Garrett Mitchell’s health has become one of the defining factors in the Milwaukee Brewers’ run to the brink of a World Series berth. A year after watching the Dodgers sweep his team from the NLCS while he sat out with an injury, the outfielder has stayed on the field all season and delivered in the biggest moments of October.
Mitchell played in 145 games during the 2026 regular season, four more than he had managed across his first four big league seasons combined. The health alone has reshaped his role, but the production that came with it has made him a fixture in Milwaukee’s lineup during the Brewers’ postseason push.
A Season Built On Staying Healthy
Mitchell’s career had been interrupted repeatedly before this year. He dealt with a knee injury in 2021, an oblique issue in 2022 and a separated left shoulder in 2023, each one cutting into his availability. The 2026 season marked the first time durability stopped being a question mark.
The numbers reflected that consistency. Mitchell posted a 3.4 bWAR, and his .354 on-base percentage ranked fourth among Brewers hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. His 116 weighted runs created plus was sixth on the team, a sign that staying in the lineup let him build the kind of season his talent had long suggested was possible.
Reversing Last Year’s NLCS Heartbreak
Mitchell’s absence from last year’s NLCS still shapes how his 2026 postseason reads. While recovering from injury in Texas, he flew to Los Angeles just to watch Games 3 and 4 at Dodger Stadium as the Dodgers finished off a sweep of Milwaukee.
“Was it a hard day? I mean, yeah, not being able to be out there and help your team and compete is mentally challenging,” Mitchell said of that experience, according to MLB.com. “But at the same time, too, it’s about the team and doing whatever it takes to win.”
This year has offered a direct contrast. The Brewers took a 3-0 NLCS lead over the Dodgers with a 6-2 win on Wednesday, putting Milwaukee on the verge of reversing last season’s result entirely.
Mitchell’s Fingerprints On The Series
Mitchell has already factored into two of Milwaukee’s three wins in this NLCS. In Game 1 against Tarik Skubal, he drew a five-pitch walk to open the fifth inning, moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score the tiebreaking run in a 2-1 victory.
In Game 3 on Wednesday, Mitchell hit a solo home run in the seventh inning that traveled 428 feet to right-center field, coming right after a back-to-back shot from Bauers as the Brewers pulled away from the Dodgers 6-2, according to the Chicago Tribune.
What Manager And Front Office Say
Brewers manager Pat Murphy credited Mitchell’s health for reshaping expectations around the team entering the season. “He’s been phenomenal,” Murphy said, according to MLB.com. “When you’re looking at our team, maybe the reason we didn’t get predicted early on to be as successful in the regular season was because of the unknown about Mitchell.”
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold pointed to Mitchell’s perseverance through years of setbacks. “He’s had some unfortunate luck with his health, but the fact that he’s been able to go out there every day has been tremendous,” Arnold said. “Great kid who works his tail off and has run into some bad luck over the course of his career.”
From Draft Pick To Postseason Contributor
Mitchell’s path to this point includes managing Type 1 diabetes while rising to become a first-round draft pick in 2020 and reaching the majors just two years later. The health challenges that followed in the pros made this season’s full-time role a notable shift rather than an expected outcome.
What’s Next
Milwaukee can complete a sweep of Los Angeles with a win in Game 4, where Shane Drohan is expected to start for the Brewers. A victory would send Milwaukee to the World Series and close the loop on a season that began with questions about whether Mitchell could stay on the field at all.
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