Milwaukee is moving on, and San Diego will be seeing one catch all winter. The Brewers beat the Padres 3-1 in Game 4 on Wednesday to win the division series three games to one, a series defined by Garrett Mitchell’s leaping robbery of a Manny Machado drive that would have tied a game, a ball that left the bat at 106.7 mph with an expected batting average of .960 and would have been a home run in 19 of 30 parks, according to tracking data cited in coverage.
Every Milwaukee win in the series came by one or two runs: 3-2, 4-3 and 3-1, with San Diego’s only victory a 4-3 answer in Game 3. It was that kind of October for the Brewers, close games, clean defense, and the one play that changes a series arriving exactly when required.
San Diego’s elimination completed a remarkable day: the Padres, Yankees and Braves, all playing at home, were all eliminated on the same day, the first time three home teams have gone out together in postseason history, according to reporting on the games. The Padres’ window, with this core, gets harder to defend each October it closes without a pennant.
Milwaukee’s reward is a National League Championship Series against Los Angeles beginning Sunday, a rematch with the defending champions and the sport’s deepest roster. The Brewers lost the season series narrative months ago; none of that matters now, because the team that keeps winning 3-2 has a formula that travels.
If the NLCS follows the script of the last week, expect tight games decided by a single swing or a single catch. The Brewers have made a season of being the team that makes that play, and October has a way of remembering who does.
The catch deserves its place in the franchise’s short museum of October moments: an expected batting average of .960 means the ball Machado hit becomes a home run 96 times in 100, and in 19 of the league’s 30 parks. It left his bat at 106.7 mph, travelled to the deepest part of the park, and stayed in the series because Mitchell timed a leap he had practised against that wall all season. Series turn on less, and both teams know it.
US News Zone will continue to follow this story as the season develops.
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