Aaron Ashby’s imminent MLB postseason record further validates Brewers’ 2024 decision

With a 2-0 lead in the World Series in hand, I'm finally feeling comfortable enough to admit to one of the worst-aged takes of my sportswriting career. Back in January, I openly pondered whether or not Aaron Ashby should have been moved back to the Milwaukee Brewers' starting rotation, mostly in an effort to give a lefty slant to what appeared to be a righty-heavy group.

Clearly, the dead cold of winter got to my head at that point. Also, in my defense, when Ashby signed his original five-year extension in 2022, he did so as a starting pitcher. He made 27 appearances that year, 19 of which were starts, firing off a 4.44 ERA and 4.06 FIP. In the budget-conscious world of Brewers baseball, it made a lot of sense on paper to try and turn his 2026 salary of $5.7 million into mid-rotation production.

Of course, this is why I'm not the guy calling the shots for the Brewers. Ashby put forth another brilliant season out of the bullpen, emerging as Pat Murphy's go-to guy in basically any situation with a modicum of leverage at stake. And now, all that iron sharpening has paid off handsomely, as the southpaw is closing in on some ridiculous postseason history.

Aaron Ashby is two World Series outs away from making postseason history as a reliever

Back in 2024 when the Crew made the decision to switch Ashby to a long-relief role, the idea was to protect his arm as much as possible. The left-hander had just missed the entire 2023 season after requiring arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder, so protecting the team's $20 million investment was sound logic.

That trial run in a relief role went so well that Ashby remained in the bullpen, which has yielded impossibly good results for the Brewers. Since the start of the 2025 season, he's pitched to a 2.71 ERA over 156 innings while striking out opposing hitters at a 29.4% rate. His 2.6 fWAR in that time ranks 16th among all relievers and third on the Crew, behind Trevor Megill (4.0) and Abner Uribe (3.3).

What's really magical, though, is this current postseason run. Ashby has appeared in eight of the Brewers' 10 postseason games thus far -- the kind of heavy usage he's become used to in recent seasons -- and tossed 15⅔ scoreless innings. It is the second-longest such streak for a reliever in MLB playoff history, behind only prime Andrew Miller's 16-inning record (which, as you may remember, was broken up by the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series).

In other words, Ashby is two outs away from creating history. There's a pretty good chance it happens tonight in Game 3, given how aggressive Murphy has been with using his favorite reliever this October.

In what has already been a record-setting showcase for the Brewers' bullpen, Ashby could put the ultimate cherry on top by keeping the Rays off the board for another ⅔ of an inning.

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