Is it the greatest regular-season game in Brewers history? The 2008 finale, 15 years later

jr radcliffe, milwaukee journal sentinel

Thu, Sep 28, 2023, 7:43 PM·14 min read

This story first appeared in 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdown as part of the "50 in 50" series looking at the 50 greatest Wisconsin sports moments of the previous 50 years (this was No. 12)."Swing and a drive! Left center and deep! Get up, get outta here, gone!"

They are words that have generated goosebumps on the arms of Brewers fans for five decades. Bob Uecker, the need-no-introduction play-by-play voice of Milwaukee Brewers radio, has offered the perfectly constructed narration to countless long drives over the years, and the final day of the 2008 season was no exception.

Although, when Ryan Braun launched the one of the most significant home run in franchise history, it was the voice of TV announcer Brian Anderson that became forever attached to the highlight.

"And there's a drive into left field," Anderson said as the audible swell of realization radiated among fans at Miller Park. "This is hit well. And it's gone! Ryan Braun! A two-run home run. The Brewers take the lead."

It wasn't a walk-off home run, unlike two other long blasts in the week leading up to Sept. 28, 2008. But Braun's deployment of a first-pitch fastball by reliever Bob Howry gave the Brewers a 3-1 lead over the Cubs in the eighth inning, meaning three outs stood between the Brewers and at least a one-game playoff for the franchise's first postseason trip in 26 years.

"I thought I hit it good enough to be a home run, but I wasn’t positive," Braun said of the 403-foot drive. "I didn’t hit it as good as the grand slam the other day. I felt like the home run I hit the other day was the biggest one in my life, but I think this surpasses that."

There was one more memorable inning to go. CC Sabathia, the midseason acquisition that had electrified the 2008 Brewers, capped off his 10th complete game of the season and seventh since becoming a Brewer. He retired Alfonso Soriano with a flyball to left and, after a Ryan Theriot single, induced a 4-6-3 double play from slugging first baseman Derrek Lee.

Ray Durham shuffled the ball to J.J. Hardy covering second, and his toss to Prince Fielder at first base ignited a wild celebration that featured the burly Sabathia screaming on the mound. The Brewers had won, 3-1.

Milwaukee Brewers' CC Sabathia reacts after the final out was made clinching a wild card spot for the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park Sunday, September 28, 2008.

"I didn’t even know I was that excited," said Sabathia, who went 11-2 with a 1.65 earned run average and seven complete games in 17 starts with the Brewers. "‘Sheeter’ (Ben Sheets) said, ‘I like the emotion that you showed.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about."

For several minutes afterward, players and fans waited in the stadium with an eye on the game between the Marlins and Mets. When the Marlins finished off a 4-2 win, it meant the Mets had closed the season at 89 wins, one game behind the Brewers for the National League wild-card berth. The celebration began anew in the Brewers clubhouse. After a generation's wait since reaching the 1982 World Series, the Brewers were back in the postseason.

"For us the last week was like the seventh game of the World Series every day," Braun said. "Any game we lost, we were basically done, so I think we’ve been in a playoff atmosphere for the last week."

A miserable September followed up with a week unlike any other

Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun jumps into the arms of teammates after a walk-off grand slam home run in the 10th inning at Miller Park Thursday, September 25, 2008.

The turning of the calendar to September had been a catastrophe for Milwaukee, which began the month 3-12. When the Brewers limped out of Philadelphia, having endured a four-game sweep, they fired manager Ned Yost and replaced him with bench coach Dale Sveum. Just 12 games remained, and the Brewers lost four of those first five, too.

Milwaukee won Sept. 23 over Pittsburgh on Prince Fielder's two-run homer in the ninth, after Braun had singled with two outs. Two days later, Braun belted a grand slam for a 5-1 win over the Pirates in 10 innings.

The Brewers, who found themselves 2½ games behind the Mets with seven baseball games left, needed every win.

