3 big questions for a World Series Game 4 that could seal Brewers' first title

Only one team in postseason history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit — you may vaguely remember when that happened — and it’s fair to say that, after a 10-1 blowout loss in Game 3, the Rays very much have an uphill climb. Meanwhile, the Brewers and their fans have waited decades for this: A night when they can win their first World Series title.

Here are three key questions leading into Tuesday’s Game 4 at Tropicana Field.

World Series Game 4: Brewers at Rays (MIL ahead 3-0)
8 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX One
SP: TBA (MIL) vs. Griffin Jax (TB)

Can the Rays possibly pull themselves off the mat?

The Rays were frustrated after the first two losses in this World Series, both one-run defeats that turned on a fielding error here, a baserunning miscue there, just little things going slightly wrong at the exact wrong time. The hope was that they’d get back to Tropicana Field — the place where they had the best home record in the sport this year (though the Brewers actually matched them) — and straighten out all the uncharacteristic mistakes we’d seen so far.

Uh, that did not happen on Monday. The nightmare that was the Brewers’ eight-run fifth inning sucked the life out of the Trop, or at least the parts of the Trop that weren’t loaded with Brewers fans. The question now is whether it took the life out of the Rays, too.

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It’s all hands on deck for the Rays, of course, on the brink of elimination. While they have a long way to go to even think about getting back in this series, well, there’s no path forward without winning this one first. But the Rays need something good to happen early. Because right now it feels like the whole world is against them.

Will someone pull away in World Series MVP race?

Heading into Game 3, there was a growing sense that Aaron Ashby, the most dominant pitcher this postseason, could be some sort of consensus MVP pick. Ashby has been brilliant all October – he still hasn’t been scored upon – and he’d thrown 1 2/3 scoreless, high-leverage innings in both of the first two games of the World Series, saving the latter.

But then the Brewers went out and scored 10 runs and knocked 16 hits — none of them homers — in Game 3, and suddenly there are some truly eye-popping offensive numbers for the Brew Crew. Pick your MVP poison. Is it Jackson Chourio, who is hitting .571? How about William Contreras, batting a mere .538? Sal Frelick, who has a 1.144 OPS and has the Brewers’ only homer this series? Heck, don’t forget Brice Turang’s .500 OBP and Christian Yelich’s .462 OBP and clutch hits. Those five Brewers regulars all have an OPS over 1.000.

Whoever from that group has the best Game 4, if it’s a Brewers win, may pull ahead and take this thing. Unless they all have the best game.

Is this the night, Brewers fans?

Much has been written about how the Brewers have never won a World Series, as well as the fact that until this week, they hadn’t even been in one since 1982. But remember how rough it got after that World Series. The Brewers wouldn’t make the postseason again for another 26 years, and then only twice in the next decade. It wasn’t until 2018 — when Yelich won the NL MVP Award in his first year with the team — that this era began.

They’ve only missed one postseason since 2018, which has brought a new, different sort of pain: The pain of losing in the playoffs. But this year, all that has faded away. The Brewers have lost only one game this postseason, and now they have a chance to go 11-1 and — oh yes — win that first World Series. All it takes is just one more win Tuesday night. (Or Wednesday. Or Friday. Or Saturday.)

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Generations of Brewers fans never saw this. Robin Yount never saw this. Cecil Cooper never saw this. Jim Gantner never saw this. Ryan Braun never saw this. And yes, the late great Bob Uecker never saw this. But tonight? Tonight it could all happen. Tonight might be the night.