Projecting The Brewers 26 Man Roster For Wild Card Round Of MLB Playoffs

The 2023 MLB postseason is finally upon us! The Milwaukee Brewers will be playing in the Wild Card round as the No. 3 seed in the National League. Their opponent: The Arizona Diamondbacks.

It'll be a best-of-three series in the Wild Card, and that holds a large influence over the roster the Brewers will decide to carry. They have to drop from 28 active players back down to 26, and they can play with the roster spots a lot more easily. There's still a max of 13 pitchers, but it's unlikely the Brewers will carry that many for a best of three series.

Players such as Sunday's starter Adrian Houser can be left off the Wild Card round roster but added to the roster for the next round and it doesn't cost a minor league option or anything like that.

Projected Milwaukee Brewers 2023 Wild Card Round Roster

Here's my projection for the Brewers roster during this first series.

Hitters - 15

Catcher: William Contreras, Victor Caratini

First Base: Carlos Santana, Rowdy Tellez

Second base: Brice Turang

Shortstop: Willy Adames

Third base: Andruw Monasterio, Josh Donaldson

Outfield: Christian Yelich, Tyrone Taylor, Blake Perkins, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer

Designated hitter: Mark Canha

It feels like this position player group is the one they're going to carry as they're healthy, they've been playing well, and there's no obvious cuts from the current group. The Brewers are highly likely to go with extra bats for the Wild Card.

The addition to this group is Joey Wiemer, who I estimate will get added to the roster for this round. He's been working on some things since getting demoted and played a large part of this team early on this season. Even if he's not relied on to get many ABs, Wiemer is a speedy baserunner and provides excellent defense at any outfield spot.

Pitchers - 11

Starting pitchers: Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta

Bullpen: Devin Williams, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, Hoby Milner, Bryse Wilson, Andrew Chafin, Elvis Peguero

The pitching staff gets thinned a bit during this short series. Adrian Houser gets left off the roster after throwing five innings on Sunday and isn't likely to figure into the rotation plans for this series. Wade Miley also isn't likely to figure into the rotation plans for this series and gets left off in my estimation. There's a chance he could be put on the roster in case they need length or something happened to one of the Crew's top three starters.

In the bullpen, it's the usual suspects. Janson Junk and Colin Rea are left off the roster from the current 28 man as they aren't going to be needed.

This may upset some, but I have Andrew Chafin making the Wild Card roster. He's had seven straight scoreless outings although there has been some traffic on the bases during those outings, they've been scoreless and that's the important part. It gives Counsell a second lefty option outside of Milner in case it becomes necessary and forces the Diamondbacks to consider another lefty in the pen if Milner is already used in the game. Wade Miley would be another option as that extra lefty, but for now I'm leaning Chafin.

Also, Elvis Peguero makes this roster. The Brewers said when he was put on the IL that he was expected to be ready for the playoffs. He's eligible to be activated and although he wasn't activated for the regular season as the Brewers were looking to rest some of their weary arms, Peguero was one of those weary arms that needed a break. Bringing him back for the start of October is definitely on the table.

The Brewers won't release their Wild Card roster until Tuesday morning, but this is our projection of the roster we'll see to get the playoffs started.