Change in Pat Murphy's deployment of Abner Uribe in postseason has paid off handsomely thus far

The Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen has been dominant to open the 2026 postseason. Across six games, the unit has combined for 28.2 innings while surrendering just one earned run, good for a remarkable 0.31 ERA.

Milwaukee's relievers also made MLB history in their 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS, by becoming the first team to throw five perfect relief innings in a postseason game. Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby combined to retire all 15 batters they faced, which included seven strikeouts.

While Trevor Megill’s three postseason saves and Aaron Ashby’s heavy workload, including 9.1 innings across five of the Brewers’ first six postseason games, has drawn plenty of media attention, Abner Uribe has quietly been one of Milwaukee’s most valuable arms. Uribe is the only reliever to appear in every game this postseason, but his role has shifted from his traditional eighth-inning setup duties to handling high-leverage situations whenever Pat Murphy needs him to.

Brewers using Abner Uribe against opponents' best hitters during postseason, rather than in a true set-up role

During the NLDS, all four of Uribe’s appearances came against the Padres’ most dangerous right-handed hitters. He faced Ty France in every game and Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. three times each. Uribe entered in the sixth inning once, pitched in the seventh twice, and appeared in the eighth twice.

Uribe continues to be used in this modified role in the NLCS. The flame-throwing right-hander covered the sixth inning in Game 1 and allowed singles to the two lefties he faced -- Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages -- but retired three tough righties -- Will Smith, Teoscar Hernández, and Andy Pages. In Game 2, Uribe entered at the start of the seventh inning and tossed a clean inning that started with a strikeout of Pages. Murphy elected to keep Uribe in to face Mookie Betts in the top of the eighth, who he promptly struck out, before pulling him for Ashby.

For context, all 61 of Uribe’s regular-season appearances came in the seventh inning or later, including 31 in the eighth, as he primarily served as Megill’s setup man. Uribe also began last postseason in the closer’s role before making two middle-inning appearances at the end of the NLCS.

This year, Murphy’s decision to deploy Uribe against opposing teams’ best hitters, rather than bottling him up into a true set-up role, is paying off. Uribe has yet to surrender an earned run this postseason while making a significant impact in situations where the outcome of games can be decided, which is especially important given how close every Brewers postseason game has been this year.

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