Brewers believe this is the year they can change recent run of postseason misfortune

MILWAUKEE — Winning a postseason series has been far tougher for the Milwaukee Brewers than reaching the playoffs.

Milwaukee faces the New York Mets in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, the Brewers' sixth postseason appearance in seven years. But they haven't won a playoff series since 2018, when the Brewers lost a seven-game National League Championship Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We feel different,” said right-hander Freddy Peralta, the Game 1 starter. “I can tell. Even today, the vibes that we have right now, you can see on everybody’s face that we are all knowing where we are, knowing where we’re going, and where we want to be."

The small-market Brewers have won two straight NL Central titles and three of four. Milwaukee has been eliminated in its first round five straight times and has lost nine of its last 10 playoff games.

Only about half the players on Milwaukee’s roster for the 2024 regular-season finale were on last year's wild card roster. Bench coach Pat Murphy moved up to manager after Craig Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 2023 season.

While previous Brewers teams were anchored by a dominant rotation featuring Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Peralta, this year’s squad went 93-69 behind Gold Glove-caliber defense, chaos-inducing speed on the bases and steady and effective pitching.

“They did it by pulling together and playing a certain way, and they know that’s the secret,” Murphy said. “I don’t think they wipe the slate clean in that, ‘This is how I play.’ The numbers are out the window. It doesn’t matter. Now it’s about win today, and they’ve kind of been doing that all year.”

Woodruff missed the season following shoulder surgery and Burnes was traded in January to Baltimore. Then the Brewers lost pitchers Wade Miley and Robert Gasser to Tommy John surgeries. And then Christian Yelich hurt his back and didn't play after July 23.

Milwaukee outfielder Sal Frelick bruised his left hip while chasing a foul ball Friday, creating doubt for his availability this week.

“He's still limping, so I'm not as optimistic as I was hoping to be,” Murphy said.

Frelick told reporters that he will be ”ready to go."

“I don't think I'd put myself out there if I thought that it was going to hurt the team, if I thought I couldn't make a play, couldn't steal a base, stuff like that,” Frelick said. “I'm comfortable saying that I can, I can go out and play like I have the whole year.”

Frelick crashed into the right-field sidewall, and his left side made contact with the metal chain link inside a window in that wall with no protective padding. Along with the traditional bunting adorning the concourses and logos painted onto American Family Field for the postseason, the Brewers installed new padding to the section of wall that Frelick hit.

Milwaukee is confident it will advance to a best-of-five Division Series against Philadelphia.

“It's just a feeling that you have in the clubhouse, that it just feels different,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “The vibe, it's just like a winning mentality, that we've got to do what we've got to do but we're going to win tonight. I feel like it's been like that all year.

"I feel like we've got to this point, now it's like, we've got to win, no matter what. We're going to do whatever it takes to win. We're going to continue to have that mentality. That feeling is something special.”