Bradford DoolittleOct 16, 2026, 10:30 AM ETCloseMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com Been with ESPN since 2013Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES — In the midst of the crawl of revelers wandering around the Dodger Stadium field looking for people to hug late Thursday night, two old teammates came together in celebration.It was eye-catching because both are former National League MVP winners with jet-black hair, one retired, one still very much in the thick of it. Both won those MVP trophies while wearing the uniform of a successful franchise with rabid fan support that is nonetheless one of the final five big league clubs without a championship.That may soon change: The reason Ryan Braun and Christian Yelich embraced, posed for pictures together and generally beamed like happy children was that their Milwaukee Brewers had moved one step closer to removing their name from that final five list of nonchampions by clinching their first World Series trip in 44 years.”They’ve brought me and all the former Brewers so much pride,” Braun said. “We’re all on group text and talking about this constantly. The way they play as a group, the belief they have in each other.”The Brewers had just knocked out the two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers with alarming alacrity, shrugging off a four-run deficit created by a ballpark-shaking three-run homer off the previously dormant bat of Shohei Ohtani and rallying to win 6-4, completing a four-game sweep.”This place is going crazy and all the momentum’s swinging the other way,” Yelich said.
“And we’re like, ‘Hey, just stay together, guys. This is gonna be a great way to win it. Just chip away. This is gonna be a great story.'”Yelich and his teammates were not wrong.
For just the second time in 58 years of existence, 57 if you don’t want to count their one-year expansion stint as the Seattle Pilots, the Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series. The previous time, 1982, happened when the Brewers were still in the American League, so, by winning on Thursday, the Brewers removed their name from another list to avoid: Milwaukee was the only current NL franchise that had never won a flag in that circuit.”Forty-four years of hope, 44 years of heartbreak, 44 years of believing that we would have our moment, and that moment has arrived,” Braun said. “So I’m sure they’re thrilled to have a team for the current generation of Brewers fans, because a lot of them probably weren’t alive in ’82.”It’s a start.”We have an unbelievable opportunity in front of us,” Yelich said. “It’s something that you dream about as a kid.”The Brewers have been knocking on this door for a decade.
Braun was there at the start of it, before retiring in 2020, and Yelich has been there for nearly all of it, save for 2017, when Milwaukee began its streak of competitive seasons. Beginning with that campaign, Milwaukee has since played just two games after being eliminated from playoff contention. Thus, nearly every game Yelich has played in for Milwaukee — 1,124, including the playoffs, has had something on the line.But until Thursday, there had been a ceiling to Milwaukee’s penchant for punching above its market weight — the NLCS, with the Dodgers twice before serving as the brick wall into which the Brewers ran. That the Brewers finally crashed through and did it in Southern California, where Yelich and a number of his teammates are from, made it that much more gratifying.”I don’t know if you told me as a kid that this would be a thing that happened if I would believe you,” Yelich said.
“Which is pretty crazy. It’s just an awesome moment and memory.”The pennant clincher came just 19 days after Yelich was named as the first team captain in Brewers history, an honor made tangible by the “C” that is now stitched onto his jersey. None of the greats in Brewers history — Braun, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper — were so honored.Yelich has become well-schooled in Brewers history, likely in part because it’s hard to avoid in Milwaukee. The Brewers are pretty history-forward in the way they honor their greats in and around American Family Field.
Yount, the Hall of Famer who rates pretty clearly as the best player in franchise history, is a frequent presence. When you walk into the Brewers’ clubhouse, the first thing you see are a row of lockers with jerseys hanging in them — Hank Aaron (who played his final two seasons with the Brewers after starring for the Milwaukee then Atlanta Braves), Yount, Molitor and Rollie Fingers among them.”The team does a great job of bringing those guys back, giving them opportunities to come back, and when they do come back, they hang out in the clubhouse,” NLCS MVP Jake Bauers said. “They talk to us. We get to hang out with them.”According to MLB.com, before Yelich accepted the captainship, he checked with Yount to get his blessing.
That’s how much respect he has for the Brewers who came before him. And while Yelich has forged a friendship with Yount over the years, one thing he has never asked about is that long-ago 1982 World Series.Now might be a good time to inquire, especially since Yount hit .414 in that seven-game thriller against the St. Louis Cardinals.”Hopefully he’s around and we can have that conversation,” Yelich said. “It would be awesome.
He’s a great guy. What an ambassador for the Brewers and just a pillar of the organization.”To pay a visit to American Family Field is to step into a ballpark that you’d never guess was the home of a team that was oh-for-history on the championship leaderboard. From the scores of pregame tailgaters who populate the sea of parking lots around the park, to the sight of Bernie the Brewer sliding down his chute after a Brewers home run, to the iconic sausage races, to the ritual of singing “Beer Barrel Polka” during the seventh-inning stretch, it is one of baseball’s most distinct game-day experiences.And even though Milwaukee is baseball’s smallest market, the Brewers draw well, this season bringing in 2.788 million fans, which ranked 11th in the majors. That was more than the Mets and Angels, just to pick on two big-market franchises.All of this is to suggest that this pennant, and the forthcoming shot at a title, is going to set the state of Wisconsin on its ear.”We understand who we’re playing for, what it means to the city,” Yelich said.
“They’re going to be stoked, and we’re so excited to get back to them. They’ve been unbelievable.”Yelich wasn’t around for that 1982 pennant, of course, but he’s been around for plenty of baseball success in Milwaukee. Since Yelich joined the team, the Brewers have made the playoffs in eight out of nine seasons. They’ve won six NL Central titles, including the past four.
They have advanced to three National League Championship Series and, now, won a pennant. The Dodgers are the only NL team with more wins during that span.Yet the reality of playing in Milwaukee means that even as Yelich has remained the face of the franchise and a fixture in the community, the team around him has iterated again and again, even as the wins continue to pile up. Thus it is on him to be the exemplar of what it means to be a Brewer.”You can say you want to win, but you have to do the things and hold each other to the standard of being a really good team,” Yelich said. “And we do a great job of that here.”The teammates have changed and the Brewers’ style of play has evolved.
Craig Counsell left for the rival Cubs, so Pat Murphy took over as manager. David Stearns earned widespread praise for his tenure as the Brewers’ baseball operations honcho but is now with the Mets. Matt Arnold was promoted to replace Stearns following the 2022 season and, if anything, has upped the ante.Yelich has been the one constant among the position players, with Brandon Woodruff filling a similar role for the pitchers. For teams looking to replicate what the Brewers have done, well, good luck because it’s not a simple for
Leave a Reply