Braves in the 2021 NLDS, a 93-win club lost to the 84-win Diamondbacks in the 2023 Wild Card, a 93-win team fell to the 89-win Mets in the 2024 Wild Card, and last year's squad lost in the NLCS to the eventual repeat-champion Dodgers.
- Manager Pat Murphy drew scrutiny during last year's playoffs for repeatedly citing opposing players' salaries, including Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd on a two-year, $29 million contract, and earlier this season said after beating the Cubs: "[The Cubs] don't even know most of our guys' names, so they're never going to be intimidated by us, but we're not looking for that."
- Murphy struck a different tone this week, declaring: "We ain't gonna be anyone's underdog," a stance the column says the team must carry into the postseason.
- Brewers enter the playoffs on a 15-3 run over their last 18 games with a plus-46 run differential, anchored by rotation arms Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson, late-inning relievers Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill, and hitters including Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and Jake Bauers.
- Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is cited as a parallel — transforming the Hoosiers from Big Ten cellar dweller to first-time national champion in two seasons by carrying an air that everyone should be worried about them, rather than deferring to Ohio State or Alabama.
Why it matters: The Brewers' regular-season dominance has produced zero pennants and a four-year streak of postseason exits to worse-seeded teams. With a franchise-record 103 wins and a roster featuring Misiorowski, Henderson, Chourio, and Turang, the column's argument is that the only remaining obstacle is self-perception — and that without a mindset shift, Milwaukee's regular-season excellence will continue to translate into October disappointment.
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