Last night’s sausage race pretty much sums up Game 1.

Welp, that about sums it up, doesn’t it? The Brewers had a lead, just like Polish, vibes were good, and then they faceplanted and got lapped. “Honey, take a good picture!”

Just another brutal, brutal loss in what has become an anthology of gut-wrenching playoff losses in recent memory for the Brewers.

And the truly tough thing to stomach is that ALL of these games seem to play out the exact same way. Brewers grab a lead, then blow it by doing something totally out of character from what they did all regular season. I feel like I’m Bill Murray in Groundhog Day waking up to Sonny and Cher the minute the calendar flips to October with this team.

Now where do you stand when it comes to the blame game for that meltdown in the 5th inning last night: Pat Murphy’s decisions, or the players executing on the field. You can only choose one and you can’t choose both (you can do whatever you want how the hell would I know).

I’ll admit, when they grabbed that 4-3 lead last night and came back from commercial break for the top of the 5th inning, I was surprised to see Joel Payamps on the mound. Freddy had a bad 2nd inning, but had two REALLY quick innings in the 3rd and 4th, he was only at 68 pitches, it felt like he probably had at least one more in the tank.

On the flip side? Joel Payamps has been phenomenal since late July. He’s give up TWO freaking runs since July 30th. 2! He didn’t give up a run the ENTIRE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER. That inning starts with a Chourio home run robbery, then he misplays the ball hit by Tyrone Taylor (of course!) and the Mets have a runner on 2nd base with one out. Payamps got the next guy, then walked Lindor, so you have two-on with two-down. The next batter hit that wicked grounder to first that Hoskins made a great play on, the only problem is that Payamps hesitated and was too slow to cover the bag at first. Then he fell asleep and didn’t realize the runner from second was coming all the way home. DAY ONE STUFF, WAKE UP DUDE!

Murph then goes to Ashby, again, a guy with an ERA in the low 2’s since getting switched to relief, and he gives up two more 2-RBI singles with two outs. The life got sucked out of the team and the stadium like a Dementor was hovering above Am Fam Field. The Mets retire the next 17 batters in order and the Brewers go down meekly in Game 1.

Now I originally harbored a LOT of blame for Murphy pulling Peralta. Again, it felt like he had at least one more inning. But remember that the two strengths of this team the entire season, a season that saw them go 93-69, were bullpen pitching and defense. Both of those failed them in the biggest moment. If Chourio makes a catch, it’s a 1-2-3 inning. If Payamps gets his ass over to first base, they put a 0 on the board. Adames mishandled a grounder that inning as well. So yes, I agree that Peralta should have been allowed to at least start the 5th inning, but the players have to make plays in big moments. They didn’t.

Now we find out how #undaunted this team truly is. I won’t lie: I’m feeling some daunt. Significant daunt. This team has always come through this year when the chips have been stacked against them, and boy are they stacked against them now. Since the new playoff format was implemented, the winner of Game 1 in a best-of-three series is 14-2 in those series. If I’m honest, I don’t love Montas as the Game 2 starter either. I thought Civale was the play given his record and especially given his success at home. But they burned him last night covering the last three innings of the game. We’ll see if that was the right move in about 11 hours.

PS: It won’t get talked about as much given the meltdown in the 5th, but the Brewers had SEVERAL chances to blow the game open early. They got 2 first inning runs, but could have had a lot more. They had runners at the corners and only one-out in the 3rd and Hoskins grounded into a double play. They still had a runner on 3rd in the 4th inning with two outs and couldn’t get him home. Just a mess all the way around.

Double PS: That clutch Jesse Winker hit was the most predictable thing of all time. Guy couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat last year in Milwaukee, then does that exactly one year later. Nobody does heartbreak like our franchise. Nobody.