This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MILWAUKEE – Brewers manager Pat Murphy has been soliciting opinions of how best to handle the five days off between Sunday’s regular-season finale and Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Oct. 4. The consensus from baseball men he trusts, Murphy said, is that the downtime is “dreadful” for teams conditioned to playing nonstop from April through September.
To Christian Yelich, however, the extra days are a blessing.
“I think each team is different, but I think this year we really need it,” Yelich said. “For our team, just dealing with what we’ve been dealing with, I think we’re really going to need those few days.”
As of Friday, the plan for those days was still under construction.
“I’m sure Murph’s got some stuff up his sleeve,” hitting coach Connor Dawson said.
Murphy and the coaches have been discussing a strategy for some time, which is one of the benefits of clinching a division title along with a first-round bye on Sept. 21 with a full week of regular-season games to go.
The Brewers haven’t set plans in stone, but Murphy has a general idea of what he’d like to see throughout the week. It starts with an off-day on Monday, then back to daily workouts on Tuesday through the start of the postseason.
“Intent,” Murphy said. “Intended practice, very intended. While all of the players could use the rest for their body, we’re not able to do that. If you want to rest, then don’t qualify for the playoffs. So we’re not going to rest. We will try to be wise with our human performance [department], but we will practice with intent.”
From the manager’s perspective, chalk it up as a good problem to have. Everyone has an opinion on how best to handle the layoff for each league’s top two seeds, which have had an extended break since MLB’s postseason format was expanded in 2022 to include best-of-three Wild Card Series ahead of the best-of-five NLDS round.
“Everybody I’ve talked to about the long layoff said it’s dreadful,” Murphy said. “Everybody I’ve talked to said it’s the worst part of the format. But, so what? What, are we going to not do it? So, this is what we’re going to do.
“We’ll figure out a way. This team has a way of figuring out a way to do the unexpected. I trust them.”
Every team has its own strategy for navigating the break, but some ideas sound a little silly to Murphy, So, the Brewers will not pipe in music and crowd noise. They will not fill the stadium with fans, as fun as that sounds for the Milwaukee faithful, who showed up 10,000 strong to watch the manager flip pancakes at a morning pep rally on Friday.
So, what could it look like?
“I like the idea of [being] off Monday, light workout Tuesday, then bringing in some competition and some intensity on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Brewers infield coach Matt Erickson. “Not long duration, but significant competition to stay sharp with speed.”
Erickson has experience from bygone years in the fall instructional league. A coach calls out a game situation -- first and third with one out, or a bunt coverage, or the five-man infield that the Brewers have discussed at times, but have yet to employ this season -- and then repeat it for five straight hitters.
After that, a new combination of position players is installed, and they run another game scenario.
What about the threat of injury?
“Yeah, you put them in some situations where things can happen, but that can happen in the shower. You can get hurt getting ready for the day,” Erickson said. “I don’t think it’s a time to be careful. I also don’t think we put them in harmful situations. Baseball activity with intent, I think, is important.”
And the key is doing everything in a controlled fashion to get everyone, especially the pitchers, lined up just right. The Brewers will have some tricky pitching decisions ahead of setting an NLDS roster on the morning of Game 1, so the live action will help provide work for the likes of starter Jose Quintana and relievers Trevor Megill and DL Hall, who are attempting comebacks from injuries.
As of Friday, there was a path for all three to make the NLDS roster. Especially Quintana, who could be the No. 3 starter, and Megill, the Brewers’ All-Star closer.
“I don’t think there’s any drawbacks [to the layoff],” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “I think it’s important to have it. It’s physical and mental. I think that people don’t realize how difficult this game is. Five days to unplug can be really beneficial.”
What about the hitters?
“It’s tricky,” Dawson said. “But at the same time, the nice part about it is you get to be creative about it between the staff and the players. What do we need to be ready for? But the rest is huge. That plays a pretty big role in the whole thing.”
Erickson came back to the same word that the manager keeps using.
“Intent,” Erickson said. “There’s many situations we can get into, but the way to do it is with some intent.”