September 11, 2026 · Milwaukee, WI
On a Thursday night in September, the Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 20-0 at American Family Field to become the first team in baseball — in either league — to officially clinch a 2026 postseason berth. It was the largest margin of victory in a clinching game in baseball history.
Garrett Mitchell hit the Brewers' first grand slam of the season. William Contreras, Bryce Turang, and Jake Bauers also went deep. It was a statement game — the largest clinching-win margin in baseball history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
For the fourth consecutive year, Milwaukee is going to October. For the fourth consecutive year, baseball's most passionate mid-market fan base will watch their team play when the games count most.
The Brewers have never won the World Series. They've been to October seven times; they've won one pennant (1982), and they've come tantalizingly close since. The 2026 team — with Jacob Misiorowski leading the league in strikeouts, with Yelich and Contreras anchoring the lineup — may be the franchise's best shot in a generation.
The closest they ever came in the modern era? Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS, at Miller Park. Nyjer Morgan in the bottom of the tenth. Two on, nobody out. The game — and everything it meant for this city — lasted a matter of seconds. The roar at Miller Park that night was, by some accounts, the loudest in Wisconsin baseball history.
In the Field & Ink catalog
October 7, 2011 at Miller Park. Nyjer Morgan's walk-off single in the tenth inning, scored from second. The night the Brewers ended their longest postseason drought — and set off the most emotional celebration this franchise has had before or since. Hand-lettered from the official play-by-play record, every pitch and every out in the founder's own handwriting.
Get the 2011 NLDS Game 5 Scorecard — $29Instant digital download. Print at any size. Ships nowhere — delivered in seconds.
The Brewers lead the NL Central by eight games with the regular season ending September 27. The division title is within reach — Milwaukee hasn't won an NL Central title since 2011, the last time they went this deep into October with this much momentum behind them.
Every game from here through September is a warm-up act for October. The team has already secured its place in the bracket. The question now is seeding — and whether the 2026 Brewers can finally be the team that gets Milwaukee to the World Series for only the second time in franchise history.
Whatever happens, the 2011 NLDS Game 5 still stands as the franchise's most electric postseason moment. It's the game Brewers fans have been talking about for fifteen years. It's in the catalog.