In 2018, the Milwaukee Brewers entered the month of September five games back of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central division.
You know what happened next.
The Brewers went 20-7 in the final month of the season. That included a 7-game winning streak to close out the regular season, forcing a Game 163 against the Cubs. They won that game as well, albeit on the first day of October, clinching their first division title since 2011. It was only the start of Craig Counsell’s September magic.
Fast forward to September 5th, 2019. The Brewers were 7.5 games back of first place in the division and 5 back of an NL Wild Card spot. Five days later, Christian Yelich fouled a ball off his leg, fracturing his knee cap. His season was over. Through all of that adversity, Counsell still guided the team to a 20-7 record in the final month of the season. The Brewers clinched back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since 1982.
What changes for the Brewers’ skipper when the calendar flips to September?
“Nothing,” Counsell tells Wisconsin’s Morning News on 620 WTMJ. “This is the Brewers’ time to shine and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
September of 2020 will be a different animal altogether. In a shortened season, the playoff field has been expanded from five teams to eight, making it easier to qualify. There’s no major deficit to overcome. The Brewers enter the month just a single game back of the St. Louis Cardinals for a spot in the postseason.
How they fare against the aforementioned Cardinals could determine whether or not they’re playing in October for the third consecutive season. With 27 games to go, the Brewers will play the Cardinals 10 times. Six of those 10 games will be played as doubleheaders to make up for games postponed by the Cardinals’ COVID-19 outbreak in late July.
Counsell knows that those games will be weighted differently down the stretch.
“That’s a ton of games…We’re essentially tied, it feels like, when you make it sound like that,” Counsell told Wisconsin’s Morning News. “Those are obviously going to be important games. As much as you can [weight games differently], you do.”
Six of those 10 games against St. Louis will be played as doubleheaders to make up for games postponed by the Cardinals’ COVID-19 outbreak in late July.
“When there’s a whole bunch of doubleheaders in those 10 games, it’s hard to weight doubleheaders sometimes, because you have to go through certain players and pitching, but those will be important games, certainly.”
The Brewers’ first series against the Cardinals this month begins on September 14th.