PHILADELPHIA – The Brewers’ long final road trip began last week in Pittsburgh on the night they clinched the NL Central. It continued with a sweep in Baltimore, where they broke the franchise record for victories in a season. Then it was on to Philadelphia, where they secured a first-round bye and, with a 5-1 win in Thursday’s road finale, reached new heights for the franchise.
One hundred wins.
That had a nice ring to it, though the Brewers (100-59) still have work to do and regular season games to play. Three of them, to be precise, back home against the Cardinals beginning on Friday night, where the American Family Field faithful will welcome home the winningest team in the city’s Major League history.
Before Thursday, the Brewers were one of seven teams, with the Blue Jays, Marlins, Nationals, Padres, Rangers and Rockies, yet to post a 100-win season. When they left that group behind with a go-ahead rally in the eighth inning on Thursday night, the Brewers became the first team in Major League history to win at least 100 games in a season without a winning streak longer than five games. They had three separate five-game winning streaks this season, but never won a sixth.
The Brewers are the first team to win 100 games since the Braves, Orioles and Dodgers in 2023, and the first NL Central team since the 2016 Cubs, who went 103-58-1 on the way to winning the World Series.
But there are no guarantees. Of the previous 10 teams this decade to win 100 games, eight lost their first-round playoff series.
2023 Braves (104) - Lost NLDS
2023 Orioles (101) - Lost ALDS
2023 Dodgers (100) - Lost NLDS
2022 Astros (106) - Won ALDS, won ALCS, World Series
2022 Braves (101) - Lost NLDS
2022 Dodgers (111) - Lost NLDS
2022 Mets (101) - Lost NL Wild Card Series
2021 Giants (107) - Lost NLDS
2021 Dodgers (106) - Won NL Wild Card Game, won NLDS, lost NLCS
2021 Rays (100) - Lost ALDS
Manager Pat Murphy & Co. will try to buck that history, and they are already deep into planning to make the most of the five days between the end of the regular season and Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday, Oct. 3. For the Brewers, who rank last in the NL in home runs but second in runs scored because of their knack for making the most of contact and speed, it’s particularly important to remain in game mode.
Win No. 100 was emblematic of that tendency. With the teams tied at 1-1 through seven innings, the Brewers’ winning rally began with Jackson Chourio pinch-hitting for designated hitter William Contreras for reasons not immediately known. It worked out, because Chourio walked, stole second base and scored on a base hit for Jake Bauers, who entered that at-bat 1-for-11 in the series with eight strikeouts. He’s dealt with a multitude of lower-body bumps and bruises in the second half, so getting Bauers going again is a high priority for Milwaukee’s remaining games.
Then the Brewers kept going. Gary Sánchez singled. Two batters later, with José Alvarado out of the game for the Phillies and Chase Shugart in, Cooper Pratt singled in an insurance run. Two batters after that, with two outs, Joey Ortiz singled in another insurance run.
When Chourio led off the ninth with a home run, the Brewers were well on their way to the century mark. But before they got there, they had to ponder how to mark the occasion should it come to be.
Would they gather for a speech and a toast?
“My gut says no,” Murphy said on Thursday afternoon. “You know, it’s just a number.”
In other words, the manager doesn’t ascribe extra meaning to 100 than to 99, other than it kept the Brewers ahead of the Dodgers and Rays in the chase for the best record in baseball, which comes with home-field advantage as far as they can go.
But what about the players?
“Maybe,” Murphy said. “I think the baseball world does. It’s like hitting .299 or hitting .300; .299 is pretty good, but .300 is better.”
For the Brewers, 100 was better.