Ninth-inning collapse makes Brewers' latest playoff exit particularly painful

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Willy Adames had just finished playing perhaps his final game with the Milwaukee Brewers when he described the most devastating of this franchise’s growing collection of playoff defeats.

“Losing that way, when you’re so close, it’s like when you’re a kid and they let you try candy, but they don’t give you the candy,” Adames said after the Brewers’ 4-2 loss to the New York Mets in the decisive Game 3 of their NL Wild Card Series on Thursday night. “They just let you taste it. … That’s how it felt tonight.”

The Brewers have mastered the art of winning consistently in the regular season while playing in the majors’ smallest market. This was their sixth playoff appearance in seven years and third NL Central title in four seasons.

Success in the postseason remains elusive.

They’ve lost 11 of their last 13 postseason games and haven’t won a playoff series since reaching Game 7 of the NL Championship Series in 2018. They made their only World Series appearance way back in 1982, when they were in the American League, and have never won it all.

“If you want to emphasize that, that’s your right to do whatever you’d like to emphasize,” manager Pat Murphy said. “I’d like to emphasize the Brewers organization has been to the postseason six out of seven years with not the biggest budget and quite frankly in a real small market. I think that’s something to hang your hat on. I’m disappointed like anyone else, but things happen.”

Nothing good happened for the Brewers in the ninth inning.

The Brewers led 2-0 and had retired 12 straight Mets batters when they handed the game to Devin Williams, a two-time NL reliever of the year who had allowed just three runs all season. He gave up four in the ninth, including a three-run homer from Pete Alonso that put the Mets ahead for good.

“Everyone did their job except for me,” Williams said. “I feel like I let everyone down.”

Milwaukee led the NL and ranked second in the majors with a 3.11 bullpen ERA, but that relief corps had an up-and-down series.

The Brewers blew a 4-3 lead and lost 8-4 in Game 1 when Joel Payamps and Aaron Ashby allowed a combined five runs in the fifth inning. The bullpen bounced back to throw 5 1/3 shutout innings in Game 2 as the Brewers rallied to win 5-3. Then came the ninth-inning collapse Thursday that left the Brewers stunned.

“After we lost, we stayed here for 15 minutes and nobody moved from the chair,” Adames said. “Silent. Quiet. That tells you right there that there’s a special talent and a special chemistry among ourselves. I’ve never been in a clubhouse with that chemistry. And to see that pain through everybody’s eyes, it was kind of emotional.”

It got particularly emotional when Bob Uecker, who has broadcast Brewers games for more than half a century, entered the clubhouse to offer players congratulations and consolation.

As much as the Brewers wanted to win a World Series for themselves and their fans, they also wanted to do it for the 90-year-old Uecker.

“By far, the hardest part of the night for me was just talking to Bob,” outfielder Christian Yelich said.

Yelich didn’t play in this series after undergoing season-ending back surgery this summer, one of many hurdles the Brewers overcame.

They lost manager Craig Counsell to the rival Chicago Cubs in the offseason. They traded 2021 Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles. Brandon Woodruff never pitched all season as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Wade Miley and Robert Gasser had their seasons end due to Tommy John surgery.

Yet the Brewers took over first place for good at the end of April, went 93-69 and won the NL Central by 10 games.

“We have a lot to be proud of, right?” first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. “Just from where we were when the season started and, I guess, the lack of expectations, and what we were able to accomplish throughout the year. I don’t think that’s something that should be lost.”

Now the budget-conscious Brewers enter another offseason of uncertainty as they deal with the possibility Adames has priced himself out of Milwaukee.

Adames, one of the team’s emotional leaders, enters free agency after hitting 32 homers, driving in 112 runs and stealing 21 bases.

“The great news for Willy and his family is I think the free-agent contract’s going to be very valuable for him and quite high,” Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said before the series. “And we’ll do what we can do to stretch, but others have bigger pocket books. We’ll see what happens.”

Adames discussed his future after the game.

“I can’t tell you if that was it or not,” Adames said. “I would love to be here next year, competing with my boys again. It would be great. It would be special.”

Even if the Brewers lose Adames and other key players, their track record suggests they’ll find a way to contend again. Many of their key contributors were rookies and second-year players, most notably 20-year-old Jackson Chourio, a budding superstar who thrived in the playoff spotlight and homered twice in Game 2.

But they’ll spend the next several months regretting this missed opportunity.

“It felt like a tragedy,” Murphy said.