The former Brewers infielder and third-base coach took over as manager with 12 regular-season games remaining and helped deliver a team with a ragtag pitching staff and an all-or-nothing offense into the playoffs, their first stop there since 1982. It's now up to general manager Doug Melvin and principal owner Mark Attanasio to decide whether Sveum deserves to have the word "interim" lifted from his job title.

"[Sveum] was handed the ball and told to get us to the playoffs, and he got us to the playoffs, and we competed in the playoffs," Attanasio said in the moments following Sunday's season-ending loss to the Phillies.

Attanasio said that the decision will be Melvin's.

"I don't think there's a question about whether he did a good job," Attanasio said. "The question is, should he manage the team next year? That's a slightly different question. Obviously, the job he did factors into it, but that's going to have to be Doug's call."

The Brewers were 16 games over .500 and tied for the National League Wild Card lead on Sept. 15, but they were off to a 3-11 start to September. That prompted Attanasio and Melvin to relieve then-manager Ned Yost of his duties and name Sveum as the replacement.

Including the NL Division Series, the Brewers went 8-8 under Sveum.

"I'd like to stay here and manage," Sveum said.

Melvin was not available on Monday or Tuesday to answer questions about the decisionmaking process, including the timeline he has in mind.

Brewers players polled want him back. Especially vocal was shortstop J.J. Hardy, who has worked extensively with Sveum, because Sveum spent the last three seasons as Milwaukee's infield coach.

"Bring him back for sure," Hardy said. "A lot of guys here, I think they saw in the short amount of time he was managing that he did a great job. The clubhouse respects him as a manager. I think the best thing for this team would be to bring him back."

Left fielder Ryan Braun agreed.

"He was great," Braun said. "I think we're all comfortable with him, and he did a great job under extremely difficult circumstances. I think he deserves that opportunity."

So did first baseman Prince Fielder.

"I really like playing for him," Fielder said. "He makes me real comfortable, and he really had confidence in everybody, no matter what you do. You go 0-for-3, 0-for-4, you know that he still has confidence in you."

And right-hander Jeff Suppan.

"That's always a difficult situation to go through, and I think he handled it professionally," Suppan said of the sudden managerial switch. "That's really all you can ask for. As far as his leadership for our team, he's done a fantastic job on how he's handled different distractions. That's important for a manager to do for a team."

But there was no instant turnaround when Sveum took the helm. The Brewers dropped two of three games in Chicago, losing Ben Sheets to an elbow injury in the only win in that series, then blowing a four-run lead with two outs in the ninth inning of the series finale.

Then it was off to Cincinnati, where the Brewers dropped the first two games of that series and found themselves 2 1/2 games behind the Mets in the Wild Card race on the morning of Sept. 21, with only six games to play.

The Brewers got it together just in time. While the Mets lost six of their final nine games, the Brewers won six of their last seven to take the Wild Card berth. Sveum celebrated on the field while the rest of Milwaukee reveled in its first postseason bid in 26 years.

"We have a lot of young guys, still," Sveum said. "They're getting at the stage of their careers where it's time to make the adjustments and get to the next level, there's no doubt about it. We have some young talent here that has the opportunity to get to that next level, so this was a stepping stone for a lot of them."

Now the only question is whether Sveum will be leading the charge to that next level.