LOS ANGELES -- Privately, some of the Brewers confided that it was an odd final week of the regular season. After pushing so hard for five-plus months, they wrapped up their division and locked into the National League’s No. 2 seed with six games to go, so they used a trip to St. Louis and L.A. to rest and get lined up the way they wanted for an NL Division Series showdown against the Braves.
If the Giants, who were fighting the Dodgers to the finish for the NL West, didn’t like the Brewers’ approach to these final games, so be it. If the Brewers absorbed some relatively meaningless losses along the way, so be it.
“The goal of this thing is to win a division,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We won it early and after that, there just wasn't a lot for us to achieve as a group, so some other things became more important, like becoming healthy as we went into the playoffs. I prioritized that and I don't regret prioritizing that. I never will.
“We are healthy going into the playoffs. That's what's most important. I don't see any other priority that trumps that.”
And that’s what they did Sunday in a 10-3 loss at Dodger Stadium, resting Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta in favor of a bullpen game while sitting a number of regulars, including Christian Yelich and Kolten Wong, as the Dodgers made one last -- ultimately unsuccessful -- gasp to catch the Giants.
For the Brewers, the regular-season finale was another dud in a weeks-long stretch of them. Trea Turner hit his second grand slam in three days as Brewers rookie Aaron Ashby struggled through a six-run inning in his final tuneup for his first postseason, and the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep.
The Brewers were 91-57 when they clinched a postseason berth on Sept. 18 and needed only to go 5-9 the rest of the way to match the franchise record for victories. They went 4-10, including 1-5 on this low-stakes final trip, to finish the season at 95-67. Over those final 14 games, the Brewers batted an MLB-worst .207 as a team.
Now, they have four more days of rest before it’s time to turn up the intensity for Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday at American Family Field.
“Since we clinched, we’ve been trying to take it a little bit easier to charge up for the postseason,” Brewers shortstop Willy Adames said. “They don’t matter anymore, but we still want to win. I feel like we’re just getting ready for the postseason right now. That’s the mentality.”
Asked for his take on what to make of the past couple of weeks, Wong said, “It means that we clinched early. That’s what that means. I think people tend to forget what our main goal is. It’s not to come out here and try to just win victories, it’s to try to get ready for the postseason. We expect in that clubhouse to go far.”
The main aim of this final week, Wong emphasized, was to get through Game 162 in good health. And the Brewers accomplished that, including another productive game Sunday for first baseman Rowdy Tellez as he completed a comeback from a knee injury, and some final work for relievers primed to play prominent roles, including Brent Suter, Josh Hader and even Ashby, who becomes a potentially important contributor with setup man Devin Williams down with a fractured hand.
The Brewers traveled back to Milwaukee on Sunday night and will take Monday off before three days of workouts leading to the NLDS.
“It’s big for everyone to realize that if you can get healthy in these four days, use it,” Wong said. “Be smart about it, be proactive about it. Get your mind ready to go. The biggest thing we’re telling people is make sure all the distractions coming in -- obviously, the playoffs come and there are a lot of distractions -- make sure you take care of that right away so when the games come there is nothing for you to think about. Let’s make sure with these four days that we use them correctly and get mentally and physically ready to go.”
As Wong put it, “The postseason, this is where the real baseball starts.”
“I think we came out of the game in a good place,” Counsell said as the Brewers prepared to head home Sunday. “It's time to look forward. It's time to look to the incredible opportunity in front of us, the opportunity we've earned with 95 wins.
“I'm really proud of the group. It's been a heck of a regular season. They've earned this and earned the fun that's ahead of them.”