In a crowded field of deserving candidates, there's a strong case to be made that relief pitcher Aaron Ashby has been the Milwaukee Brewers' best player in the 2026 MLB Playoffs. It's the culmination of a long development arc and a major transformation over the five seasons since Milwaukee first called him up to the majors. Now, in the pressure cooker that is the World Series, Ashby has officially solidified himself as one of baseball's best relievers.
Facing formidable competition over the last 15.2 innings, the 28-year-old southpaw has yet to allow an earned run. Over his last eight games, Ashby has finished three of them and earned three saves in all three. He has struck out 17 batters and allowed just five hits in that span.
Per Elias Sports & Sara Langs, Ashby is on the verge of breaking Andrew Miller's 2016 record for the most consecutive scoreless innings in one postseason by a relief pitcher. Ashby has already surpassed Rich "Goose" Gossage's record of a perfect 14.1 scoreless innings in a postseason. So long as he doesn't surrender a run in the World Series — a tall task, to say the least — then that record will belong to Ashby, too.
So unless his next trip to the mound goes unexpectedly south, we should prepare to witness Aaron Ashby solidify this run as one of the greatest in MLB Playoff history. And if the Milwaukee Brewers put this series away to take home the franchise's first World Series victory, there's a legitimate chance the MVP trophy will have Ashby's name on it when it's all said and done.
Aaron Ashby has been the anchor of the Brewers' run to the World Series ever since the MLB Playoffs started.
It should be no surprise that Ashby's been ready to deliver this postseason, as he finished with the most wins by any reliever at 13 in the regular season. For a long stretch early in the season, he led the entire MLB in credited victories. But through the ups and downs of a long regular season, Ashby truly came alive in the Brewers' neck-and-neck NLDS matchup with San Diego. In that series, he played in three of four games and struck out five batters in 5 and 2/3 innings.
These aren't just walk-in-the-park matchups, either. During this eight-game stretch, Ashby has struck out the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Yandy Díaz, Teoscar Hernández, and Xander Bogaerts. He's done so with a killer pitch mix headlined by a deadly sinker and shifty slider, along with his curveball, changeup, and ol' reliable: the four-seam fastball.
It's a bit unconventional for a reliever to play extended stretches like this, or even play the role of closer in such crucial moments. But Ashby continues to meet the moment when Pat Murphy calls his name, and the Brewers' skipper isn't going to move away from what's working when his team needs it most. Therefore, Ashby should have even more opportunities to add to his streak in the games to come — especially if he can maintain this momentum on the road at Tropicana Field during the next two games.
Regardless of where we go from here, Ashby has evolved from a known commodity among hardcore Brewers fans to someone baseball fans across the globe will be able to recognize, because that's how great he's been in the postseason. Now it's up to him to give this incredible story the happy ending Milwaukee has been waiting more than 44 years for.
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