now, but it’s also because of how we
have constructed our roster and our
pitching staff.”
Counsell has embraced the mod-
ern game’s wealth of information
and analytics. He recalls that his first
spring training staff meeting in ’16
consisted of him and “seven or eight
coaches.” This year, 45 people filled a
room at their Phoenix complex.
In 11 postseason games, Coun-
sell never has allowed a starter to
throw six innings or face more than
22 batters. In the wild-card game
last year, he tag-teamed four pitchers
to wind up where he wanted to be:
holding a two-run lead with two outs
in the eighth with closer Josh Hader,
on the mound. The Nationals scored
three times to win 4–3.
“What stings is that the gamewent to script for us,” says Counsell.
“Then...baseball happened. And
you’ve got to live with it.”
The Brewers never have reached
the postseason three consecutive
years or had at least 86 wins in four
straight. To return to their now-rou-
tine last-weekend relevance, Counsell
will have to find workarounds for
the roster rules, as well as knit new
arrivals into his unorthodox system.
But there is one rule change that
favors Milwaukee: Through August
rosters will be capped at 26, rather
than 25 (with a max of 13 pitchers).
Already Counsell is plotting how
to squeeze every last drop out of
his 26th man. “If we use that spot
more aggressively than everybody
else and do it all year long,” he says,
DA “we might just find an edge.” ¼
VID
E.^
KLU
THO
Counsell does with a roster what a
juicer does with an orange: He will wring out
whatever’s there, no matter the mess.