MILWAUKEE — As the Milwaukee Brewers prepared to hit the road Sunday following their 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals, they packed their luggage not entirely sure how long they’d be gone.
The Brewers wrap up the regular season with an eight-game stretch that starts Monday in Cincinnati and concludes with a five-game series in St. Louis. After that, the Brewers hope, will be a third consecutive playoff appearance which could take them to any number of locations for a three-game first-round series.
All of those games will be played in the home stadium of the four highest-seeded teams in each league with the final three rounds, including the World Series, being played at neutral sites in Texas and Southern California.
“It’s really unique to pack and not know whether you’ll be gone for a week or up to six weeks and also have no idea where you’re going,” Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said. “It’s a weird road trip to pack for because there’s a big difference being gone for a week compared to being gone for six weeks.”
Not that Braun, or anyone in the Brewers’ clubhouse, is complaining. The team is well aware of the opportunity it has in the coming week, when the Brewers take on two teams they’re battling for a National League playoff berth.
“It’ll be fun, it’ll be exciting,” Braun said. “The goal was to get to the end of the season in a position to have a chance and we’ve done that.”
At 26-26, the Brewers will begin their trip locked in a three-way tie with the Reds and San Francisco Giants for the second NL Wild Card spot and a game back of St. Louis for the second berth from the NL Central Division.
Surpassing their two divisional rivals won’t be easy.
The Reds have won seven of their past eight games to force themselves back into the playoff race. They’re 4-3 against the Brewers this season and send their top three pitchers — right-handers Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Trevor Bauer — out for the three-game series.
St. Louis won four of five games over the weekend in Pittsburgh and travels to Kansas City for three games before wrapping up at home against the Brewers.
“We’ve played much better baseball over the last couple of weeks,” Braun said. “Obviously, we’re going to play very good teams on the road but we all feel good about our chances.”
Ben Gamel is done for the regular season after being placed on the injured list Sunday with a strained left calf.
Gamel had been trying to play through the injury for the past few weeks, but after he was unable to score from third base on a sacrifice fly Friday night, the Brewers made the decision to sideline him.
In 40 games this season, Gamel slashed .237/.315/.404 with eight doubles, three home runs, 10 RBIs and a .718 OPS.
Braun sounded like somebody who’d played his last home game in the only stadium he’s ever called home Sunday but reiterated that he had not yet made a decision on returning for one more season.
Braun hinted that he had been contemplating retirement after this season, the last guaranteed year of the $105 million contract extension he signed in 2011. For now, he plans to focus on the task at hand of getting the Brewers back into the playoffs and whenever the season does end, he’ll sit down with his wife and start the process of deciding his future.
“This has been such a unique and challenging year in so many ways that I just want to take my time making that decision,” Braun said.
Regardless of Braun’s decision, Sunday did mark the last time he — and the Brewers —would play a game at Miller Park.
The stadium will be known as “American Family Field” next season under a 15-year naming-rights agreement with Madison-based American Family Insurance that officially goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
Since the stadium opened as Miller Park in April 2001, the Brewers went 829-742 during regular-season play.
Right-hander Brandon Woodruff (2-4, 3.45 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday night against the Reds in Cincinnati. Woodruff took the loss his last time out, allowing four runs (three earned) while striking out five over seven innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Cardinals. The Reds’ Castillo (3-5, 3.03 ERA) is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA and one complete game over his past three starts. In 10 career starts against Milwaukee, Castillo is 3-5 with a 3.70 ERA.
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