Brewers bump? Every team to oust Milwaukee from playoffs has reached World Series
The Arizona Diamondbacks are heading to the World Series, something few MLB observers saw coming after Arizona had to come back from being down by multiple runs in both games of their two-game wild-card sweep over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Few, that is, except for those who noticed an incredible trend in Brewers playoff history — a trend that continued thanks to Arizona's stunning upset over the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series.
The trend is this: In the nine times that the Brewers have made the postseason in franchise history — eight of which have come in years when there was a division series in the MLB playoff format — every team that has defeated Milwaukee has gone on to at least reach the World Series, if not win it altogether.
Here is a breakdown of how all those teams fared, via FOX Sports Research:
1981 New York Yankees: Defeated Brewers in ALDS, reached World Series
Though the division series was not permanently instituted until 1994, MLB debuted it for the first time in 1981 as a way to sort out the East and West division winners from the first and second halves of the 1981 season, which was interrupted partway through due to a strike by the players' union. The first-half AL East winners, the New York Yankees, beat the second-half division-winning Brewers 3-2 in the ALDS in Milwaukee's playoff debut. The Yankees then went on to sweep the Oakland A's in the ALCS before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 World Series.
1982 St. Louis Cardinals: Defeated Brewers in World Series
This one technically counts! This was the Brewers' first and only World Series appearance in franchise history. They were AL champions at the time facing their now-NL Central division foes from St. Louis. The Cardinals prevailed thanks to a late comeback in Game 7, powered by future Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Bruce Sutter, and series MVP Darrell Porter.
2008 Philadelphia Phillies: Defeated Brewers in NLDS, won World Series
The Brewers finally returned to the postseason in 2008 thanks in no small part to CC Sabathia, who became one of the greatest trade deadline acquisitions in MLB history, carrying Milwaukee to a wild-card spot with an 11-2 record and 1.65 ERA over the final two months of the season. However, the Brewers were no match for a loaded Philadelphia Phillies squad that dispatched Milwaukee in four games in the NLDS, before beating the Dodgers in the NLCS and the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.
2011 St. Louis Cardinals: Defeated Brewers in NLCS, won World Series
The Brewers advanced to the NLCS with a win over none other than the D-backs in the 2011 NLDS, only to fall to the Cardinals in six games in the NLCS. St. Louis then beat the Texas Rangers — also this year's AL pennant winner — in a seven-game World Series classic led by then-rookie David Freese.
Rangers are heading to the World Series for third time in franchise history
2018 Los Angeles Dodgers: Defeated Brewers in NLCS, reached World Series
The Dodgers edged the Brewers by winning an instant-classic Game 7 of the NLCS in Milwaukee, denying a 96-win Brewers team the chance to make it to the World Series. L.A. then lost the World Series for the second consecutive year, falling to the Boston Red Sox in five games.
2019 Washington Nationals: Defeated Brewers in wild-card game, won World Series
The Brewers looked poised for a rematch with the Dodgers team that ended their season in 2018 — until outfielder Trent Grisham overran a seventh-inning, bases-loaded Juan Soto single, allowing all three runners to score and turning a 3-1 Brewers lead into a 4-3 deficit that stood up as the final score. Washington went on to stun the Dodgers in the NLDS and sweep the Cardinals in the NLCS, and then shock the Houston Astros in a seven-game thriller of a World Series.
2020 Los Angeles Dodgers: Defeated Brewers in wild-card series, won World Series
The 29-31 Brewers were the last of eight teams — including a record five NL wild-card teams — to qualify under a temporarily expanded playoff format. Milwaukee was no match for the Dodgers, who breezed through them in the best-of-three series and then swept the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, rallied to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, and defeated the Rays for their first World Series title since 1988.
2021 Atlanta Braves: Defeated Brewers in NLDS, won World Series
The 88-win Braves were widely regarded as the weakest team in the NL playoff field, but stunned the Braves in the NLDS, did the same to the Dodgers in a rematch of the 2020 NLCS, then defeated the Astros in six games in the 2021 World Series behind a homegrown core that has since turned Atlanta into one of the best MLB teams this decade.
2023 Arizona Diamondbacks: Defeated Brewers in wild-card series, reached World Series*
The Diamondbacks were the last team in the playoff field, and the Brewers had Arizona on the ropes in each of the two games the teams played in Milwaukee, only for the "Snakes" to stay alive and come back to win both times. Arizona then went on its own improbable run, demolishing the NL West-winning Dodgers in the NLDS and outlasting the Phillies in an epic NLCS.
But can Arizona finish the job? Tune in to the World Series, starting with Game 1 at 8 p.m. ET Friday, to find out. All the games can be seen on FOX and the FOX Sports App.
