World Series Game 5: Brewers (Misiorowski) vs Rays (TBD): 10/28/26, 7:00pm

[homer]

I think it's all hands on deck for the bullpen. They get a day off to rest after today. Uribe, Ashby, Hall are all in play, IMO. Uribe threw three days in a row against LA.

[OldHeidelberg]

I think we get this one tonight, bouncing back from adversity has been this teams MO all season. Miz finally has one of his dominant games in the playoffs. Hopefully in 9 innings, I need some sleep.  

[BruisedCrew]

With all of the legitimate discussion about how the Brewers are going to cover nine innings tonight, my focus is on the offense.

I don’t think the Brewers will win tonight unless they score at least five runs. Out of context it sounds great to have a presumptive Cy Young award winner on the mound. But the version of Miz that regularly threw six or seven innings with one run or less and double digit strikeouts is gone for this season. Based on his recent outings, I think the best we can hope for is five innings with no more than a run or two allowed.

For all the angst about how the bullpen was handled last night, the Brewers really lost last night because they only managed two runs in 11 innings against a parade of decent, but not outstanding, pitchers. . If they can’t do any better today, they are going to lose again. Hopefully more of the hard hit balls from last night can find grass or holes.

If the Brewers can put that five or six runs on the board, that might be good enough to win. Maybe they could even win 6 to 2 because the larger cushion would take some of the pressure off the Brewer relievers and put it onto the Rays offense. I don’t think the Brewers can win 2 to 1 or 3 to 2 like they have in some other playoff games without full availability from the A bullpen and I don’t think they have that tonight.

[Fear The Chorizo]

4 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I think we get this one tonight, bouncing back from adversity has been this teams MO all season. Miz finally has one of his dominant games in the playoffs. Hopefully in 9 innings, I need some sleep.  

It was never going to be this easy given this organization's history - as awesome as clinching last night could have been.  I'm of the opinion the baseball gods got their shenanigans out of the way completely in last night's game with all the tough luck the Brewers hit into, plus Ortiz's error and a botched replay review at the game's most critical moment at the time, and tonight will wind up with Champagne, beer, and fanta showers throughout Brewer nation.

[Zad Fnark]

I'm hoping Tampa doesn't try to bung up the mound so Miz can't plant his foot properly.

I can just imagine that.

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

With all of the legitimate discussion about how the Brewers are going to cover nine innings tonight, my focus is on the offense.

I don’t think the Brewers will win tonight unless they score at least five runs. Out of context it sounds great to have a presumptive Cy Young award winner on the mound. But the version of Miz that regularly threw six or seven innings with one run or less and double digit strikeouts is gone for this season. Based on his recent outings, I think the best we can hope for is five innings with no more than a run or two allowed.

For all the angst about how the bullpen was handled last night, the Brewers really lost last night because they only managed two runs in 11 innings against a parade of decent, but not outstanding, pitchers. . If they can’t do any better today, they are going to lose again. Hopefully more of the hard hit balls from last night can find grass or holes.

If the Brewers can put that five or six runs on the board, that might be good enough to win. Maybe they could even win 6 to 2 because the larger cushion would take some of the pressure off the Brewer relievers and put it onto the Rays offense. I don’t think the Brewers can win 2 to 1 or 3 to 2 like they have in some other playoff games without full availability from the A bullpen and I don’t think they have that tonight.

Agreed on the offense, but you could make the argument that they hit better in game 4 than they did in game 3 - but only netted 3 runs instead of 10 due to baseball being baseball.  Tons of hard hit balls, and only one of their runs came without hitting a homer.

No argument that some of the big bats in this lineup need to bounce back and/or do something this series (looking at you Bauers) - hopefully more well hit balls find holes and the runs are easier to come by.

[Pugger]

6 minutes ago, Zad Fnark said:

I'm hoping Tampa doesn't try to bung up the mound so Miz can't plant his foot properly.

I can just imagine that.

Of course if they do that they aren't doing their own guys any favors either.

[Fear The Chorizo]

3 minutes ago, Pugger said:

Of course if they do that they aren't doing their own guys any favors either.

The mound already appeared to be messed up for multiple pitchers last night  - Miz lands past just about anyone else, so hopefully the weak spot is short of his landing zone.

[CheezWizHed]

3 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

I don't see how whoever the Rays decide to start is going to go more than 2 innings. Looking at who they have available, Matz is the likely opener, and he hasn't gone more than 2-3 innings since May.  

I was only hesitating if they would push Ras to start on 4 days rest.  

[owbc]

4 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

The mound already appeared to be messed up for multiple pitchers last night  - Miz lands past just about anyone else, so hopefully the weak spot is short of his landing zone.

There were 367 pitches thrown last night (205 by the Rays, 162 by us), so that probably had something to do with the mound falling apart. 

Our pitching depth combined with our ability to exploit the lack of pitching depth on the other side will eventually win us this WS, it’s just a matter of time. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

Just now, owbc said:

There were 367 pitches thrown last night (205 by the Rays, 162 by us), so that probably had something to do with the mound falling apart. 

Our pitching depth combined with our ability to exploit the lack of pitching depth on the other side will eventually win us this WS, it’s just a matter of time. 

It was a problem early in the game and carried throughout - probably broke down even in game 3.

 

[Recovering Chicagoan]

2 minutes ago, owbc said:

There were 367 pitches thrown last night (205 by the Rays, 162 by us), so that probably had something to do with the mound falling apart. 

