World Series Game 1, Rays (Martinez) vs Brewers (Misiorowski): 10/23/26, 7:00pm

[willie key]

I can’t believe the brewers are where they are with Miz basically being gasser lite this postseason.   Hopefully we can survive it this series 

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Wow. It's going to take me a while to get to sleep. I still have the Gameday app open to confirm we won. More than that, I confess to following on Gameday during the Rays innings. It being a pitch or two ahead of the Fox feed helped reduce a little anxiety. Thoughts:

1) All three of our Game 1s were eerily similar. We score 3 runs. We hold the opponent to 1 or 2. We breeze through the middle innings after weathering an up and down Mis start, and then hold on for dear life with the aid of a clutch Megill and/or magic. We also struggled to add on in key spots in all 3. Luckily, it didn't hurt us.

2) I'll be curious to see how the team responds to that. In some ways, Game 1 felt like the one we were most likely to lose. Some of that is the layoff. Some of it is the pressure of being at home in such a huge moment. Some of it is just getting your sea legs in uncharted territory. Honestly? I thought both teams adjusted to that pretty well. That was a pretty well-played ball game, even with some uncharacteristic moments on both sides.

3) Chiefly, for us, those belonged to Mitchell. He had an awful game. I thought the fly ball was really bad. It reminded me of Chourio misplaying one against STL (I think?) in CF his rookie year. It was a tough play because of how hard the ball was hit, but it's got to be made. Cost the Brewers a run.

4) Mis is clearly running a little low in the fuel department. He battled through 5 today, and we needed every out. Special props to Uribe tonight for an awesome 4 outs. That was smooth, and then Ashby did his cold MFer thing.

5) I think it was a mistake to bring in Megill to start the ninth. I would've stuck with Ashby with two lefties due up. I know it would've put him down for tomorrow, but you have Megill if it gets to Caminero. It ended up working out, but I still think it was the wrong call and probably Murph's biggest mistake of the night, though I think hitting Sanchez in that spot didn't make much sense either (just lower downside there). I will credit Murph for getting Ortiz in at third in the 9th. He doesn't do that, we're all sweating a Hamilton throw on a tough little grounder.

6) The biggest blunder of the night was on Cash, though. If I'm a Rays fan, I'm livid that he pitched to Chourio in the 7th. You've got Matz in the game. Pratt is on second. There are two outs. Booser has been great for you. Turang is on deck. Your best option there is to walk Jackson and go left-on-left with Turang, probably with Booser. To not even have him warming is borderline criminal. That run cost you the game.

7) I thought Hamilton getting thrown out was understandable. I like the aggressiveness. That spot in AmFam is the triples spot, and I thought it off the bat. The stumble cost him, and it still took a great defensive effort to get him. It doesn't even compare to what Mesa did the inning before. Getting tossed at third there....dumb. There is no reward for running there. Total brain fart.

8) The check swing was close, but I think he went. Thank goodness it didn't cost us. I thought Pratt was off the bag, and it was the right call. That one annoys me A LOT less than tag plays where the runner slides off by a fraction with the tag still applied before getting right back on. It's a tough play. Pratt's trying to turn it, and just didn't quite drag it low enough. 

9) Chourio and Contreras, what can you say? Wild Bill was everywhere tonight. Two outs with his arm. 2 hits. Calling a good game and using challenges perfectly. He looks possessed, and we're going to need it.

10) The Rays seemed weirdly unconcerned at times tonight. I'm not sure if I should be troubled by that (because they're so chill) or comforted (because they're "happy to be here" or whatever). All I know is, they weren't going to pitch Baker or Booser, and they started Martinez instead of Rasmussen. There is no such thing as a non-urgent WS game, but they played it about as non-urgently as you could, especially for a team that just had three days off. Again, that might be the right thing to do! We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

11) They said this on the broadcast, but the Rays did K 9 times tonight. They only walked twice. If that continues, it's a good sign for us. 

When you're the home team in 2-3-2, you can't drop the first two. Then, you're chasing all series. Getting that win, and one never-been-here-before game under our belts, is incredibly valuable. I suspect the Rays will continue to put together good ABs and clean up some of the base running miscues. Our hitters will need to continue to pressure them and deliver the knockout blow. We've gotten better at that as series have gone on. If we can pull one out tomorrow, that's a serious power position, especially with Peralta pushed to Game 3.

 

 

Good stuff (again😉).

#3---Yes, it's the World Series. It's a play you need to make, and Mitchell is capable of making it. But very hard hit, right at you & over your head is an extremely tough combination. But all considered yes, it wasn't Mitchell's best game.

#4---Miz is now at 195 innings. If the braintrust of this team was told in March that he'd throw that many this year, at best they'd be concerned & at worst they'd say the person telling them that was on drugs. Hopefully the arm has just a little more left

#6---terrific point, but it was Bauers up after Chourio. Your point still stands though.

#7---Yeah, that's 3 bases for Hamilton virtually always. Even with the stumble I think he makes it most of the time. But that 9-4-5 relay, dammit, it was textbook. And the out at 3rd for Misiorowskis' last out of the game, yeah. Thank you very, very much.

 

[greenlawler]

My friends that was too close. If this goes seven my life will maybe end. 

[Team Canada]

I turned the game of right after the "DP". That would've been depressing to discover later that they'd lost, so yay for that.

As some point (I would've thought we were there already) I don't think you can keep using the "we got lucky to pull that one out" line anymore. They've been doing it every. single time. They're just good doing what needs to be done to come out on top.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

 

#6---terrific point, but it was Bauers up after Chourio. Your point still stands though.

