'This is our identity': Brewers aim to run their way to glory

MILWAUKEE -- Why couldn’t the Brewers be this year’s version of the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks, an underdog team stocked by speedy position players who ran, ran and ran some more -- all the way to the World Series?

“Our last few years, I don’t think we’ve had the offensive production we’ve had this year, and that’s the biggest change,” said Brewers first-base coach Quintin Berry, who made a career as a mercenary on the bases. “The guys know this is our identity. We run.”

The Brewers are in the postseason for the sixth time in seven years for a lot of reasons, including a bullpen with the best ERA in the National League and a defense that once again ranks among the best in baseball. Those strengths are holdovers from last season.

But this year’s club was also a lot more proficient at scoring runs, and that can be traced to the basepaths.

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Going into the season, Berry was hoping the Brewers would steal 150 bases, and new manager Pat Murphy made running a high priority. They had players running like crazy in the early days of Spring Training, just to feel what it was like to push to the limit of aggressive baserunning -- and beyond. At one point, Milwaukee’s runners were thrown out so many times that Murphy said he received calls from alarmed officials throughout the organization.

But it turned into a positive. The Brewers sprinted right by Berry’s preseason projection and wound up stealing 217 bases in the regular season, the second most in franchise history (the 1992 Brewers led the Majors with 256 stolen bases) and the second most in the Majors this season behind the youthful Washington Nationals (223).

And after ranking 17th last season in runs per game, the Brewers jumped to sixth this season.

“It’s a huge part of our offense, and we’re going to keep running in the postseason until they stop us. ‘Q’ himself has been a huge part of this,” said Murphy, using Berry’s one-letter nickname. “He was a base-stealer and understood it, and was noted for it and shopped around the league for it. He’s got a house and car because of it, I’m sure.”

He has a World Series ring, too.

Berry won it all with the Red Sox in 2013.

Berry’s base-stealing threats with the Brewers begin with second baseman Brice Turang, who was third in the Majors behind Elly De La Cruz of the Reds and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers with 50 steals -- making Turang the fifth player in Brewers history to reach that plateau. Blake Perkins stole 23 bases while starting only 104 games. Christian Yelich stole 21 bases before going down with a back injury in late July. Jackson Chourio (22 steals) and Willy Adames (21) gave the Brewers the first pair of teammates in franchise history in the 20-20 club.

Adames’ previous career high for stolen bases was eight.

“I just want to be part of it,” Adames said.

It’s the first time the Brewers have had five players with 20-plus steals in a season.

“Look, I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody about what we can do on the bases and what that type of game can do to an opponent,” said Rhys Hoskins, who is more an observer of the Brewers’ base-stealing prowess than a participant. “It just kind of throws everything out of whack.

“There’s a pretty easy, low-hanging fruit comparison to last year's D-backs team, and by no means am I saying just because of that, we’re going to go on a run like they did. But there are definitely similarities from the kind of team we are to the kind of team they were last year.”

The Brewers were swept by the D-backs in last year’s NL Wild Card Series before Arizona knocked off the Dodgers and Phillies as well on the way to the World Series.

“When we play against teams like the Diamondbacks, or the Reds when they’re rolling with Elly, you hate them, you can’t stand them, they get on your nerves,” Berry said. “And you start playing into their game.”

Said Hoskins: "We just make teams uncomfortable. When we’re on the basepaths stealing bases, pushing the envelope a little bit, that just helps the confidence of the rest of the team. Guys on the mound, because they know we’re going to score runs and they don’t have to be perfect. There’s a freedom there.”

Murphy believes that if the Brewers can get on base, the philosophy can be even more effective in the postseason, when tensions are high and every run counts. Just the threat of running, in Murphy’s mind, can impact an opposing team as much as actually running.

So they’ll see how far they can push.

“With this team,” Adames said, “you can’t be surprised by anyone.”