Our pitching depth combined with our ability to exploit the lack of pitching depth on the other side will eventually win us this WS, it’s just a matter of time. 

I hope so!

[MrTPlush]

23 minutes ago, Zad Fnark said:

I'm hoping Tampa doesn't try to bung up the mound so Miz can't plant his foot properly.

I can just imagine that.

You see last night? I don’t think they need to intentionally try and do this. Pulled a literal pancake off the mound.

[CheezWizHed]

19 minutes ago, Zad Fnark said:

I'm hoping Tampa doesn't try to bung up the mound so Miz can't plant his foot properly.

I can just imagine that.

As we saw last night, he can call for groundskeeping to fix it.  And he should absolutely take advantage of it. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

One last thing on Miz - his three postseason starts came after 5, 7, and 11 days of rest...tonight would be 4, on a more "normal" routine than anything else he's seen this month and after throwing under 80 pitches in Game 1.  I have zero concerns he won't be whatever the best version of himself is at this point of a long season, and he will get plenty of time to rest this offseason!

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I think Tampa is going to take tonight. I think Miz is running out of steam. The hot takes are going to be nauseating as far as him not being "the guy" but I just think he's battled past capacity. I like our chances to close it out on Friday. Just that Tampa is a good team and I think they'll protect their turf on life support.

The main differences I see are:

1. His FB doesn't quite have the finish it once did, but except for his normal pitch or two at 104-105, his velocity is the same.  
2. His control isn't quite there

It is possible he is fatigued.  I also wonder if he loses touch a little bit when he gets too much rest.  You can't simulate game conditions. 

I guess tonight we will know if he will be back to classic Miz on a normal pitching rotation or if he is just getting by. 

[cragi]

feeling good about my prediction to win 1/2/5 and split 3/4. MLB pulled out the stops to create a little intrigue, no worries. 

Bottom line is we have more available pitching depth than the Rays and the further the series has gone, the more that advantage extends. 

Miz isnt likely to regain his early season composure.. he's lost spin and his form isnt as tight, much like Harrison's struggles. 5 would be nice. 

Bats seemed to be pressing a bit for the big hit instead of working the pitchers like they have been, jacking up the pitch count. they need to get back to basics to close out. They had harder hits, resulting in more HRs, but they were solo shots and a ton of outs. We need to return to small ball and dance with who we brung instead.

I think the biggest mistake from Murph last night was letting Megill face just one. Its a tied game, this is your closer and he is plenty fresh. I get Ashby is hot but if you dont plan to use Harrison or Miz, you cant afford to play for one batter in that situation. We knew Drohan was going to be a wildcard at best.

 

[liveforoctober]

Re: the offense last night, Curt Hogg posted a tweet - the Brewers had 13 of the 15 hardest hit balls of the night and were 4-13 in those at bats. We made decent contact.

[CheezWizHed]

40 minutes ago, homer said:

Uribe threw three days in a row against LA.

Three games in a row, but there was a day off between.  Plus Uribe didn't pitch on Monday, so he is currently at 1 day, so he surely will get in today unless Miz goes off. 😉

[CheezWizHed]

1 minute ago, liveforoctober said:

Re: the offense last night, Curt Hogg posted a tweet - the Brewers had 13 of the 15 hardest hit balls of the night and were 4-13 in those at bats. We made decent contact.

I was thinking about the Ray's home record and their field.  They built their offense on bouncing balls and the field supports it. The final inning was like they were just chopping the ball down on the field and letting things a bounce all over. 

If the series goes back to Milwaukee, they should soak the infield down... 

[MrTPlush]

8 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

One last thing on Miz - his three postseason starts came after 5, 7, and 11 days of rest...tonight would be 4, on a more "normal" routine than anything else he's seen this month and after throwing under 80 pitches in Game 1.  I have zero concerns he won't be whatever the best version of himself is at this point of a long season, and he will get plenty of time to rest this offseason!

5 days rest is his norm. He only pitched like 4 times this year on the more standard 4 days rest. Not even sure the last time he went in 4 days rest.

He was just as good in that small sample of shorter rest though.

[Fear The Chorizo]

9 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

5 days rest is his norm. He only pitched like 4 times this year on the more standard 4 days rest. Not even sure the last time he went in 4 days rest.

He was just as good in that small sample of shorter rest though.

I get that - but the 5 day rest he had before game 1 of the NLDS wasn't really part of a well-established routine either.  Miz made multiple 3-4 inning abbreviated appearances throughout september just to try and stay somewhat sharp along with keeping his innings from exploding, too.

Would much rather have Miz going on 4 days rest than 7 or 11 and in a series where he's facing a team a second time that they now have established scouting reports on everyone for pitch selection/location.  I think it's tougher for hitters to exact an advantage facing a stud starter in October multiple times than for the team with the stud starter using his stuff to support scouting report advantages on where to get hitters out.

[HarveysWBs]

36 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

As we saw last night, he can call for groundskeeping to fix it.  And he should absolutely take advantage of it. 

Heck, if the Rays are having multiple apparent pitchcom issues per game, I’d be telling Miz (quietly) that he should use one or two grounds keeping requests tonight, and if they just so happen to take place amidst a tough AB or after getting down in a count during a critical moment? Well, I guess that’s baseball…

[JCREW]

It's Ras for the Rays

https://www.mlb.com/news/drew-rasmussen-2026-world-series-game-5-start

[torts]

Now that we know, I am feeling good about facing him again.  Force him to locate, drive that pitch count up!  Let's go!!!!