Brewers celebrate clinching win over Padres with an eye on looming NLCS showdown with Dodgers

SAN DIEGO (AP) — After yet another businesslike victory in a season full of them, the Milwaukee Brewers celebrated their National League Division Series clincher inside Petco Park on Wednesday night amid beer showers, wafting cigar smoke and countless bottles of sparkling wine individually labeled with the names of various Wisconsin cities.

The Brewers are thrilled to head home with another playoff series victory during the best stretch in team history — but they also know the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to meet them in Milwaukee this weekend.

A year after the Brewers did not appear to be ready to meet the challenge posed by the intimidating World Series champions while getting unceremoniously swept out of the NL Championship Series, this team is certain it can do better in the rematch.

The Brewers' tense NLDS win over the San Diego Padres — four games decided by five combined runs — only underlined their growing confidence in their ability to excel in October and to truly fight for this team's first championship.

“I think we have a different type of confidence and belief in ourselves together as a team,” said center fielder Garrett Mitchell, the Game 4 hero with his bat and glove. “It’s just like a quiet, subtle confidence. It’s not showboaty. It’s just everyone who’s in this clubhouse, from the front office to the staff, everyone believes. ... I also think it’s a year difference. Guys are continuing to mature. We're all excited to go out and compete and try to get it done.”

With their eighth playoff appearance in the past nine seasons off to a strong start, the Brewers are gradually knocking down the remaining barriers to their ultimate goal.

This group ended Milwaukee's 12-game road postseason losing streak since 2018 with the clincher in San Diego, executing nearly flawlessly in the process. The Brewers held the Padres to three hits and got timely hits of their own while playing exceptional defense and gradually draining the spirit from the normally frenzied Petco crowd.

“That team right there can beat anybody in baseball,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of the Padres. “Nobody has a winning record on the road in the postseason — except maybe the Dodgers. It’s just not the way it is. The environments are so tough to play in. Yeah, so that was going to happen at some point if we keep banging on the postseason door.”

And while the Dodgers will be the biggest challenge they’ve faced, the Brewers have never been better positioned to break through.

They won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season, topping the majors and increasing their win total for the fourth straight season while winning their fourth consecutive NL Central crown. Milwaukee then took down the 91-win Padres, who were arguably the majors’ best team in September while streaking to 19 wins in 22 games.

The Brewers won a competitive series between two teams with no World Series titles to show for 58 seasons of existence apiece. San Diego’s drought stretches on, but Milwaukee is eight wins away from ending its own.

The Dodgers are in the way, but the Brewers believe it's finally their time.

“Tonight is about us, but tomorrow we’re making a plan,” Game 4 starter Robert Gasser said. “We're trying to execute and figure out, ‘How do we go in and get two wins at home and head over to LA and take care of business there?’ We’ve played them well this year. We saw them last year in the NLCS, but we’ve got all hands on deck, and we’re ready to go.”

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