If the Brewers were going to punch their ticket to October, they might as well leave an exclamation point. Milwaukee clinched its eighth postseason berth in nine seasons Friday night at American Family Field, and there was little suspense about whether the celebration would arrive. The Brewers overwhelmed the Reds, 20-0, turning clinch night into a rout almost from the moment Jackson Chourio opened the bottom of the first inning with a double. They scored eight runs in the first two innings. Then, somehow, eight more in the fifth, an avalanche punctuated by Garrett Mitchell’s grand slam -- the Brewers’ first of the season. Every member of Milwaukee’s starting lineup recorded a hit as a night that began with the possibility of another trip to October quickly became a celebration of one. The 20-run margin was also the largest victory by any team on the day it clinched a postseason berth, surpassing 17-run wins by the 2001 Braves and 1996 Yankees, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Brewers already had some recent history in that department, winning by 15 runs over the Marlins on the day they punched their ticket to October in 2023. The victory was Milwaukee’s 92nd of the season, improving the Brewers to 92-56 and a franchise-record 36 games over .500. And while the Brewers still have much bigger goals ahead -- another NL Central title, postseason positioning and potentially the best record in baseball -- they can officially check off the first one. They’re going back to October. The celebration reflected that balance. There was a toast in the clubhouse and plenty of appreciation for what it took to get there, but no champagne-soaked party. That can wait. “You have to celebrate the moments, no matter how big or how small,” Mitchell said. “With how long a season is and all the ups and downs, you’ve got to be able to celebrate the moments when you have them because you never know when you’re going to get them and you never know when the last one’s going to be.” Then came the qualifier. “We still got a lot more to go,” Mitchell said. “I know we’ve made it look like it’s not that hard, but it’s extremely hard to get to this point every year,” said Christian Yelich, the Brewers’ unofficial captain. “It shouldn’t be taken for granted. And there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, still.”
