The Milwaukee Brewers have built their postseason on a simple idea: the game does not end when the starter leaves, it begins again. In Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday, that idea produced a 5-4 comeback win over Tampa Bay, a 2-0 series lead, and a record that ties one of the great bullpens in recent baseball history.
Milwaukee’s relievers have now won eight times in nine Brewers postseason victories, matching the 2015 Kansas City Royals for the most wins by relievers in a single postseason. The figure is not a curiosity. It is a description of how this team wins: starters keep games close, and relievers finish them.
Six scoreless innings
Game 2 followed the pattern exactly. Starter Logan Henderson allowed four runs, three earned, in three innings, and the Rays led 4-0 in the first. What followed was six scoreless innings from the Milwaukee bullpen, with JoJo Romero, Dustin May and DL Hall each delivering a clean inning, Abner Uribe recording four outs, and Aaron Ashby closing the game for his third save of the playoffs.
Ashby has now thrown 15 and two thirds scoreless innings across eight postseason appearances, a run of dominance that has turned the late innings into a formality for opponents. Tampa Bay’s ninth inning summed it up: Jonny DeLuca doubled, moved to third, and stayed there when Yandy Diaz struck out on a full count pitch, leaving the tying run stranded for the second straight game.
Built for October
As Reuters reported, the Brewers bullpen picked up its eighth win in nine postseason victories, and Milwaukee cut a four run deficit in half in the first inning before tying the game in the sixth and taking the lead in the seventh.
The Royals comparison is instructive. Kansas City’s 2015 bullpen did not just support a championship team, it defined one, shortening games and demoralising opponents who knew the door closed early. Milwaukee’s bullpen is doing the same thing now, and the Rays, who must win Game 3 in St. Petersburg on Monday, know that every game they do not win early is a game they are likely to lose late.
