Crew not treating set vs. Cardinals differently despite having nothing left to clinch

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers reported for duty on Friday at American Family Field with three games to go and nothing left to clinch. They will be the top overall seed in MLB’s postseason regardless of what happens in their regular season-ending series against a Cardinals club already eliminated from contention.

So, how would they approach the weekend?

“I think the same way we approached all the other ones,” said the unofficial captain, Christian Yelich. “We know we have a break coming up, so you want to push through the finish line.”

“They matter because we go out and play in front of 40,000 people who bought a ticket,” right fielder Sal Frelick said. “I’ve never even thought for a second that the games won’t matter. We’re fighting for everything.”

“It’s easier to just keep the pedal down and just go,” reliever Aaron Ashby said. “We’ve got a monthlong sprint coming up.”

“These are baseball games,” said second baseman Brice Turang, “that we want to win.”

So they went out and beat the Cardinals, 8-4, getting six more stellar innings from surging left-hander Robert Gasser and a tie-breaking rally in the eighth inning that encapsulated how the Brewers built baseball’s best record for the second straight season. Jackson Chourio, who didn’t start the game but contributed late, singled. David Hamilton squared to bunt and was hit by a pitch. Garrett Mitchell did bunt, and in the ensuing scramble, Cardinals pitcher Justin Bruihl committed a throwing error, loading the bases for Brice Turang to punch a ground ball the opposite way through a drawn-in infield for a two-run single and a 6-4 lead.

Then another error, an RBI single for William Contreras on a particularly eventful night, a sacrifice fly for Jake Bauers and a victory that guaranteed the pesky Brewers (101-59) will finish all alone atop the MLB standings.

Add that to what the Brewers had already accomplished over the preceding 10 days, when they won the NL Central Division for the fourth straight year, tied and broke the franchise record for victories, clinched a first-round bye, became the first team in the Majors in three years to win 100 games and clinched home field advantage all the way through the World Series.

That left nothing to play for in their final three regular-season games aside from pride and professionalism, and to stay as sharp as possible going into a five-day layoff between Sunday’s regular-season finale and Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday, Oct. 3.

While the players kept it simple, the Brewers’ position did change some things about the way manager Pat Murphy is likely to manage the remaining games.

“It probably does, in terms of the decisions you’re going to make not being the same as you would make in a Cardinals game at midseason,” Murphy said. “But you’ve got a chance to play good. You’ve got the privilege of playing Major League Baseball. There’s only one way to do it and to practice it.

“Pick one of the greats at basketball. Kobe Bryant. I bet Kobe, every time he went out to play, played a certain way, even if he was playing a pickup game. He may not go to the rack as many times as he would if he was playing all-out. He may not feel the need to take over the game or whatever. But he’s still motivated to play a certain way.”

Murphy’s motivation was evident on Thursday night in Philadelphia when he removed Contreras, the team’s All-Star, iron man catcher who was serving as the DH that night, after Contreras didn’t run hard on an infield grounder. A day later, Contreras was back behind the plate and declared the matter old news.

“I can’t answer for what happened yesterday. That was yesterday,” he said.

So, it’s over?

“It’s over,” said Contreras, who preceded to sprint down the line and dive headfirst into first base on a groundout in the opening inning against the Cardinals.

Murphy said his primary aim for the weekend was to play crisp baseball and stay healthy. The Brewers were looking a little wobbly on the latter, since shortstop Cooper Pratt, still feeling the effects of an illness that caused him to miss the team’s division clinch at the start of last road trip, was scratched from the original starting lineup. He wound up playing, anyway, after Joey Ortiz had to leave the game in the eighth after limping for much of the night.

The Brewers also were without first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who didn’t leave his hotel room in Philadelphia for two straight days Wednesday and Thursday because he was so sick. He traveled home to Milwaukee on Friday separate from the team, and while he rejoined the club that afternoon, the Brewers opted to place him on the 10-day injured list to let him rest, rather than rush him back to play Saturday or Sunday.

Because that move was backdated to Tuesday, Vaughn will be eligible for the Brewers’ first postseason game. The team figures he can pick up at-bats throughout next week, when the Brewers will hold workouts and scrimmages similar to the ones they devised last year before beating the Cubs in the NLDS.

Until then, there are games to play.

“We’re going to give guys a rest, but we’re still going to play to win,” Murphy said. “That sounds crazy, but there’s no other reason to play the game unless you’re playing to win -- with some caveats that we might rest a guy or try somebody in a position that in an emergency you might have to play. These are valuable at-bats because we’re going to have a break.

“Let’s look at the teams that have had a break. There’s no advantage in that when you look at the percentages, but we have to make it an advantage.”