The Brewers Bullpen Was One for the Ages

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images At the outset of the World Series, I noted that the Brewers had reached the Fall Classic for the first time in 44 years despite not getting much length from their starting pitchers. Through the National League Championship Series, Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser and company averaged just under four innings per turn, an average that didn’t clear that low bar until The Miz delivered 5 2/3 shutout innings in Wednesday night’s World Series clincher. Along with the timely hitting of Jackson Chourio, William Contreras, and Cooper Pratt, a major key to Milwaukee’s dominant postseason run was its bullpen. Even in the team’s Game 4 defeat, Aaron Ashby set a postseason record by extending his streak of scoreless innings to 18, and as a group, Brewers relievers delivered one of the best combined showings in postseason history. I dug into Ashby’s performance last week, noting the way his over-the-top delivery and high velocity combine to create unfamiliar angles and elite vertical movement for his repertoire, giving both lefties and righties fits. The 28-year-old lefty was even more dominant in his three World Series appearances: Aaron Ashby’s 2026 Postseason Performance Series Opponent G IP BFP H BB SO ERA FIP NLDS Padres 3 5.2 19 2 2 5 0.00 2.40 NLCS Dodgers 3 6.2 23 2 1 6 0.00 1.75 WS Rays 3 5.2 18 1 0 9 0.00 -0.08 Total 9 18.0 60 5 3 20 0.00 1.38 That’s a 33.3% strikeout rate and a 5.0% walk rate overall, and a 50.0% strikeout rate (with no walks) against the Rays. Ashby threw 1 2/3 innings in Game 1, coming on in relief of Abner Uribe with one out in the seventh and setting down all five batters he faced. He added another 1 2/3 innings in Game 2, this time relieving Uribe with one out in the eighth. Though he had to work around a leadoff double by Jonny DeLuca to start the ninth (the only baserunner he allowed all series), he closed out the game, becoming the 10th pitcher with at least three saves of longer than three outs in a single Wild Card era postseason — or the 15th, depending upon how many times you want to count Mariano Rivera.FanGraphs Playoff Coverage Is for MembersYou must be a Member in order to read our postseason coverage. You can read our announcement here, but it's not the only reason you should consider becoming a Member. Membership includes:✓Ad-free browsing✓Unlimited FanGraphs & RotoGraphs articles✓Historical & platoon projections✓Leaderboard & player-page stat heatmaps✓One-click data exports✓Customizable player-page dashboards✓Dark & Classic site modes✓Weekly Members-only mailbag✓FanGraphs Walk-Off, your year in review✓Optional homepage photo removal✓Gift articles to non-Members✓Full postseason coverage