Will Pat Murphy continue this late-season lineup change in the postseason?

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy isn't one who likes to stick to set positions in the batting order. For instance, Brice Turang and Sal Frelick hit in every spot in the lineup this year, becoming just the fifth and sixth players in franchise history to do this, and the last since Lorenzo Cain in 2021.

Both Turang and Frelick primarily served as leadoff hitters, with Turang leading off in 67 games and Frelick in 57. Each came close to contending for the batting title this season but ultimately finished with identical averages of .288, and just shy of the .300 mark needed to be serious contenders. For comparison, Trea Turner posted the best mark in the National League with a .304 average.

Despite Turang and Frelick’s success at setting the table with base hits, a valuable asset for a leadoff hitter, Murphy chose to start Christian Yelich in the leadoff spot for six games down the stretch. Yelich, who has prior experience leading off, had primarily been thriving in the middle of the lineup this season, boasting a .304 batting average with runners in scoring position and posting the second-highest RBI total (103) of his career.

While the move was likely intended to jump-start Yelich’s bat, which had cooled off following time missed due to a sore back, hitting just .222/.292/.346 over the past 28 days, or perhaps to give him more chances to reach the 30 home run mark, something he still hasn't done since 2019, it raises the question of whether Murphy will maintain this lineup configuration heading into the postseason.

Will Pat Murphy continue to have Christian Yelich bat leadoff during the postseason?

Looking ahead to the postseason batting order against right-handed pitching, Murphy will likely start with a lefty leadoff hitter, followed by a righty, then a lefty in the third spot, another righty fourth, and a lefty fifth. This alternating mix will help neutralize pitching changes while ensuring that Yelich, Frelick, and Turang all bat in the top half of the lineup.

As for the specific order, Turang’s power surge this season makes a strong case for slotting him into the third spot, while Yelich’s proven ability to produce with runners in scoring position supports keeping him in a run-producing role. This year, Yelich appeared in 76 games as a third hitter in the order.

All three, Yelich, Frelick, and Turang, have legitimate cases to bat leadoff as well. Murphy recently emphasized that the leadoff hitter also offers protection for the ninth spot in the order, which will almost certainly belong to Joey Ortiz. Ortiz has shown a knack for coming up with the bases loaded, and with Yelich leading off, pitchers may be more inclined to throw strikes to Ortiz in order to avoid putting runners on for Yelich, potentially giving Ortiz more hittable pitches to work with.

While the Brewers ended the regular season with Yelich in the leadoff spot, the postseason presents a different challenge, and a chance to optimize the lineup for run production. There are cases for Yelich providing increased run production at both leadoff and hitting third, so it will be interesting to see how the Brewers lineup this October. It's likely that not even Murphy knows what his game one lineup for the NLDS will be, especially considering he doesn't know who his team will be facing yet, but signs point to the Brewers having Yelich at the top of their order when their postseason run begins on Saturday.