'Managing the pressure': Timber Rattlers cap off great first half with playoff berth

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (NBC 26) — The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are playoff-bound for the first time since 2016.

The Brewers High-A minor league affiliate clinched a postseason berth over the weekend by winning the Midwest League West Division in the first half of the season, securing a playoff game on September 12.

• It's Wisconsin's first playoff appearance since 2016 and its first division title since 2012, when they won a Midwest League championship.
• The Timber Rattlers have often won in thrilling fashion: 7 of their last 13 wins have come in their last at bat, with three walk-off victories along the way.
• The T-Rats already have 18 comeback wins and four walk-offs this season, one shy of what they had all of last season.
• First-year manager Victor Estevez credits the team's late-game attitude, saying: "They've got that mentality to never give up until the last out. And I think that mentality is working for those guys right now."
• Estevez also managed the Brewers' Class-A affiliate, the Carolina Mudcats, to the postseason last year; many of those same players are with him in the Fox Valley this season.
• The playoff opener will be on Thursday, September 12.
• Wisconsin is on the road in Fort Wayne, Indiana right now but will return home next Tuesday, June 25 for a six-game series with the South Bend Cubs. Four of those games will be broadcast live on tv32.