Brewers and Mets both proved skeptics wrong to set up unlikely NL Wild Card Series matchup

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The New York Mets weren’t supposed to get this far. Neither were the Milwaukee Brewers.

Yet here they are squaring off in a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday in Milwaukee.

These two teams should know each other well. The Mets finished playing a series in Milwaukee on Sunday before heading to Atlanta to play a makeup doubleheader Monday that determined the NL's final two playoff participants. A doubleheader split put the Braves and Mets in the playoffs while eliminating the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Now the Mets head back to Milwaukee for an unlikely postseason matchup.

“We’ve answered the bell," New York first baseman Pete Alonso said during the team's playoff-clinching celebration Monday. “We’ve earned the right to play in the postseason. Now this is when we have a great opportunity in front of us.”

The Mets went 75-87 in 2023 and were 22-33 near the end of May, but they came on strong the rest of the way under new manager Carlos Mendoza to earn the NL's final wild-card spot.

“There were a lot of times this year when it would have been easy for these guys to start pointing fingers, and that never happened,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “They hung together, believed in each other, and it allows us to get to a moment like this, which is pretty cool.”

Milwaukee was an even bigger surprise in winning its second straight NL Central title.

The Brewers lost manager Craig Counsell to the rival Chicago Cubs in the offseason. Two-time All-Star pitcher Brandon Woodruff missed the season following shoulder surgery and 2021 Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes was traded in January to Baltimore. Milwaukee lost pitchers Wade Miley and Robert Gasser to Tommy John surgeries. And then Christian Yelich hurt his back and didn’t play after July 23.

The Brewers never flinched. They took over the NL Central lead near the end of April and stayed there the rest of the way.

“They did it by pulling together and playing a certain way, and they know that’s the secret,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, a former bench coach on Counsell's staff. “I don’t think they wipe the slate clean in that, ‘This is how I play.’ The numbers are out the window. It doesn’t matter. Now it’s about win today, and they’ve kind of been doing that all year.”

The small-market Brewers are making their sixth postseason appearance in seven years, but they haven't won a playoff series since reaching Game 7 of the 2018 NL Championship Series. Milwaukee has lost nine of its last 10 playoff games.

While previous Brewers teams were anchored by a dominant rotation featuring Burnes, Woodruff and Freddy Peralta, this year’s squad went 93-69 behind Gold Glove-caliber defense, chaos-inducing speed on the bases and steady and effective pitching.

“We feel different,” Peralta said. “I can tell. Even today, the vibes that we have right now, you can see on everybody’s face that we are all knowing where we are, knowing where we’re going, and where we want to be.”

Stearns joined the Brewers as general manager in October 2015 and was promoted to president of baseball operations before the 2019 season. He stepped down after the 2022 season and took the same position with the Mets a year later.

Now his new team faces his former one with high stakes.

Peralta (11-9, 3.68 ERA) will start Game 1, but Murphy isn't saying how the Brewers will set up their pitching beyond that. Peralta is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA in four postseason appearances.

The Mets figure to start Luis Severino (11-7, 3.91) and Sean Manaea (12-6, 3.47) in the first two games, and then Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75) would be on full rest for a potential Game 3.

While the Mets were able to save Severino for the playoff opener by winning Game 1 of the doubleheader in Atlanta, it’s uncertain what closer Edwin Díaz might have left in the tank Tuesday after throwing 66 pitches over the past two days.

Milwaukee outfielder Sal Frelick bruised his left hip while chasing a foul ball Friday, creating doubt for his availability this week.

“He’s still limping, so I’m not as optimistic as I was hoping to be,” Murphy said.

Frelick told reporters that he will be ”ready to go.”

“I don’t think I’d put myself out there if I thought that it was going to hurt the team, if I thought I couldn’t make a play, couldn’t steal a base, stuff like that,” Frelick said. “I’m comfortable saying that I can, I can go out and play like I have the whole year.”

Frelick crashed into the right-field sidewall, and his left side made contact with the metal chain link inside a window in that wall with no protective padding. Along with the traditional bunting adorning the concourses and logos painted onto American Family Field for the postseason, the Brewers installed new padding to the section of wall that Frelick hit.

The Brewers have won 12 of their last 14 meetings with the Mets. They were 5-0 against the Mets this year before losing 5-0 on Sunday.

Much of Milwaukee's success against the Mets has come from its running game. The Brewers stole 17 bases in six games against New York without getting caught a single time, though they did have a runner picked off once.

Milwaukee’s Brice Turang went 9 of 19 and stole seven bases without getting caught in the Brewers’ six regular-season games with the Mets. Jackson Chourio was 9 for 25 at the plate against the Mets. Longtime Mets nemesis Rhys Hoskins batted just .222 but had two homers and eight RBIs in 18 at-bats.

New York’s Francisco Alvarez went 7 for 15 with a homer, four RBIs and a 1.260 OPS against the Brewers this season. Starling Marte had a .389 on-base percentage and .600 slugging percentage. Jose Iglesias was 5 for 11.

AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee contributed to this report.

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The New York Mets celebrate in the locker room after clinching a playoff berth with a victory in the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor celebrates in the locker room after clinching a playoff berth with a victory in the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy looks on from the dugout before a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy looks from the dugout during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Milwaukee Brewers starter Freddy Peralta celebrates in the dugout after getting his 200th strikeout of the season during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Milwaukee Brewers' Willy Adames gestures as he jogs to the dugout after being taken out of the game during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Willy Adames, left, laughs from the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee voters will decide whether to reelect Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn to a second term or choose Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson.

Tennessee hasn't elected a Democrat to a statewide position in nearly two decades, but Johnson is hoping her recent meteoric rise to fame from nearly being expelled by state lawmakers last year will woo enough voters.

Blackburn has run a much more subdued campaign compared to six years ago, when an open seat forced a heated race between the Republican and former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen. Blackburn has largely avoided Johnson throughout the campaign and declined to participate in any debates with the Democrat.

Johnson gained national attention when she joined fellow Democratic state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones as they walked to the front of the House floor with a bullhorn while hundreds of gun control advocates flooded the Capitol to show their support for putting more restrictions on firearms. The demonstration took place just days after a school shooting that killed 6 people, including three young children, at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The violation of House protocols sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers, who demanded they be expelled — a punishment that had been used only a handful of times since Reconstruction.

The showdown between the Democratic lawmakers and the Republican supermajority attracted national attention, amplifying the profiles of the group — dubbed the “Tennessee Three” — across the U.S.

Johnson, 62, has been a critic of Blackburn’s policy positions, arguing that most Tennesseans want “common sense gun legislation” and better access to reproductive care. While on the campaign trail, Johnson also shared her own story of needing an abortion to save her life in light of Tennessee enacting a sweeping abortion ban that includes only a handful of narrow exemptions. Johnson has stressed that she likely would not have been able to make that same choice under the state's current ban.

Blackburn, 72, has opposed gun control measures throughout her political career. After repeatedly deflecting questions about whether she supports a national ban on abortion as she ran for reelection, Blackburn told WTVF-TV last month that she would oppose a federal ban, as well as any “federal government overreach that would interfere with that decision.”

Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, she repeatedly voted to advance a bill that would have banned abortion at 20 weeks.

Blackburn's 2018 win marked the first time a woman had been elected in Tennessee as a U.S. senator.

FILE - Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, announces her candidacy to run for the U.S. Senate during an event, Sept. 5, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

FILE - Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention, on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)