MILWAUKEE (AP) — The major league-best Milwaukee Brewers’ first postseason test comes against the one team that’s had their number lately.
Milwaukee owns the best regular-season record (293-193) in the majors during manager Pat Murphy's three-year tenure but is only 6-13 against San Diego, including a 2-4 mark this year. The only other teams to have winning records against Milwaukee over the last three seasons are San Francisco (11-9) and the New York
Yankees (5-4), according to Sportradar.
San Diego has won 20 of its last 23 games overall and Milwaukee has won 15 of 18 heading into a best-of-five NL Division Series that starts Saturday night.
“They’re playing so well and they’re super talented, a super talented, confident team right now with, we all know, the best bullpen in baseball, with some real megastars in the lineup,” Murphy said. “And they’re rolling. But that’s what you’re going to face at this time of year.”
Game 1 has Cy Young Award front-runner Jacob Misiorowski (16-5, 1.80 ERA) starting for the Brewers and 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray (13-8, 3.59) pitching for San Diego. Game 2 features a likely matchup of San Diego’s Michael King (12-10, 3.21) and Milwaukee's Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47).
“You have to bring your ‘A’ game, because they’re just a team that’s a headache,” Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “It’s not like a swing-and-miss (where) they’re going for the home run or nothing. They play good defense, run the bases, a lot of guys with speed.”
San Diego was under .500 in late July before closing the season on a tear and then sweeping the Chicago Cubs in a Wild Card Series.
This series features playoff perennials chasing their first World Series title.
Milwaukee has reached the postseason eight of the last nine years and made its lone World Series appearance in 1982. San Diego is making its fourth straight playoff appearance but has reached the World Series just twice, in 1984 and 1998.
The Brewers went 103-59 to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason for a second straight year. The Los Angeles Dodgers swept Milwaukee in last year’s NL Championship Series.
“When I think back to last year, I think there was an element of maybe a little bit of lack of belief that we could do it, maybe a little too much doubt,” Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers sad. “And I think going into this postseason there’s a different feeling around the team. I think there’s been a concerted effort to make sure that everybody in the room knows what we’re capable of, and that it doesn’t require anybody to do something that they’re not able to do.”
The series could have as many as five starting position players under the age of 24: San Diego’s Ethan Salas (20) and Jackson Merrill (23) and Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio (22), Cooper Pratt (22) and Luis Lara (21). Salas became the youngest catcher to play a postseason game when he started Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.
Milwaukee’s top two starting pitchers — Misiorowski and Henderson — are both 24. San Diego’s bullpen includes 22-year-old Bradgley Rodriguez.
Misiorowski went 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA in three postseason relief appearances last year. This will be his first playoff start.
In his lone career appearance against the Padres, Misiorowski struck out 10 and allowed four hits and no walks in seven shutout innings on May 13. Visiting San Diego won 3-1 after Gavin Sheets hit a three-run homer off Abner Uribe with two outs in the ninth inning.
Ray, 35, is 0-3 with a 7.43 ERA in six career postseason appearances. The Padres acquired him from San Francisco at the trade deadline.
“I think he’s going to do well against this lineup,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “As far as how far he goes or how long, he’ll determine a lot of that, how well he pitches. And we know with Robbie, he can be erratic at times. If he’s throwing strikes, I feel good about Robbie being in there.”
San Diego gave Murphy his first MLB managerial opportunity. He went 42-54 as the Padres’ interim manager in 2015 after the firing of Bud Black.
Rather than keeping Murphy beyond that season, Padres general manager A.J. Preller hired Andy Green.
“I wouldn’t have retained me then either, you know what I mean?” Murphy said. “I wasn’t ready to be the major league manager he needed.”
Getting an early lead could be imperative because of the effectiveness of both bullpens.
San Diego has arguably the game’s best reliever in Mason Miller, who posted a 1.67 ERA while striking out 47.4% of the hitters he faced and limiting opponents to a .152 batting average. Milwaukee has Uribe and Trevor Megill, each of whom limited batters to averages under .200.
Murphy believes Brewers third baseman/shortstop Joey Ortiz will be ready for the start of the series after dealing with knee and abdominal issues over the last week. Ortiz didn’t play in Milwaukee’s last two regular-season games.
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