Milwaukee actually pulled ahead of the Mets by a full game two days before the finale following a 5-1 win over the Cubs, a game punctuated by four strong innings from reliever Seth McClung (one hit, one walk, six strikeouts). But on the penultimate day of the season, Milwaukee gave the game back with a 7-3 loss and a Mets win. In the process, Milwaukee also lost starter Ben Sheets, who had been a workhorse during the season, to a torn elbow ligament.

In 2008, Sheets posted a 3.08 ERA over just shy of 200 innings, with a 1.150 WHIP and five complete games (three shutouts). He'd never throw a pitch in a Brewers uniform again. It was a substantial loss.

It also meant the Brewers and Mets were tied heading into the season finale. The Cubs, having already sewn up the National League Central title, opted to throw a series of relievers instead of a traditional starter. The Brewers turned to Sabathia.

"No way I don’t pitch," Sabathia said. "If I was healthy enough and had enough rest, whenever they need me, I’ll be ready."

"I knew he was a good pitcher but I didn’t know his heart was as big as he is," general manager Doug Melvin said after the game. "That’s the difference between (this) and any other acquisition in the past. ... He wanted to do this for the guys in the clubhouse."

For the first six innings, the Brewers collected only one hit against four relievers, and the Cubs brought a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. But Durham doubled leading off against Sean Marshall and scored with two outs when future Brewers manager Craig Counsell drew a bases-loaded walk.

Sabathia worked a 1-2-3 eighth – two strikeouts and a barehanded spear of a comebacker converted into the third out – but was due up to bat first in the eighth, forcing interim manager Dale Sveum to weigh removing Sabathia for the offense (although Sabathia, who homered in his second start with Milwaukee, could handle a bat). Sabathia struck out, but Mike Cameron singled. After Durham flew out, up stepped Braun.

"He’s one of the best ever after two years playing this game," Sveum said. "You’ve always got a feeling (he could hit a home run). It was a special moment."

The connections to Brewers history were numerous

Ryan Braun, center, gives manager Dale Sveum a hug among champagne soaked players during celebration after their win Sunday at Miller Park over the Chicago Cubs.

Sveum was in an unusual spot, having been promoted to interim manager in place of his friend Yost. The Brewers, despite the slow start to the Sveum tenure, went 7-5 in those 12 games.

"I don’t know if anybody’s ever had the out-of-body experience that I’ve had the last 12 days, and the emotion," Sveum said. "A lot of people think I’m pretty calm, and I am, but there were a lot of emotions.

"This is something, since I signed in ’82, that I always dreamed of," he added, referring to his days as a Brewers first-round draft choice. "Unfortunately, it took 26 years but at least in any capacity I was part of it. Obviously, I hope we can take it to another level."

One move Sveum had made was hiring Brewers legend Robin Yount to take Sveum's old place as bench coach.

"I like parties," Yount said. "If they’re every 26 years, I guess that makes them all the more exciting. I came back here two years ago (as bench coach under Yost in a short-lived stint) because I thought this was a bunch of guys who could get this done. To validate that decision and make it come true for the people of Milwaukee, it’s special."

Yount knew a thing or two about dramatic season finales. He hit a pair of home runs off Jim Palmer on the final day of the season in 1982, when the Brewers beat Baltimore to win the American League East title.

"His was a lot more heroic than mine," Yount said, referring to Braun’s homer. "It was huge, about as big as it gets."

Braun said he was expecting a fastball from Howry, because the Cubs had been pitching him that way during the series. The day before, Cubs left-hander Ted Lilly tried to sneak a first-pitch fastball past Braun, who lined a double leading off the seventh to end Lilly’s no-hit bid.

"I was just looking for something I could get the barrel on," Braun said of his approach against Howry, the seventh Cubs pitcher of the day. "Obviously, it worked out.

"I’m kind of always sitting first-pitch fastball, but I’ve been taking it a lot lately. It’s difficult when you’re in a situation where they’re throwing a different guy every inning; you don’t know what to expect. So it’s easiest to look fastball and adjust to everything else."

