If you ask any baseball fan about what the single most important objective is for postseason baseball, some may bring up pitching depth or home runs, but what’s most important is timely hitting. We as Brewers fans have seen that twice already, just two games into the playoffs.
It’s easy to be riding the high of two electric postseason wins, especially when one player, such as Chourio, has played a major role in the two wins. But it’s hard to underestimate what he has done over his few short years as a Brewer.
On Saturday night, Chourio hit a game-tying two-run home run over the right-center field wall to even the game against the Padres at 2-2. What was hidden much further beneath the home run was the franchise significance: Chourio became the all-time leader in home runs in Brewers postseason history.
Now, it doesn’t feel that significant considering that the Brewers hadn’t hit many home runs in the postseason before, mainly because they were never in the postseason consistently until 2018. Oddly enough, before Chourio hit his home run Saturday night, Orlando Arcia, a player who struggled a ton for the Brewers, led the franchise with four.
However, Chourio taking over the all-time slot is exactly what this team was looking for. He’s been the main piece of the youth movement, and with him locked up through the 2031 season, he’s only expected to add to that lead throughout the next five years. That’s just one of many things that make him already one of the greatest to wear a Brewers uniform.
Clutch hitting for the Brewers feels like an oddity, especially when it matters. First, the most memorable clutch hitting moment for the Brewers in postseason history was Nyjer Morgan’s walk-off base hit to win against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 to advance to the National League Championship Series. The second was in game one of the NLDS against the Colorado Rockies in 2018, by Mike Moustakas. After Sunday night, there’s a new moment in town, and it was Chourio’s walk-off hit to survive a sloppy game against the San Diego Padres.
When it comes to the moments that the Brewers didn’t come through in the clutch, the 2024 Wild Card comes to mind, as the Crew had the tying run at the plate and didn’t come through. Or, the 2021 Division Series, where all the Crew needed was one run to tie the game against the Atlanta Braves, instead going 1-2-3. There were, of course, many more moments like that, but those are the most recent of this regime.
Sunday afternoon, the Brewers saw their defense commit three errors, which is uncharacteristic of them. But, as we’ve seen all season, this team has a knack for the comeback. This moment wouldn’t of been possible without Christian Yelich’s one-out walk to kick off the comeback. After a couple of walks, Chourio found himself down to his final strike of the game, and then he poked one through the infield up the middle.
This, of course, wasn’t the first moment for him, as in the bottom of the third inning in game one against the Padres, Chourio took advantage of a lead-off walk from Garrett Mitchell to tie the game at 2-2. A few innings later, William Contreras hit a solo home run to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead late.
With the two home runs in game one, Chourio, of course, accomplished what he did in franchise history, but coming up behind him is Contreras. In just a few postseason appearances, Contreras has three home runs, putting him third all-time in Brewers postseason home runs.
Clutch hitting might come across as the biggest goal for any postseason, but clutch pitching feels like something that’s not talked about enough. If it wasn’t for clutch hitting, the Brewers wouldn’t be headed to San Diego up 2-0. We wouldn’t have gotten to that point if it weren’t for the pitching. Out of the 18 innings played so far, 12 of those have had a Padres hitter on base, and only three times have they scored a run.
It’s an all-around team effort, especially when the defense has as rough a game as the Brewers did. Sunday afternoon, the Brewers pitching stranded eight Padres hitters on base, while leaving 12 on Saturday night. Of course, it’s hard to acknowledge exactly one person who has made it all possible, but if we were too, Chourio would be at the front.
Instantly, my mind goes to the Ty France controversy with his fly ball that hit the wire connected to the roof. Yes, it was a ball that could’ve gone foul, but not enough people are talking about how difficult it is to adjust mid-fly ball to make that catch, and Chourio did. It’s just one small piece of why he’s quickly establishing himself as one of the greats in Brewers history.
The Brewers are going to have the toughest road to the World Series of anyone in baseball. Being the No. 1 seed in the National League, they already have a target on their back. To further that, they have to face one of the hottest teams in September in San Diego, which they’ve already taken the first two games of the series. But with a series win, they’ll have to face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Atlanta Braves, both of which they want to finally get over the hump against.
