Aaron Ashby etched himself into Brewers lore with a historical postseason and was one of the leaders in Milwaukee’s run to a first World Series title.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened in 2026 in the regular season and postseason, some of his key stats and what his biggest question is entering ‘27.
What happened in 2026?
Regular season: 75 G, 89 1/3 IP, 3.12 ERA, 116 K
Postseason: 9 G, 18 IP, 0.00 ERA, 20 K
Ashby was one of the best relief pitchers in the regular season, tossing 89 1/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA with 116 strikeouts, the second most punchouts by a primary reliever behind Mason Miller (129 strikeouts). He also ranked second among primary relievers with that innings total. A former top prospect that struggled with injuries and performance early in his MLB career, Ashby has a 2.71 ERA and 192 strikeouts across 156 innings since 2025.
Of course, Ashby’s regular season isn’t what we’re going to remember -- it’s the thoroughly dominating postseason that was one of the best performances in playoff history. It’s hard to envision a better relief performance -- Ashby broke a single-season relief record with 18 straight scoreless innings. In his nine postseason outings, Ashby struck out 20 batters, allowed just five hits and walked three hitters. Ashby was a multi-inning relief option that was seemingly whenever and wherever the Brewers needed him.
Key stat
18 scoreless postseason innings
It really is worth highlighting the 18 scoreless postseason innings in depth. Ashby threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the NLDS against the Padres, 6 2/3 innings of no-run ball in the NLCS against the Dodgers and added another 5 2/3 innings in the World Series against Tampa Bay.
Averaging two innings per outing, Ashby had multiple outings where he went far and beyond your typical reliever in the postseason. There were the three scoreless innings in NLDS Game 4, when Ashby bridged the gap to Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill to help secure the series win. There were three innings to close out NLCS Game 4, securing the first pennant for the Brewers since 1982. And there were three separate World Series outings of at least 1 2/3 innings, including 2 1/3 innings in the Brewers’ lone loss in Game 4.
Just to hammer home the point, Ashby threw 238 pitches in the postseason and not a single run came across when he pitched. Talk about getting the job done in the biggest moments of your career.
Biggest question for 2027
How does this workload affect him?
Part of the reason Ashby was able to chew up innings was the fact that he was a former starter. Ashby threw a career high 107 1/3 innings, mainly as a starting pitcher, in 2022. Ashby, though, underwent surgery the following year and ended up missing the entire 2023 season.
That’s when the Brewers ultimately shifted him to the bullpen full time, where Ashby has found a home as one of baseball’s top relievers. Now the question is how Ashby bounces back in 2027 following an incredibly heavy workload that, conveniently, ended up with 107 1/3 combined regular-season and postseason innings, matching his career-high mark.
If there was any sign of Ashby’s workload catching up to him at the end, though, it certainly wasn’t noticeable. Throughout the postseason, Ashby’s sinker was consistently sitting in the 98-100 mph range, while he relied on his devastating trio of secondaries (slider, curveball and changeup) to generate tons of whiffs.
It’s impossible to say how this workload will affect him. Ashby is still only 28 years old, has relatively light miles on his arm to date and has been healthy since 2025.