Brewers news: First-round bye clinched, NLDS schedule, Colton Gordon's debut

The Milwaukee Brewers opened a series against the Philadelphia Phillies last night -- one that has significant playoff implications as the regular season comes to a close. The Phillies, who can no longer catch the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, started the night as the No. 3 Wild Card team in the National League and are fighting to secure home-field advantage in the Wild Card Series. The Brewers, meanwhile, needed a win or a Braves loss to secure a first-round bye in this year's postseason.

The Brewers fell behind early in last night's game, due to Dustin May, who is reportedly the leading candidate to be Milwaukee's No. 3 starter in the postseason, surrendering a two-run home run to Phillies' left-fielder Brandon Marsh in the second inning. Manager Pat Murphy pulled May, who was only scheduled to pitch two innings, in favor of Kyle Harrison for the third frame. Harrison, who is still trying to regain his form, showed improvement with his fastball, but allowed an RBI-double to Alec Bohm with his slider that made it a 3-0 lead for Philadelphia.

Milwaukee came back and tied the game, thanks to a two-RBI single from William Contreras in the top of the sixth. However, the Phillies pulled away again in the eighth after the Brewers smartly elected to rest their "A bullpen," and eventually won the game by a score of 6-4. Therefore, the Brewers were left hoping for a Braves loss in order to clinch their spot in the NLDS on Tuesday night. Thankfully, their NL Central rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, were there to help.

Brewers officially clinch first-round bye thanks to Reds' Tuesday night victory over Braves

It wasn't long after the Brewers officially fell to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that the Reds secured a 4-0 victory over the Braves. The Reds, who have nothing left to play for, knocked off the AL East leaders in the opener of their three-game series and officially sent the Brewers to the NLDS.

It's the second consecutive year that the Brewers have avoided the best-of-three Wild Card Series, which was permanently enacted in 2022, and jumped straight to the NLDS. Since the playoff schedule changed in 2022, the Brewers have gone 0-2 in the Wild Card Series and 1-0 in the NLDS.

To some extent, it's as if the Brewers have already won their first playoff series of the year. Every team that goes on to win the World Series either has to win a Wild Card Series or earn the bye that allows them to avoid the round altogether. The Brewers have been rewarded with said bye due to their unparalleled level of success during the regular season. Now, Milwaukee's attention turns to securing the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason which, would guarantee them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Overview of the 2026 NLDS schedule following the Brewers' clinching of a first-round bye

Now that the Brewers have officially secured their spot in the NLDS, let's take a closer look at the postseason schedule they face. As a reminder, specific game times won't be released until much closer to the actual date of the NLDS, but we at least know on which days the Brewers will be playing at American Family Field.

2026 NLDS schedule:

Game 1: Saturday, October 3 at American Family Field
Game 2: Sunday, October 4 at American Family Field

Game 3: Tuesday, October 6, location TBD
Game 4 (if needed): Wednesday, October 7, location TB

Game 5 (if needed): Friday, October 9 at American Family Field

There's a significant difference between this year's NLDS schedule and last year's. In 2025, there was an off-day between Games 1 and 2 that doesn't exist this year. As a result, last year teams could pitch their Game 1 starter on regular rest in Game 4 as well. For example, the Brewers threw Freddy Peralta in Game 1 and Game 4 of last year's NLDS, and threw Jacob Misiorowski in Game 2 and Game 5.

This year, teams don't have that same luxury. Assuming the Brewers don't want to throw Misiorowski on just three days' rest, and need more than three games to finish the series, they may need to rely on a fourth starter in Game 4. Therefore, the schedule could impact who the Brewers elect to carry on their NLDS roster, and could affect how they use their bullpen during the first three games of the series.

Midseason trade acquisition Colton Gordon impresses in Brewers' debut on Tuesday night

The bright spot of the Brewers' Tuesday night loss to Philadelphia, outside of Contreras' clutch two-out, two-RBI single, was the performance that left-hander Colton Gordon turned in. Gordon, who was acquired from the Houston Astros alongside Lance McCullers Jr. during the All-Star Break, made his Brewers debut last night and turned in an impressive four frames before the wheels fell off in his fifth inning of work.

Gordon entered the game in the fourth inning after May and Harrison each made their short appearances. From the fourth through the seventh inning, the 27-year-old Gordon allowed just two baserunners, one of which reached on a fielding error and the other was a walk that was quickly wiped out by a double play. However, after four hitless innings of work, Gordon allowed four hits and three runs (two of which were earned) in his fifth frame. Therefore, Gordon was unfairly tagged with the loss despite an attention-grabbing four innings of work.

Gordon is highly unlikely to factor into the postseason roster this year, but is under team control through the 2031 season and showed promise in his Brewers debut. Given the fact that McCullers was DFA'd just 11 days after the trade, it's clear that Gordon was the clear target of the Brewers' three-player swap with Houston that sent prospect Jadyn Fielder, son of Prince Fielder, to the Astros' organization. If the results from Gordon's debut are to be trusted, the Brewers may have added a rather intriguing arm to their organization.

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