Devin Williams Game 3 meltdown ruins Brewers' hope to break first round playoff curse

Milwaukee Brewers players sat motionless at their lockers, staring at the ground in silence. The remnants of the tape that held up the plastic wrap to cover the lockers for the coming champagne celebration that was just two outs away from happening still hanging above their heads.

Instead, It was a rather grim reminder of just how close the Brewers came on Thursday to exorcising their first round playoff demons and cruel those demons can be.

It had all lined up perfectly according to plan. The Brewers had secured a 2-0 lead. The pitching staff was led by a dominant five innings from the rookie Tobias Myers. Then he turned it over to the bullpen with Trevor Megill, Nick Mears, and even Freddy Peralta to shut things down. The Mets had just two hits all game.

It just came down to the 9th inning where the Brewers closer Devin Williams would enter and then the party would soon be on, right? Apparently not.

Devin Williams' ninth inning implosion has Brewers fans wondering what might have been

The 9th inning immediately went awry as the leadoff man Francisco Lindor worked a walk. Williams was able to get Mark Vientos to strike out for the first out of the inning. Then a single by Brandon Nimmo and an Airbender to Pete Alonso that caught just enough of the plate for Alonso to send it out over the right field wall.

"I wanted to go away with it. I got it there. Just a good piece of hitting" Williams said.

"Devin has been as good a closer as there is in baseball for the two and a half years that he's played. He was injured most of the year. He's been unbelievable. I'd give him the ballgame tomorrow in the same situation and any other game I'm involved with, if we have a lead, and I'd give Devin the ball." manager Pat Murphy said postgame.

The Brewers have had heart-wrenching defeats before, but few can come close to this. Two outs away from a series clinching victory, a chance to finally make it beyond the first round of the playoffs, your ace closer on the mound, and in an instant, it's all taken away.

"I love this team. I love them. I'll never be able to duplicate 2024. It didn't end the way we wanted to. It ended tragically actually. It felt like it, and it felt like a tragedy" Murphy said.

Trevor Megill said, "That's our guy, it's baseball and [expletive] happens"

Willy Adames, a pending free agent, said "It's like when you're a kid and they let you try a candy but they don't give you the candy they just let you taste it, that's how it felt tonight."

Just like the plastic wrap that was covering the lockers, it was all gone as fast as it had arrived. But the tape remains, the reminder of what could have been, of what almost was. The season ends in heartbreak for all teams but one every single year, but this heartbreak hits home just a little harder this time.