MILWAUKEE — Excitement filled the Brewers Team Store on Thursday as fans stocked up on postseason merchandise and looked ahead to what they hope will be a deep playoff run for Milwaukee.
For Amy Grau, the day carried extra significance. Every Oct. 2, she makes a trip to buy a birthday gift for her husband, Paul, whom she calls the biggest Brewers fan she knows.
WATCH: Brewers fans hopeful as postseason begins, dreaming of a World Series run.
"Every year I come on Oct. 2 because today is his birthday, and he is the biggest Brewers fan," Grau said. "So I buy him something new."
The tradition usually includes the latest postseason sweatshirt.
"This is probably the fourth one that he has, but every year he gets the new one," she said.
Like many fans, Grau believes this year's team has what it takes to make a serious run at a championship.
"I'm feeling good about it," she said. "I think it's the year."
That optimism was easy to find around American Family Field.
Jerry and Karen Hirsch, longtime Brewers fans and lifelong Wisconsin residents, said they have followed the team closely throughout the season and will be attending Sunday's game.
"We've been watching the games on TV all year long and are so excited about how they've done," Jerry Hirsch said. "This is like a once-in-a-lifetime season."
The Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in Major League Baseball, giving fans plenty of reasons to believe the club can compete for its first World Series title.
Karen Hirsch said she is confident the team can rise to the challenge.
"I think they're a really good team," she said. "I think our team is up for the challenge. I think they'll do great."
Nearby, Mark Leibundgut and his stepson, Bryan Bilot, were hoping to secure tickets for Sunday's playoff game.
"I cannot wait to see the game on Sunday," Bilot said. "This is my first Brewers postseason. Go Brewers, go."
The pair was able to purchase tickets and will now be among the thousands of fans cheering on the Brewers this weekend.
Leibundgut remembers the franchise's only World Series appearance in 1982, when he worked at the stadium as a beer vendor.
"I was a beer vendor here," he said.
More than four decades later, he believes another trip to the Fall Classic is within reach.
"I'm thinking they're going to go all the way," Leibundgut said. "They've got a clutch team. They don't hit a lot of home runs, but they know how to run the bases. They know how to move guys around the bases."
With playoff fever building across Wisconsin, fans are hoping this postseason ends with something the franchise has never achieved: a World Series championship.
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