Brewers Earn First Playoff Berth Since 1982

MILWAUKEE — The moment, Ryan Braun said, fell to him almost too perfectly. The Brewers were batting in the eighth inning when the Marlins took the lead against the Mets in New York, and the capacity crowd at Miller Park roared as that news flashed on the scoreboard. Braun, the young Milwaukee slugger, stepped to the plate with Mike Cameron on first base in a tie game.

Braun drove a pitch from Cubs reliever Bob Howry deep to left-center, over the fence and into the Brewers’ bullpen. Braun low-fived the first-base coach, Ed Sedar, raised his right fist as he circled the bases and skipped sideways the last few feet to the plate. With the roof and outfield panels of the ballpark closed, the crowd reaction was deafening.

“It felt kind of like it was scripted,” Braun said.

With the tireless C. C. Sabathia throwing a four-hitter in his third consecutive start on three days’ rest, the Brewers beat the Cubs, 3-1. Then the Brewers and their fans waited 32 minutes for the Marlins to wrap up a 4-2 victory, ensuring Milwaukee the National League wild card and its first postseason berth since 1982.

With the Brewers’ victory sealed, the Mets’ telecast appeared on the center-field video screen, and a chant of “Let’s Go Marlins” began. The players lingered on the field and in the dugout, before retreating to the clubhouse as the Mets batted in the ninth.

The crowd groaned when Ryan Church hit a long fly with one on and two out, fearing a game-tying home run. But it fell short, and at 4:04 p.m. Central, blue and gold streamers and confetti fell softly onto the field as the party began.

The Brewers moved their celebration from the clubhouse to the field, where the players’ families awaited. Sprays of Champagne flew, and Cameron, Bill Hall and other players jumped on top of the Brewers’ dugout to douse the crowd.

“It’s been a crazy day, a crazy week, a crazy month, a crazy year for that matter,” Braun said. “We’ve really overcome a lot. We’ve accomplished a lot to get to this point.”

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That the Brewers were even in this position, after a September swoon that cost Manager Ned Yost his job, is remarkable. Milwaukee led the wild card by five and a half games going into September. But the Brewers lost 11 of 14, falling into a tie, and Yost was fired Sept. 15. He was replaced by the third-base coach, Dale Sveum. Milwaukee fell two and a half games back for the wild card before winning six of its final seven.

Sabathia (11-2) won twice in the last five days. Making his third start in nine days, he muscled through 122 pitches and struck out seven for his seventh complete game as a Brewer. He lost the shutout when Prince Fielder muffed a ground ball in the second inning, leading to an unearned run.

“What C. C. did was unbelievable,” shortstop J. J. Hardy said. “I think you can’t put words to that. And Braun, as clutch as he is, that was huge.”

Braun’s homer was his second game-winner in four days. He also hit a game-ending grand slam against Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Cubs Manager Lou Piniella, with the N.L. Central title clinched, used the game as a workout for his bullpen. He started Ángel Guzmán, a hard-throwing right-hander coming off elbow ligament replacement surgery, for the first two innings.

Cameron lined Guzmán’s first pitch for a single to center, but Guzmán, Chad Gaudin, Neal Cotts and Kevin Hart retired the next 18 Brewers.

“I don’t think there was any tension,” Sabathia said. “I think this team was pretty calm and pretty confident in knowing what was going on. I don’t think there was a doubt in anybody’s mind that we were going to win this game today.”

As Braun stood on the field amid the postgame celebration, he wore a black T-shirt with the words “Living the Dream.” Fifty-one years after a Hank Aaron home run sent the Milwaukee Braves to the World Series, Braun had given Milwaukee and its fans another moment to cherish.

“It’s incredible, it really is,” Braun said. “It means so much to me, it means so much to this team, to this organization, to this city.”