Willy Adames had just settled into his usual spot on the infield dirt, smack dab in the middle of second and third base, ready to start the seventh inning of a meaningless regular-season finale against the New York Mets Sunday afternoon at American Family Field when Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy decided to make a change.

Andrew Monasterio would come into the game and play third base while rookie Joey Ortiz would slide over and replace Adames at shortstop.

“I knew I was going to be taken out of the game, but I didn’t know it was going to be like that,” Adames said after Milwaukee’s 5-0 loss.

The late switch wasn’t the result of a last-minute decision on Murphy’s part; instead, the skipper wanted to make sure Adames got his moment in the spotlight in what very likely was the fan favorite’s final regular-season game at American Family Field.

And the fans — all 33,754 of them — showed their appreciation for Adames with a standing ovation.

“I did it as much for the fans as I did for Willy,” Murphy said. “They needed to recognize, this guy has been a rock for us. He’s been unbelievable. Chances are, that’s his last regular-season game in a Brewers uniform, and everybody knows that. I wanted him to feel that appreciation.”

Adames, 29, is set to hit free agency for the first time this winter and after slashing .251/.331/.462 while setting career-highs with 32 home runs, 112 RBIs and 21 stolen bases, not to mention a short list of available shortstops this winter, Adames is likely to recieve the kind of deals — both in terms of cost and duration — that small-market franchises like the Brewers can’t come close to matching.

Which, in a way, makes Sunday afternoon’s atmosphere all the more unique and meaningful.

In any other year and any other similar market, Adames might not get the kind of moment he did. More often than not, players on the verge of landing massive free agent contracts aren’t kept around long enough to be sent off in style, usually getting dealt for prospects ahead of the annual trade deadline.

Milwaukee has had plenty of chances to do just that over the last year. General manager Matt Arnold fielded multiple offers for Adames last winter and the phone kept ringing once the season started.

But with the Brewers surpassing any and all expectations by surging to the top of the NL Central in late April, then holding that position throughout the summer, Arnold resisted the temptation to deal a player almost certain to leave at season’s end and one who could bring back the type of prospects that might keep the Brewers atop their division for years to come.

“From my perspective, you can never close the door on anything,” Arnold said earlier in the season, “but he is the heartbeat of our team in many ways.”

Arnold saw first-hand the way a first-place Brewers team fell apart after trading another star on the way to a pay day in the middle of the season when his predecessor, David Stearns, dealt closer Josh Hader to San Diego at the deadline in 2022.

That season remains the only time Milwaukee has missed the playoffs in the last seven seasons and neither he nor owner Mark Attanasio seemed interested in taking a chance at tinkering with clubhouse chemistry again, especially during a season as special as this one has been.

“We had plenty of offers for Adames this offseason, and if you were going to put it into an analytic model there may have been some merit to building for the future,” Attanasio said during a mid-season discussion with reporters. “You just can’t put a price on his leadership, his ‘posting’ every day. Adames does not want to miss a game. So guess what, now William Contreras doesn’t want to miss a game. Sal Frelick never wants to miss a game. You develop a culture and Willy is a key to it.”

So Adames stayed, played and thrived. He kept the clubhouse together any time things started to get tense, he helped the Brewers’ young players — especially rookie phenom Jackson Chourio — learn how to be big-leaguers and navigate the rigors of a 162-game season.

And every time the Brewers needed a clutch hit, Adames was not only the guy in the batters box but also the guy who delivered.

His teammates have shown their appreciation all season long. Sunday, it was the fans’ turn.

“It meant a lot, because all the work we’ve done over the last few years is appreciated,” Adames said. “When the fans show you so much love like that, it’s amazing. I have a lot of respect for everybody in this clubhouse, and for the fans, too. It’s special.”

The work, though, is far from done. There’s still more baseball to be played, starting Tuesday when Adames and the Brewers open the postseason not just in the hopes of winning a series for the first time since 2018 but making it to the World Series for the first time since 1982.

“Now is the exciting time,” Adames said. “Now, we have the fun part.”