Yes - and in fact, evidence that money actively undermines baseball happiness. For the big-market teams, anything less than a World Series is disappointing. Whereas for the Rays (who in April were given a 1.1% chance of winning the World Series by FanGraphs) or Brewers (2.1%), the season is already a success, and winning it all would give their fans more pleasure than a Yankees or Dodgers fan could ever experience.
It’s does offer proof that October remains gloriously resistant to being bought outright. But money buys depth and insurance, even if it can’t guarantee that your $300m hitters won’t spend an off week grounding into double plays. Better to enjoy this peach of a matchup – only the second Fall Classic since 1920 where a first-time winner is guaranteed – without letting baseball’s billionaire owner class weaponize it in the coming labor fight, with a salary cap on the table and the sport potentially heading for another protracted lockout.
High-end talent is nice, but to get to the World Series on a shoestring budget you also need a certain culture. There shall be no tolerating careless mistakes, no getting too comfortable in cushy MLB dugouts, and players must have a clear understanding of their roles and the brand of baseball they’re expected to play. That’s where Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have truly excelled this season.
David Lengel Jacob Misiorowski may be the best pitcher in the world, but the cliché that “bullpens win championships” is more true than ever in modern baseball. Luckily for Milwaukee, theirs is one of the best in the game – only the Yankees had a better collective regular season earned run average – and the sweep of the Dodgers means everyone will be starting on full rest. Milwaukee have the pitching to win this series, but asking them to weather seven nights of high-leverage situations with traffic on the basepaths is inviting trouble.
Get ahead in counts, limit free passes and force the Rays to string hits together. The fewer opportunities Tampa Bay have to improvise, the better the Brewers’ chances. BAG The Brewers bullpen is lights out but don’t ask them to do too much.
The Rays will try to pile up reliever innings in a bid to weaken the core. Also, Game 4 in Tampa will be a bullpen game for Milwaukee, so make sure the unit is kept fresh for that pivotal matchup. Ace Shane McClanahan is injured, but their occasional gambit of using opening pitchers is arguably even more of a power move in a single series at the very end of the season.
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