MLB 2023 Postseason banner
Major League Baseball may have changed the rules to make it more difficult, but the Brewers still found ways to use their organizational depth to their advantage in the regular season’s final month.
For most of recent baseball history the rules regarding roster limits changed for the season’s final month. While teams were limited to 25 players on their active roster from April through August, in September teams were able to call up any or all of the players on their 40-man roster. Former Brewers general manager Doug Melvin repeatedly went on the record with his disdain for this rule, but under David Stearns the Brewers took full advantage of it.
In September of 2018 the Brewers used 36 different players in the season’s final month on their way to an NL Central championship. Their depth advantage was specifically notable in the bullpen as the Brewers made pitching changes 118 times that month, an average of 4.4 per game, as compared to a season average of 3.4. The Brewers always had a fresh reliever available, and more often than not they took advantage of it. They went 20-7 under the expanded roster rules, overcoming a five-game deficit to supplant the Cubs atop the division.
While other organizations lacked the depth or willingness to benefit from the availability of extra players in September, the Brewers reaped the benefits and played their way into the postseason under this rule structure on multiple occasions. The Brewers have been so successful in the season’s final month in recent years that the team and fans have taken to calling it “Craigtember” in honor of manager Craig Counsell. Since Counsell took over as manager in 2015 the Brewers have won almost 57% of their games in September and October, as compared to under 52% of their games from April-August.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
In 2020 Melvin finally got his way and MLB changed the September roster rules, limiting teams to 28 players on their active roster for the season’s final month. By this point MLB regular season roster limits had also changed from 25 to 26, so teams were limited to two extra players.
Credit for Change
“I never won a World Series,’’ Melvin told Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “but if I get credit for changing the September rule, that’s OK.’’
It would stand to reason that the Brewers, now with limited options on a day-to-day level in the season’s final month, would have used fewer players in September and October. Instead, the opposite occurred: This season 39 players appeared in at least one game as a Brewer after September 1, including 23 pitchers. Not all of them were available at once and so they didn’t use as many relievers on a per-game level, but they got even more pitchers into a game under the new rule than they did under the old rule.
Instead of keeping those players around for the entire month, however, the Brewers maintained access to fresh arms through a steady stream of transactions. From September 1 through October 1 the Brewers made 18 transactions to call up or activate a player, with the corresponding move often involving a player who pitched the day before: Caleb Boushley, Eric Lauer, Clayton Andrews and Colin Rea (twice) were all returned to AAA in favor of a fresh arm the day after pitching multiple innings, while Thyago Vieira was placed on the injured list and Julio Teheran was designated for assignment under similar circumstances. The new roster rules haven’t changed the ways the Brewers use players in September, but they have impacted some of those players’ paychecks: Under the old rules some of these players would have remained in the majors for a full month collecting an MLB salary, instead of going back and forth to the minors.
The Brewers won’t have access to expanded rosters in the postseason, of course, so on Tuesday the Brewers will be forced to readjust to life under the normal limits. They’re getting an opportunity to host playoff games this week at least in part, however, to their ability to continue to use the rules to their advantage in the season’s final weeks.
