Longtime Brewers reflect on signature moments

This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- “I will say, I’m the dinosaur here, because I came up in 2017,” said Brandon Woodruff as he leaned in for hugs and handshakes at the end of a conversation seven years in the making. “I’ve got ‘em beat.”

Woodruff has a slight edge on Freddy Peralta and Christian Yelich in terms of Brewers tenure, but that trio is linked as the only three players who have been on the team for all six of its postseason berths in the past seven years. They’ve always had a sense of being part of something special, but they had never actually talked about it.

Until now.

Sophia Minnaert and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Peralta, Woodruff and Yelich for the latest episode of the Brewers Unfiltered podcast to reflect in a way they’d never done before. There’s so much more in the episode, but here are some highlights -- starting with a chat about the winning culture the team has established during this run.

After its release, you’ll be able find the full episode at Brewers.com/podcast.

Christian Yelich: Having these two guys here has been huge. You understand how to win, what it takes, what you're signing up for when you come to Spring Training in February. But we don't talk about it too much. … The three of us have seen a lot here, and it'd be cool to take it all the way one of these years and be a part of that team that wins the first World Series for Milwaukee.

Brandon Woodruff: Like Yeli said, we don't talk too much about the culture or whatever -- it's just kind of expected when you come here. I think the front office and the staff, they put the right people in the room. I think that's probably the key to our success, is having maybe not the big names, but you get the right people in the room and then it just clicks. I think of a guy like Colin Rea.

Peralta: Together, all three [of us], we've been together for a long time. And we kind of know how everything works in the clubhouse, and that you can transmit that to the field. We have the confidence to have a conversation whenever we need it. And just to add something to what Woody just said, I think everything works better here because as soon as you've got a player coming from another team, and they get into this clubhouse, they feel how we do the little things. We've had players in the past that have probably not [had] a good reputation outside, but as soon as they came here, everything changed.

Yelich: We've kind of set a standard here, and it's either fit in or get out. Essentially, if you're going to play for us and with us, then you need to get on board or we don't want you, basically. It's [said] pretty blunt.

Sophia Minnaert: I do want to ask you guys if you have a moment that you'll all remember as a team or about each other?

Peralta: I've got one. In 2018, Mr. Big Woo [Woodruff], the homer against [Clayton] Kershaw [in the NLCS]. That was crazy. That was probably one of the more emotional moments that I personally have had.

Woodruff: I guess the thing I need to ask, I don't know if I've ever asked you, like, where were you at?

Peralta: I was in the bullpen. What I can remember is I was with [bullpen catcher] Robinzon Diaz, and we weren’t expecting anything -- anything good. We were thinking about the game and the situation, we were all concentrating back there because you never know what's going to happen. Then we hear that pop, and we were like, ‘No!’ We couldn’t believe it at the moment. Right now, I’m still feeling it.

Yelich: I was next to [manager Craig Counsell] when the ball was in the air, and I said, “Holy [smokes], I think he just hit a homer.”

Woodruff: I don't know if I've ever told this story: [Yelich] should have won the MVP in ‘19, back-to-back years, but during that year, it’s when [pitchers] still got to hit. I started out pretty hot, so in the second or third inning, I would always end up in where [equipment manager] Jason Shawger’s office is now. That used to be the bat room, and there was a little sock in there to hit into. I would always go in there and hit, because sometimes I would pinch-hit. Well, I guess it was after Yeli’s first at-bat, he comes in there and he's just walking around, and I asked him, ‘Dude, how do you, like, hit a homer?’ …

“Sitting in the dugout for his very next at-bat, he hits a homer to right field, and he comes in the dugout and he's like, ‘That's how you do it.’ For me at that moment, that was one of the coolest things ever.”

Yelich: Like both of these guys said, we've actually had a lot of really good memories together and accomplished a lot as a group. We don't really reflect on it too much, because you're still in it. Sometimes you don't take a step back and, like, really appreciate it. We'll all be friends for life, just because of the accomplishments that we've had.

“That's a cool thing about baseball, you know? I'm from California, [Woodruff] is from Mississippi, Freddy's from the Dominican Republic, and we're all here playing for the Brewers. Hopefully, we're not done. ... I really do believe that we still have a ways to go, and we've got more success in front of us. I mean, I remember [Peralta’s] debut, I remember Game 163, I remember Woody's homer. And I really think that we have more of those memories ahead.”