The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away.
Incredibly, the Brewers have pulled out to a 3-0 lead in the World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays. If needed, they’ll have four separate chances to close out the first championship in franchise history.
The first chance to secure the title comes Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Florida at Tropicana Field.
The Brewers have used most of their logical starting pitchers in the first three games, so it shapes up as a bit more of a bullpen plan in Game 4 — although Dustin May likely is available to handle the bulk innings.
One question will start to loom in the later innings if the Brewers have a lead, though, and even if it’s one not many people are talking about, the cameras on the Fox broadcast are sure to start looking around and wondering — if this is going to be the final game of Milwaukee’s season, could Jacob Misiorowski end it?
Can Jacob Misiorowski Pitch Tonight?
While it would be unlikely if the series was anything other than 3-0, there’d be nothing from stopping Misiorowski from pitching on Tuesday night if Brewers manager Pat Murphy wanted to call on him.
“The Miz” started Game 1, which was played on Friday. That means he has had three days of rest.
Misiorowski would be slated to start Game 5 on Wednesday on what would be a standard four days of rest.
Bringing him out on Tuesday, if that was the choice, would be just one day of rest short, and it’d almost certainly be for a shorter outing.
In concept, Misiorowski could pitch on Tuesday.
Case for Pitching Jacob Misiorowski
Imagine that the Brewers open up an early lead. They can taste the World Series title. It’s within their grasp.
They’ve already got the dominant bullpen arms in Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill. What if they could turn to them even earlier?
Uribe in the fifth, Ashby in the sixth, Megill in the seventh — and Misiorowski for two to finish it. That certainly sounds imposing, and magical.
Murphy has managed all postseason with the idea that he needs to win the game right in front of him. If there’s not going to be a tomorrow, why not try Misiorowski out as the most impressive starter-turned-closer a World Series clinching game would have ever seen?
Case Against Pitching Jacob Misiorowski
The case against this move is obvious — there could be a tomorrow.
If the Brewers lose, no matter the way it happens, they would take a 3-1 World Series lead into a Game 5 that Misiorowski was starting. They’d be favored to get the job done with their ace on the mound.
So in reality, it’s probably a risk that’s too large to take on Tuesday in Game 4. It would throw off their pitching plans for the rest of the series.
Misiorowski out of the bullpen would make more sense if this series somehow got to a Game 7 with just two days of rest after he started Game 5, but in a spot where it would definitively be the last game of the season.
Imagine the Moment
Even if it’s unlikely, just imagine Misiorowski trotting in from the bullpen with the Brewers leading. There are a lot of Milwaukee fans down at Tropicana Field. There’d be quite the roar.
And he’d have a chance to throw the fastest finishing pitch in World Series history. Anyone up for 105 miles per hour to claim the Brewers’ first-ever title?
Man, that’d be fun.
Can Jacob Misiorowski Pitch Tonight? Brewers’ Pitching Chases World Series Sweep