The Milwaukee Brewers clinched their third National League Central title in franchise history with an 8-4 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon. The Brewers previously won the NL Central in 2011 and 2018.

Willy Adames launched a two-run home run in the second inning to erase an early deficit, and the Brewers never looked back as Josh Hader recorded the final three outs.  

The Brewers had been in first place in the NL Central since June 23. Milwaukee clinched the division in front of a sellout crowd of 43,430 fans at American Family Field.

It was important to the players that they won Sunday, so they could celebrate the division win with the fans.

“We’ve been waiting for and fighting the whole season for this moment and it’s very special because we are celebrating here in Milwaukee, and all the fans deserve this too,” said Brewers Pitcher Freddy Peralta in a postgame interview. 

Peralta wasn’t the only one excited about winning the big game at home.

“It’s a lot of hard work and doing it in front of the home fans is unbelievable,” said Brewers Pitcher Brandon Woodruff in a postgame interview. “It’s been a long season, and to be able to do it here is so fun.” 

It was a memorable day in multiple ways, as they celebrated Ryan Braun’s retirement in a pregame ceremony.  

The Brewers didn’t forget to include a lifelong face of Milwaukee, Bob Uecker, in the celebrations. This weekend Uecker was honored for spending the last 50 years behind the mic as a sportscaster for the Brewers.

“I’ve seen a lot of great games, but you can’t ask for anything better than this,” said Uecker in a postgame interview. 

The Brewers are locked in the No. 2 seed in the NL, and will host either the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday Oct. 8. They will deploy one of the best starting rotations in baseball, led by Corbin Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta. 

In the meantime, the Brewers have six games on the road this week – three against the St. Louis Cardinals and three against the Los Angeles Dodgers – to finish out the regular season. The Brewers can still finish with a better record than all the American League teams. This would guarantee them home-field advantage in the World Series. 

The Cardinals are currently riding a historic 16-game winning streak as they take on the Brewers at home Tuesday.