Braun finished the year with 35 homers but only hit one in September prior to the final homestand as he battled through a strained intercostal muscle. With 71 homers in his first two seasons, Braun amassed the fourth-best mark in Major League history, behind Joe DiMaggio (75), Ralph Kiner (74) and Eddie Mathews (72).

"It felt kind of like it was scripted," Braun said.

How the moment lives on

Ryan Braun leaps in the air touching off a frenzy with fans after his game winning homerun in the 8th inning Sunday, Sept, 28, 2008.

The Brewers fell to the eventual World Series champion Phillies in four games in the postseason, three games to one. But Milwaukee did win its first playoff game since 1982 with a Game 3 victory at Miller Park, and three years later, the Brewers won their first division title since 1982 and recorded a franchise-record 96 wins. The 2008 season didn't begin a wave of Brewers success immediately, but it felt like the opening of a new chapter that has featured four playoff appearances in 12 seasons.

Sabathia, as everyone expected, signed elsewhere in free agency, taking a seven-year deal with the New York Yankees. He'll almost certainly wind up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the five-year clock has started ticking after he retired following the 2019 season. His memorable half-season in Milwaukee will make him a Brewers hero forever.

The 2007 Rookie of the Year and 2011 Most Valuable Player has hit more home runs than anyone in Brewers history, including a handful of wildly memorable blasts.

Yost didn't get to guide the Brewers all the way to the playoffs, but he did wind up as manager of the Kansas City Royals and took the team to the World Series in 2014 and to a World Series title in 2015. Sveum, who wasn't offered the Brewers managerial job in 2009 (it went to Ken Macha instead), wound up managing the Cubs for two years and was on Yost's staff in Kansas City.

Flexing Braun

Braun has authored so many crucial home runs in his Brewers tenure.

Sept. 15, 2019: With the Brewers down to their last strike and trailing in the ninth in St. Louis, 4-3, Braun launched a grand slam that helped Milwaukee win during a furious September run that landed the Brewers in the wild-card game.

RYAN BRAUN.

UNBELIEVABLE. pic.twitter.com/9o5eZg868Z
— FOX Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) September 15, 2019

April 3, 2018: In a sweet early note for a remarkable 2018 season, Braun followed up Christian Yelich's first career Brewers homer with one of his own, giving Milwaukee a 5-4 win thanks to back-to-back homers with two outs. Braun had already delivered a clutch home run with two outs in the ninth to help the Brewers win in San Diego on March 30. His homer off the glove of Tigers outfielder Nick Castellanos during the final homestand of the season broke a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning for a Brewers must-win.

April 22, 2011: In his first game since signing a massive five-year extension that would keep him in Milwaukee until 2020, Braun launched a game-tying two-run homer in the third inning against Nelson Figueroa and the Houston Astros. Milwaukee wound up winning, 14-7.

Oct. 9, 2011: Braun only has two postseason home runs, but one gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead in the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series in 2011. The Brewers went on to win the game, 9-6.

Sept. 23, 2011: Braun's three-run homer in the eighth gave Milwaukee a 4-1 lead in a game that locked up the club's first divisional title since 1982.

Sept. 25, 2008: The grand slam in the bottom of the 10th gave Milwaukee a 5-1 walkoff win and, for about three days days, proved to be the biggest home run of Braun's career. It was his first career walk-off blast. He's hit three more since.

Rules of the 50 in 50 series

Moments are recorded over the 50-year window from 1970 to 2019 (sorry 2020, but you're disqualified)
These are moments and not achievements, although that largely goes hand-in-hand.
These are "greatest" 50 moments, so you won't see moments that are pivotal but ultimately heartbreaking (like the NFC Championship loss to Seattle, Kareem getting traded, etc.)
You also won't see (many) moments that came to be recognized for their greatness later, such as the day the Bucks drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo or the day the Packers traded for Brett Favre.
Moments considered include teams based in Wisconsin and Wisconsin athletes competing in individual sports or as part of national teams (such as the Olympics), or moments on Wisconsin soil.
These are singular moments. You're supposed to remember where you were when they happened.