Win Tonight, One More Night: The Brewers Pitching Plan for World Series Game 4

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The countdown is on. It's 27 outs from here to the parade, if the Brewers can just play it right. The Rays' offense looks dead, which is partially because they're susceptible to stretches in which that happens, but much more because the Brewers' pitching staff has been superb. Pat Murphy spent so much of this season managing tricky questions of health, performance and availability on his pitching staff, but here at the end of it all, his job has gotten alarmingly easy. In a blowout Game 3 win, he didn't have to use Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe or Trevor Megill. He can't give the ball to either of his ace starters in Game 4, but he has plenty of paths to the 27th out, anyway.

The Three-Headed Monster is Rested and Ready

The Brewers' sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS gave them a full week off before the World Series. Between that and their breezy victory in Game 3, they enter Game 4 with Ashby, Uribe and Megill fresh as can be. In the last 14 days, none of the three has thrown even 100 competitive pitches:

Ashby: 87
Uribe: 67
Megill: 38

For so long, Ashby and Uribe were two of the hardest-worked pitchers in baseball. Counting regular-season and postseason work, Ashby has gotten more outs as a reliever than anyone else in the league since May 24, 2025, when he made his season debut. Ashby's 19 1/3 innings in the playoffs over the last two years leads the league, and Uribe's 15 innings is second. However, the ease with which the Brewers won each of their first two series has all but canceled out Murphy's heavy usage of them.

Ashby's eight appearances and 53 batters faced over the last month are each less than he had in any month of the regular season, save for July, in which he pitched more games but exactly matched the batters faced. Uribe has pitched nine times, but faced only 40 batters. When healthy, he pitched more throughout the regular season. Megill's six appearances and 26 batters faced in October are well below his usual monthly workload.

There's still a limit on how much Murphy will use these three Tuesday night, because he won't want to burn any of them out entirely for a potential Game 5. The cap on the number of outs they might record isn't nine, though. It's isn't 12. It might not even be 15. There's every chance that those three hurlers will take the back half of the game, leaving relatively light work for the mélange of arms who slot into the early frames.

The Three-Headed Monster's Little Mutant Brother

After Robert Gasser gave the Brewers an unexpectedly smooth six innings Monday night, Murphy got two innings from Antonio Senzatela and one from Brandon Woodruff. That allows us to virtually cross those two off for Game 4, unless the game stretches into extra innings. Instead, it sure seems like Murphy will just pivot to four more hurlers who have already proved their mettle this month.

Shane Drohan
Dustin May faced the top of the Rays order when he pitched in Game 2. He could start Game 4, but it makes more sense to throw another lefty at the confused, platoon-happy Rays and see what it does to their lineup plans. Drohan has the tools to limit damage against Yandy Díaz, and unless Kevin Cash wises up and moves Junior Caminero back to third in the order, the Brewers could get Drohan in and out without his having to face the dangerous third baseman.

Though Drohan has a starter's mix and a starter's background, he should be used as a pure opener in this one. If the Rays stack the top of the lineup with righties and push their lefty bats deeper into the order, so be it. The second arm out of the chute can be...

JoJo Romero
If Cash tries to stash guys like Victor Mesa Jr. and Richie Palacios in the middle of his lineup to prevent Murphy from going to May after Drohan, it's easy to thwart the strategy: just go to Romero. The burly southpaw has seen his stuff play up in October as much as anyone; he's been worthy of Murphy's trust as a mid-game option. However, Cash might instead go with Ben Williamson, Ryan Vilade and Johnny DeLuca in a short sequence, and if he does so, May can come in right after Drohan,

Dustin May
If possible, I would keep May away from the top of the order. It seems likely that if he gets exposed to it again, that group will include Jonathan Aranda and Liam Hicks, as well as Díaz and Caminero. That's a gauntlet for May, especially with the righties in that set having already seen him recently. He can better buy the team outs against the lower half of the order, but if the Rays go with a right-leaning top half of the card in response to Drohan and Romero follows Drohan into the game, it becomes much more viable to call upon May for the second turn. In some order, it should almost certainly be Drohan, Romero and May over the first 15 batters of the game or so. At that point, it's time for the bridge from the opening group to the closing one.

DL Hall
Quietly a part of the 'A' bullpen, really, Hall still works in a roving, medium-leverage role. That might well change next year, but for now, all the Brewers will ask of him is to either defend a lead or tie or keep the game close through the middle innings. The goal is to hand a lead to the three-headed monster. Hall is the link between the group that will set the table and the one the Brewers hope will feast on Rays batters at the end of the game.

Just Keep Trading

All four of the hurlers named above came to the Brewers in notable but different trades. Hall was a centerpiece of the Corbin Burnes trade with Baltimore. Drohan was involved in what amounted to a challenge trade with the Red Sox for Caleb Durbin, which the Brewers have certainly won, in a sense: all three of the players they acquired in that deal made major contributions to this almost-championship team. Romero and May were a package acquired at the trade deadline. If they're the essential pieces who push the Brewers to the very verge of a title, it will be a fitting way to wind things down. They're already emblematic of the team's highly successful, deft approach to adding talent via trades. That takes fearlessness and resilience; not every deal can be a winner. But if you're as smart as the Brewers are, it will eventually pay off. It might be about to pay off in the biggest possible way.