The Brewers close out the regular season with a nice, comfortable loss to the Mets

Box score

The Milwaukee Brewers played a stress-free game today at American Family Field. The Brewers, seeded No. 3 in the National League, had no personal interest in winning that day, and depending on how the team thought about manipulating the NL wild-card standings, they may actually have had the active one desire to lose. That, of course, wasn't the case for the New York Mets, one of three teams vying for two available spots at the bottom of the NL playoff round and hoping for a win after losing to Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday. For Milwaukee, it was Colin Rea on the mound for game number 162, in a position where he had to throw as many pitches as possible to maximize bullpen rest before the start of the postseason on Tuesday.

The Mets, who weren't technically in a necessarily winnable game but who a win would really help, got off to a good start by scoring a run: Francisco Lindor walked, stole second and scored on a Brandon Nimmo basehit. The Mets continued to threaten – Nimmo also stole second and Pete Alonso walked – but Rea got out of the inning without scoring any more runs.

Milwaukee, looking for an answer, got a one-out single from Jackson Chourio, which was followed by a Willy Adams walk. But Jake Bauers failed a fielder's choice and Eric Haase struck out, and Mets starter David Peterson got through the first without allowing a run.

Both pitchers dealt with some traffic in the second, but nothing came of Francisco Alvarez's single and Blake Perkins' walk. Jose Iglesias led off the third with a base hit but didn't make it past second base, and Peterson put the Brewers in order in the bottom of the inning.

Rea got into trouble in the third round; JD Martinez led off with a double and advanced to third on a bunt. Alvarez, Tyrone Taylor and Lindor then scored one after the other on singles, scoring Martinez and Alvarez to make it 3-0. Lindor stole second and put runners on second and third with one out, but Rea struck out Iglesias and gave Nimmo a groundout to end the inning.

Milwaukee had another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth, despite good contact from Isaac Collins on a lineout to left field. In the fifth round, New York went for another one; Mark Vientos led off with a single, walked over when Pete Alonso was hit by a pitch, both advanced on a wild pitch, Marte was intentionally walked and Vientos scored on a sac fly by Alvarez. Rea limited the damage to that one run, but the Mets' lead was up to four.

Gary Sanchez drew a walk in the fifth, but was wiped out by a double play by Joey Ortiz. Lindor hit a solo home run to lead off the sixth, and the Mets – who did a good job of the Brewers on Friday – did a great job adding runs. Rea got two outs afterward, but was removed from the game after Vientos hit a single that bounced off him; He got one for the team today, allowing five earned runs in 5 ²⁄₃ Innings of 106 pitches. Hoby Milner came in and finished the inning.

In the sixth, the Brewers went down in order again. At the end of the seventh, the Brewers made a nice move by removing Willy Adames from the game after the first out, allowing him a standing ovation from the crowd in what was likely his final regular season game as a Brewer. On the baseball side, Milner pitched a flawless seventh inning.

After another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh, DL Hall replaced Milner and bypassed a two-out single from Iglesias to keep the score at 5-0. In the bottom of the eighth, Milwaukee almost walked off the field – Sánchez hit a single with one out, Turang hit a single with two outs and Chourio Only missed his 22nd^nd Home run on a ball that Nimmo caught as it bounced gently against the left field wall.

Hall continued in the ninth, giving up a two-out single to Martinez, but had no trouble ending his second scoreless inning. In a somewhat interesting twist, Edwin Díaz entered a five-run game in the bottom of the ninth, although the Mets will have at least one must-win game on Monday. In any case, Díaz finished the game (despite a one-out walk against Bauers) and the Mets held on to their lead for the win.

If you're a Brewer fan, there's not much special here; A team that lacked any real motivation to actually win this game instead opted for a relaxed, restful atmosphere, just as they should have.

Otherwise, the Diamondbacks won their game 11-2 and the Braves lost to Kansas City 4-2. This means that Milwaukee will not play the Braves as they are either the No. 5 seed or eliminated. Here are tomorrow's scenarios:

• If Atlanta or New York win both games of Monday's doubleheader, the winner will play San Diego, the Brewers will play Arizona and the loser will be eliminated.
• If Atlanta and New York split, the Diamondbacks will be eliminated, the Brewers will play the Mets and Atlanta will play San Diego.

The regular season is over. The record is 93-69. The playoffs begin Tuesday and Milwaukee will be in it for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Don't take this era for granted!