Fear The Chorizo

I'm leaning towards giving Miz the ball and seeing what happens early tomorrow, for a couple reasons: 1 - If he's "on", he's the one arm with starting experience I have confidence in being able to keep the Cubs off the board in the 1st inning, and he'd have the best shot to give the Brewers any sort of length a couple times through the Cub batting order. It will be a highwire act - but will have much more to do with whether or not he's throwing strikes/locating that slider compared to whether or not he's keeping the ball in the park. 2 - If he's "on", the Brewers can get creative with their starting lineup without too much concern about guys getting put in strange defensive positions, in order to try and maximize offense. A high number of strikeouts and weak contact limit the damage that a less than GG caliber outfield is playing defense behind Miz if it means getting as many bats in the lineup as possible. Prioritize getting a damn lead early at home, then as the game moves on bring guys like Ortiz and Perkins off the bench for defense while playing with the lead. I wouldn't mind seeing Chourio as the DH and sticking Yelich (who at least isn't hobbled) in left - and Bauers in the other corner with Frelick in center. Monasterio needs the start at short, find a way to get both Bauers and Vaughn in the lineup regardless of who the Cubs start (Imanaga's stuff should not prevent Bauers from starting, IMO), and stack the top of the order up in a way that doesn't stick hitters currently going through rough rally-killing slumps (looking at you Turang, Durbin, Ortiz) sandwiched between hitters that are reasonably dangerous. Chourio LF/DH Yelich DH/LF Contreras C Vaughn 1B Bauers RF Durbin 3B Frelick CF Mona SS Turang 2B I have zero faith Murphy is going to view this game the same way I do, but this would be my ideal lineup to start Saturday.

I think that would be a blessing to the Brewers....but definitely a possibility.

Id imagine the Cubs start Rea saturday? Agreed that Bauers has to be in the lineup...but so does Vaughn. Mona at SS, too. I dont care where or how that impacts the defense - at this point you desperately need offense/pop however you can get it. Score some damn runs and then use your bench to bolster the defense as the game goes on with the guys who havent been hitting. Hoskins should have been on this playoff roster, too.

That's what happens when all you have is two light singles and a double down the line to call your offense

Blind faith that playoff baseball is silly randomness. The Brewers have to hit in order for that to be true, though.

Ashby will be on fumes Saturday. If they get out of this down 4, and dont score in the 7th, give the ball to Gasser and hope like hell home cooking can win you a ballgame saturday

At this rate I expect Gasser to start saturday ....and play center field, hitting 6th. Murphy is grasping at straws in a place that doesnt serve drinks

Tailon start game 3

Its not the right reason...but it was to get Bauers in the lineup since a righty was starting.

Which sucks...because giving up 3 runs should net you a win, even in the playoffs. This offense turtling on the road is no fun

Two leadoff walks, a leadoff double...zero runs The 1st inning runs given up every game is frustrating as hell....but at some point you have to score

Cant ask for anything more and he cant get it done.

That was ball 4 blue

Gotta find a way for the bottom of the lineup to do something good here....Brewers have been getting hits in front of rally killers

Besides 1 swing, as frustrating as this has been it'd be a scoreless game. Brewers have to figure out their offense and get some guys on base. The game 5 lineup should already be filled out for saturday and it should match games 1 and 2.

When half of it has decided to stop hitting altogether, its not hard

And now we're swinging at everything

Cubs are just sitting dead red and daring Freddy to throw any other offspeed for a strike...and he's not able to do it

Is this going to be one of those nights the Brewers find a way to set the playoff record for # of leadoff walks that dont score?

Not going with Peralta on normal rest tonight wpuld be the equivalent of MLF milking OT clock due to fear of what the cowboys could do after they tied the game with at least a fg, when all you have to do is score TD to win the game right in front of you. Brewers are up 2 games to 1 and can end the series with a win tonight - Murphy always preaches about playing to "win tonight, worry about tomorrow tomorrow". That is 100% the right approach for game 4. Find a way to get the lead early and keep the Cubs off the board early, too. Wrigley will play shorter to left field tonight, but its not like it's going to be a gale blowing out and temps will be in the 50s at gametime.

I wouldn't mind seeing the first couple pitches to Busch tonight right at his shins. Nothing against him personally, but that dude is way, way too comfortable teeing off at the start of every game.

Its all about the TV deal that nobody else in baseball comes close to matching - it allows for most of their marquee players to get paid huge sums of deferred $$ later, and not worry about those future revenue hits even denting what those future team payrolls can be due to inflation and tv revenues. Well run? Sure - but the advantages they have over everyone else, even the Yankees, at the moment are just not a fair fight. I hold out hope its egregious enough that the rest of MLB forces changes to the financial structure of the game, to at least force out the accounting gimmickry the Dodgers can get away with and count deferred dollars in contracts towards present payrolls for luxury tax or salary cap purposes, dollar for dollar.

In a vacuum, sure...but Boyd hasn't pitched anywhere close to this many innings in a season since, checks notes, 2019. Boyd has been scuffling down the stretch, and even if he does get the ball tomorrow he's going to be on an incredibly short leash. My hope is Greg gets some false sense of hope with the likes of Brown, Civale, and Rea's clean innings in what we're essentially garbage time innings between games 1 and 2, and some of those guys find themselves trying to get outs in key spots in the middle innings tomorrow

You realize half the time Collins isnt even in the same state as his young family, right? His slump isn't because he is a new dad.

Exactly - Collins isnt the first major leaguer to have a baby at home during the season. He is also not the first young player to struggle mightily at the end of a really solid rookie year where he was exceeding expectations. Just because both of those are true for Collins doesnt mean they are in any way directly related to each other