Padres respond to Brewers' NLDS gamesmanship with their own bizarre BP distraction

There is always some element of gamesmanship between playoff opponents when Major League Baseball's postseason begins. The Milwaukee Brewers are certainly no stranger to trying to throw off their opponent however they can within reason.

Whether it was throwing southpaw Wade Miley for one batter back in the 2018 NLCS before bringing in right-hander Brandon Woodruff to mess with Dave Roberts' Game 5 lineup or warming Quinn Priester up in the outfield ahead of Game 2 of the 2025 NLDS with no intention of actually pitching him, the Brewers have, on several occasions, tried to throw off their opponents during the postseason.

However, lately, the Brewers have been adopting an even more bizarre strategy to mess with their opponents in October. When the Brewers have hosted their postseason games at American Family Field in each of the last two years, they have opted to play what can only be described as "elevator music" when the away team is taking batting practice. Whereas the playlist when the Brewers are taking BP is their usual eclectic mix of popular, high-energy songs, the forgettable, monotonous elevator music for their opponents is a stark, low-energy contrast.

In engaging in this kind of playful postseason gamesmanship, however, the Brewers risk being the victim of a similar distraction when they travel to their opponent's stadium. As reported by Fox 5 San Diego sports anchor Julian Del Gaudio, among others, that's exactly what happened at Petco Park yesterday -- while the Brewers were going through their off-day workout, elevator music played on the stadium's speakers.

Brewers and Padres playing elevator music during opponent's batting practice is harmless gamesmanship

There's a fine line between gamesmanship and threatening the integrity of the game by bending the rules, but altering an opponent's workout playlist certainly falls on the side of harmless gamesmanship. Whether or not listening to elevator music during an off-day workout is a question that requires an impossible experiment to answer, but no team would cite the pre-game playlist as a reason for a loss. Rather, this is simply a harmless way for the home team to annoy their opponents.

The elevator music that the Brewers played during the Padres pre-series workout on Friday certainly didn't stop Craig Stammen's squad from coming out hot in each of the first two games of the NLDS. While the Brewers did eventually come back and win both contests, it was the Padres who jumped out to early leads against Milwaukee's formidable duo of Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson.

Hopefully, the Brewers come out with the same energy after their afternoon of ethereal elevator tunes on Monday's off-day, but maintain that hot start throughout the game in a way the Padres did not. With the reward of four off days on the horizon if they close out the Padres in Game 3, the Brewers certainly hope to block out the noise (or elevator music) and complete the sweep in San Diego tonight.

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