The Brewers were three outs away from the first World Series championship in franchise history, and from making Cooper Pratt a Milwaukee legend … but the Rays had other plans. So we head to Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Can the Rays stay alive, again? Or is tonight the night for the Brewers? Game 5 will provide all the answers. Here are three key questions leading into Wednesday night’s game at Tropicana Field.
World Series Game 5: Brewers at Rays (MIL ahead 3-1)
8 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX One
SP: Jacob Misiorowski (MIL) vs. Drew Rasmussen (TB)
What can Rasmussen give the Rays?
Rays manager Kevin Cash was in the classic conundrum that comes with facing elimination in Game 4: You have to empty the tank to make sure your season doesn’t end that night … but if you succeed, you still have to win three more games, including one the very next night. Cash was a little more cautious than you might have thought with that, and it cost him: Keeping starter Griffin Jax in the game in the fifth inning led to a game-tying homer that ended up being the reason this game went into extra innings. That, in turn, cost the Rays a few extra innings from their bullpen.
Cash was still aggressive, though, to the point that he used potential Game 5 starter Nick Martinez for two innings of relief, essentially eliminating the possibility of using him to start Wednesday. So if you can’t use him, who can you use?
It turns out that the answer is: Go with your ace … even on short rest. The Rays have been careful all year with Drew Rasmussen, but even though Cash had said the Rays were unlikely to use him on three days’ rest – and even though he would have been lined up to start an equally must-win Game 6 – Tampa Bay decided that using Rasmussen now was the best of the suboptimal choices available.
Now the question is what the AL Cy Young Award candidate can give his team, and for how long. Rasmussen was enjoying an absolutely dominant postseason through his first three starts before the Brewers dinged him for three earned runs on six hits in Game 2, knocking him out in the fourth inning. Given the bullpen mess that Cash is going to need to navigate in Game 5, a repeat of that performance almost certainly won’t cut it if the Rays want to make it back to Milwaukee.
Can The Miz have his definitive Miz game?
Jacob Misiorowski has already set a record for the fastest pitch ever thrown in the Fall Classic, a 103.5 mph monster to open Game 1. And that game did mark his longest postseason start, with five innings of one-run ball in a game that the Brewers did, obviously, win. But it wasn’t really a classic Miz game, as evidenced by the fact that he only struck out three batters, a very un-Miz-like number.
For all the talk of how few pitchers the Rays may have available in this game, the Brewers used eight arms themselves in Game 4. Postseason star Aaron Ashby went 2 1/3 innings, which means there’s virtually zero chance we see him in this game. Abner Uribe went two innings, and DL Hall went 1 2/3 innings.
So it would actually be pretty helpful if Misiorowski could give the Brewers a little bit more length than they’ve seen from him this postseason. The Miz is the definitive star of this Brewers team, but he hasn’t been that star in October. So maybe the clinching game of the franchise’s first World Series title would be the right time?
How do the Brewers respond to their first loss in … three weeks?
Seriously, it has been a very long time since the Brewers lost a game. It was way back on Oct. 6 in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Padres. That was also a one-run loss, on the road, which foiled a series sweep.
Since then, the Brewers have won games in just about every way imaginable. But the one thing they haven’t done is lose. That is, until Tuesday night, when the Rays pulled off a comeback of their own in the 12th inning, thwarting Milwaukee’s attempt to make history. Now, there aren’t any fun ways to lose a World Series game, but “being three outs from their first World Series title ever only to lose on a walk-off” is an incredibly un-fun way to lose. (That’s especially true when the opponent’s winning rally starts on a throwing error.)
The Brewers still have every advantage you could possibly want in this series. They’re up 3-1. They have maybe the best pitcher on the planet on the mound. The Rays are almost entirely out of arms. They have spent the last three weeks looking like an all-time dominant team. Everything is in their favor. But they can lose. We just saw it. Brewers fans can still taste that title. But all told: If this series goes back to Milwaukee, you’re definitely going to see them sweat.