The Milwaukee Brewers have announced their roster for the 2026 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it includes one key change from the previous round.
The Brewers added multi-inning relief pitcher Tobias Myers to the roster in favor of Nick Mears, who was left off.
General manager Matt Arnold offered a three-word response when asked about the move, saying, “More about length.”
Mears' omission doesn't seem to be through any fault of his own. The right-handed reliever appeared in each of the first three games of Milwaukee's Division Series win over the Chicago Cubs, allowing no runs on one hit and a walk with three strikeouts. In the regular season, he appeared in 63 games and had a 3.49 ERA with a 0.971 WHIP.
Mears spent time on the injured list in September with back tightness, though the Brewers have not indicated he is hurt.
As for Myers, he could emerge as an opener candidate, perhaps even in Game 1 on Monday night, as Milwaukee has still not announced a starter as of this writing.
Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook told MLB.com on Sunday that the team will go with three starters, likely referring to Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester and Jose Quintana. That would make someone like Myers, who started six games this season, a logical addition. Each of Myers' last four appearances in the regular season were of the multi-inning variety, including three scoreless frames against the Cincinnati Reds on September 26.
“We have to be able to cover things if things go south, if we have to make a right turn,” Hook said. “Like I’ve said before, this is just the norm for us. I don’t think it’s anything like, ‘Oh, God, how are we going to do this?’ We do this every day and we find a way.”
Whoever the Brewers go with to start the NLCS, the defending World Series champion Dodgers plan to counter with two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell.