 

 

Doh! Fumes, man. Fumes. 

Yes. I think the best play for the Rays there is Booser for Bauers, Yelich, Contreras, obviously hoping it doesn't get that far. 

I wonder if Cash was asked about this postgame. Hogg was on it in real time over on BSky.

[BruisedCrew]

46 minutes ago, 82brewcrew82 said:

I keep seeing this kind of stuff but every game has kind of stood that stuff on its ear.  They have to be good enough tomorrow.  Just good enough.

There is some validity to that, though.

After the 2-1 win in Game 1 against the Dodgers the Brewers scored 7, 6, and 6 the next 3 games. You can’t expect to hold a good team to 1 or 2 runs every game and expect your relievers to cover 4 or 5 innings every day with a narrow lead. 

[greenlawler]

There were so many moments that both teams costs themselves runs, 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Doh! Fumes, man. Fumes. 

Yes. I think the best play for the Rays there is Booser for Bauers, Yelich, Contreras, obviously hoping it doesn't get that far. 

I wonder if Cash was asked about this postgame. Hogg was on it in real time over on BSky.

You usually see the 'A' BP guys stay in the pen when trailing during the regular season. I don't know enough about Cash; perhaps he extends that philosophy into the post season? Not sure how often his A guys have been used lately either (I only saw the ALCS sporadically).

Yeah, I'd be surprised if he wasn't asked about it.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

2 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

There is some validity to that, though.

After the 2-1 win in Game 1 against the Dodgers the Brewers scored 7, 6, and 6 the next 3 games. You can’t expect to hold a good team to 1 or 2 runs every game and expect your relievers to cover 4 or 5 innings every day with a narrow lead. 

Martinez pitched about as well as he could have and only went 5. If the Rays pen is pitching 4 innings, you're in okay shape as the opponent. Rasmussen and Peralta are going to have much longer leashes, though.

That's the big-picture risk to starting Martinez tonight. Rasmussen is the guy you want to really give runway too. It's a little harder to do that down 1-0. Say you're up 1-0 in the fifth, and he walks the first two guys. He's at 63 pitches. You're in a tough spot...

I think it's the Brewers job to make Cash pull that trigger, or at least have to think about it. Tomorrow is all about pressure, pressure, pressure, even more than it always is. 

[82brewcrew82]

3 minutes ago, greenlawler said:

There were so many moments that both teams costs themselves runs, 

Exactly.  Its difficult to say the Brewers were lucky but not the Rays.  A ball glancing off of Mitchell's glove and a spike off a base by a millimeter or the Rays don't score.

[Brewers Downunder]

Luck's a fortune. Good teams make their own 😉 

[liveforoctober]

Just got home. Not going to go back to read the thread but a couple of comments and questions...

Not pulling Sanchez and hitting Lara to get left vs right when Lara was coming in anyway was confusing. Would love to hear an answer there from Murphy.

Both caught stealings were incredibly big. TB must be kicking themselves. Wild Bill is in a heater.

Another note, the double steal in the 9th might have taken the bat out of Caminero's hands.. I don't think Megill gave him a fastball after that if I remember correctly. Unintentional intentional kind of thing.

Fine with bunting Mitchell but after ball 1 I think it is an auto take there. I don't know if he threw a strike to Turang? In my head he had thrown 5 straight out of the zone... I could be wrong about that.

Had to win that one. The Rays put a little odd pressure on us by throwing NM. Similarly now, the Rays really need their ace to deliver tomorrow. Pressure has shifted. 

That 9th inning turned my stomach inside out.

3 to go.

[Jim French Stepstool]

32 minutes ago, Bernies Sponsor said:

felt like the Brewers were very, very lucky to win that game: Yelich triple nearly caught, Contreras smoked one right at Walls and it squeaked past, Bauers bloop to left was just barely on the line, Megill narrowly escaped the 9th. 

Bats need to be much, much better going forward, Tampa is just as gritty as us and they feel due for some baseball luck 

I thought the Rays had some luck when, in essence, Megill had to get five outs in the 9th (check swing, DP that was overturned) but still closed it out. I'd say Megill was much more gutsy than lucky. Yelich's ball could've been caught, but so could've the ball hit over Mitchells' head by Caminero. And Bauers' ball didn't lead to any more runs scoring.

I think they won this game the way they've won countless games all season.

[baseball101]

1 hour ago, willie key said:

I can’t believe the brewers are where they are with Miz basically being gasser lite this postseason.   Hopefully we can survive it this series 

I have no words. You are the guy who says Brewers suck. 

[thebruce44]

2 hours ago, Marc Newfield of Dreams said:

This is the problem with replay. That play at second has been an out the entire history of the game. Zooming in at super slow mo to see if his spike was a hair off the bag? C'mon. If it's not clear right away then it should stand. 

Countless middle infield kids have been trained to get your back foot out of the way and then throw knowing you had the benefit of the doubt. If this is the new paradigm, you are going to have many injured middle infielders.

[owbc]

I’m still wired up, lots of good analysis here. 

Contreras is the most important player in the series because the Rays win by being aggressive and he’s the one who turned that aggressiveness into outs. The dude is on some kind of a mission, playing at a level that few ever reach. 2025 Ohtani level of impact on the game. 

Cash comments suggest a weird sort of confidence to me — like this is another Cleveland series where they are untroubled by falling behind as long as they have the paper advantage later in the series. The lack of the Booser move suggests they had committed to using low leverage relief — basically a punt game. It’s like the anti-Padres pitching strategy. I’m fascinated by it.