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After another unexpected run to the playoffs, the Milwaukee Brewers bowed out of the postseason with a loss to the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card Series. The matchup was the only one of the four to go the distance and the winner-take-all Game 3 did not disappoint with the dramatics. Unfortunately for the Brewers, the loss ended their season.
Milwaukee lost in the Wild Card round at home for the second consecutive season. The way the Brewers lost this year left an extra sting in the chests of their fans as the Milwaukee faithful have to endure another long offseason following a crushing playoff defeat.
The Brewers have always been a team better by the sum of their parts rather than a few individual stars. Still, those key players have to step up in the crucial moments of the season. When those moments emerged for Milwaukee, their stars crumbled.
It's sometimes unfair to point the blame toward a particular player, especially in a team sport like baseball. Different performances from these Brewers x-factors could have led Milwaukee to winning ways. Instead, they're packing up their lockers and looking ahead to 2025.
Hoskins continues postseason struggles
The signing of Rhys Hoskins last offseason didn’t move the needle for a ton of people. The first baseman was coming off a lost season thanks to a torn ACL and has always been known as a slugger rather than an all-around hitter.
Hoskins enjoyed a solid season with Milwaukee but eyes especially turned to him when the Brewers were paired with the Mets for their Wild Card series. Hoskins and the Mets have a long history stemming from his time with the Philadelphia Phillies. Some of that spilled into the regular season with his Brewers teammates joining the fun.
Hoskins entered the series with a career .769 OPS and 38 extra-base hits in 90 games against the Mets. His OPS against New York in five games this season was .889. He did not record a hit in the three playoff games, going 0-for-9 with three strikeouts. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of Game 3, an anticlimactic end to his first season with Milwaukee.
Postseason struggles are nothing new for Hoskins who's now appeared in 20 playoff games in his MLB career. He is a career .141 hitter in the MLB playoffs with over 32 percent of his plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
The Brewers didn’t need Rhys Hoskins to be Babe Ruth, but going hitless in a three-game playoff series is not something a $12 million player is paid to do. Hoskins has an opt-out in his contract and could be one-and-done with Milwaukee.
All-Star reliever comes up small again
Having reliable pitching is crucial to a team's postseason success. Few teams had better pitching than the Brewers this year but their best reliever faltered in crunch time.
Closer Devin Williams was tasked with trying to close out the Mets and the series. With a two-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 3, Williams walked the first batter he faced and allowed another to reach base before Pete Alonso drove in the game-winning run with a three-run homer off Williams.
The two-time All-Star allowed another run before being pulled. He recorded two outs, giving up four runs in his final appearance of the season.
The playoff woes continue for Williams who allowed a pair of runs and walked three batters in his postseason debut last October. He now has a 23.14 ERA in 2 1/3 playoff innings.
There is no doubt that Devin Williams is among the league's most prolific relievers. He has a career 1.83 ERA, a number that shrinks to 1.66 over the past three seasons. Upon his return from injury this year, Williams carved through batters to the tune of a 1.25 ERA. He struck out 43 percent of the batters he faced in the regular season.
However, Williams has been unable to live up to expectations in the MLB playoffs, albeit in a small sample size. He is a significant reason why the Brewers have been postseason mainstays, but he also threw the pitch that cost them the lead in their final game of the 2024 season.
