It’s not often that a team fighting for a playoff spot fires its manager in the waning moments of the season, but that’s exactly what the Milwaukee Brewers did when they fired Ned Yost on September 15th, with just 12 games remaining on the schedule. At the time, the club had lost 11 of its last 14 games and the front office felt that the team’s postseason chances were slipping away.
Third base coach Dale Sveum took over, and it looked like the move was for naught as the Brewers lost four of their next five games and fell behind in the NL Wild Card race. However, the club surged down the stretch, winning six of seven games, including a sweep of the Pirates and winning two out of three from the Cubs, to clinch a playoff berth.
This is the first time the Brewers have made the most season in 25 years, and the management change now looks like a brilliant move. It was unorthodox, but it worked.
The Brewers face the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLDS today at 3 PM ET on TBS.
