It's been a wonderful couple of days in Wisconsin as lifelong Brewers fans come together to celebrate the unbridled euphoria of claiming their first World Series Championship in Milwaukee's long and capricious baseball history. As we look back on this incredible 11-2 postseason run by the best team in the major leagues, it's hard to deny Milwaukee's otherworldly pitching staff was one of, if not the single most significant catalyst in the outcome.
The Brewers' fielding and defense deserve all the credit in the world, but Milwaukee's steady starting pitchers and elite bullpen were on full display for 118 innings during this historic postseason. In fact, they became the first pitching staff since the turn of the 2000s to post an ERA under 2.00 in at least 50 innings pitched, and they did so while more than doubling the minimum inning count.
12 different pitchers appeared during the Brewers' playoff run, with nine of them contributing at least eight innings or more. Eight of those pitchers contributed playoff runs with an ERA of 2.0 or lower, led in large part by legendary reliever Aaron Ashby's 18 innings with zero earned runs and 19 innings by Jacob Misiorowski, in which he allowed just four earned runs.
Although they're headlining the group, there are far more pitchers who deserve their flowers, and most of them are expected to return to Milwaukee to try it all again next year.
The Milwaukee Brewers' pitching staff had everything to prove in the MLB Playoffs, and came away World Series Champions.
Despite our questions regarding how Pat Murphy would manage their bullpen and starting rotation in the postseason — from injuries, trades, and inconsistencies in players' performances — this group melded together exactly how they needed to when the Brewers needed them most.
The three-headed dragon of Ashby, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill proved themselves to be one of the best combinations in the entire sport with an iconic run through the postseason gauntlet. They combined to throw 42 postseason strikeouts, allowing only 18 hits in 138 batters faced, without yielding a single home run in the process.
And the cherry on top? All three of them are under team control and expected to be back in Milwaukee next season. They were the heartbeat of this pitching staff, instilling confidence in their starters who, every night, would be able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing these three were right there behind them to put the game away. They were each credited with one win apiece, while Ashby and Megill secured eight saves.
These were not the only breakout stars coming out of the Brewers' bullpen, though. Reliever DL Hall earned three wins in six games, throwing four strikeouts without allowing an earned run in eight innings. JoJo Romero, initially considered an afterthought in the Dustin May trade, posted a 1.13 ERA and 11 strikeouts in eight postseason innings.
Even the pitchers who struggled at times, like Logan Henderson (4.50 ERA) and May himself (5.73 ERA), were productive in stretches, with 10 strikeouts and eight strikeouts, respectively.
And of course, we cannot talk about this incredible Brewers postseason run without noting the contributions of Robert Gasser, a.k.a. Bobby Diesel, who allowed only one earned run in 15 innings across three starts with nine strikeouts. The 27-year-old rookie was a breakout star of the World Series run and will assuredly factor in as a key member of the Brewers' starting rotation moving forward.
Across the board, the Brewers saw incredible contributions from pitchers who otherwise would've been counted out. Every single one of these players went through the motions at some point during the year. The Miz battled through cramps all year long. Henderson and Hall both spent time on the injured list during the regular season. We didn't know if we'd ever see Brandon Woodruff again, for that matter.
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