The Milwaukee Brewers officially secured their place in the postseason Friday night, doing it emphatically with a 20-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field.

The win clinched Milwaukee’s fourth consecutive postseason appearance and eighth in nine seasons.

Garrett Mitchell delivered the Brewers’ first grand slam of the year as part of a four-home run attack that also featured William Contreras, Brice Turang and Jake Bauers.

Milwaukee finished with a season-high 23 hits, built a large lead early and never gave Cincinnati an opportunity to recover.

Dustin May and Garrett Stallings combined to hold the Reds to two hits.

At 93-57, the Brewers have the best record in MLB, and are at a franchise-record 36 games over .500.

They lead the Chicago Cubs by 10 games in the National League Central with 12 remaining.

The 20-run margin was also the largest ever by a team on the day it clinched a postseason berth, surpassing 17-run victories by the 2001 Atlanta Braves and 1996 New York Yankees.

Manager Pat Murphy told Tricia Whitaker from Apple TV that the Brewers have continued proving people wrong while learning what winning baseball requires.

He also explained that Milwaukee had set such a high standard that clinching had not felt inevitable until it finally became reality.

“These guys have done what other people didn’t think they could do for a while now,” Murphy said.

“They just keep getting better; they keep understanding what it takes to play winning baseball. I’m proud of them. We set the bar so high that you never really felt like ‘Hey, we’re doing it,’ but now it’s become a reality.” 

The Brewers kept the celebration restrained.

There was no champagne celebration in the clubhouse, only a toast.

Murphy emphasized that securing a postseason spot represented only the first step and that much more remained.

“At least the first step is down,” Murphy said. “We got many more to go, but we’ll make sure to stay on track.” 

The team later shared video of Murphy addressing the players and reminding them that their work was only beginning.

Mitchell still believed the moment deserved recognition, explaining that teams need to appreciate accomplishments during a long season because there is never any guarantee another opportunity will come.

“You have to celebrate the moment, no matter how big or small,” Mitchell said.

“With how long a season is, you have to be able to celebrate the moments when you have them. You never know when you’re going to get them, and you never know when the last one’s going to be. So, a small toast.”

Christian Yelich echoed that perspective, stressing how difficult it is to reach the postseason repeatedly and how much work remains.

“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,” Yelich said. “It shouldn’t be taken for granted. And there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, still.”

Turang also made clear that qualifying is not Milwaukee’s ultimate objective.

“This isn’t the end goal,” Turang said. “We all know what the end goal is, and that’s what we’re chasing. So this is a small little step. We just enjoy it tonight, and then tomorrow we go out and try to win a game.”

Milwaukee is on pace to surpass last season’s franchise record of 97 wins.

The Brewers have produced MLB’s best record despite ranking near the middle of MLB in payroll, taking over first place in mid-May and remaining there.

Last October, Milwaukee finally won a postseason series by defeating the Cubs in the National League Division Series before being swept by the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

This time, the Brewers are chasing considerably more than another postseason invitation and believe they have what it takes to beat the Dodgers and anyone else.