Latest / Who's On First? / Episode 12- Will We Have a New Champion Today?
Transcript
- Joseph: well, hello, hello, welcome back to the Who's On First Show. My name is Joseph Lund. So happy you could be joining me for this World Series edition of the Who's On First Show. What are we gonna talk about today? I wanna real quick go over games one, two, and three of the World Series. And then we're gonna talk about game four tonight. What's going on? Will we have a new World Series champion? What can the Rays do to get back into this one? That'll be all coming up on the Who's On First Show. I was bummed I could not get an episode out yesterday. with recording space here, I can't get it over the weekends. And then with my schedule yesterday, wasn't able to get any recording space with the time I had free. Luckily, I got some today, and so I'm able to get an episode out. Not as much as I would like to over the world series, but again, happy to get one out today. Talking about these first three games, so let's dive right into it. Starting with game one, gonna quickly go over these, and then I really wanna focus on the preview of game four, what's going on there, what this series means for baseball. So game one in Milwaukee on Saturday, Brewers come out with a big three to two win to take game one. So the Brewers take game one, three to two. This was the back and forth baseball and the best game of the series so far. Back and forth coming down to the wire. And it was so cool. Right off the bat, we got Jacob Mizarowski taking the bump, and he tops in his first basketball at 103.5. And him being the star, it was so marketed throughout the series. How big of an impact was he gonna have? I talked about it in my World Series preview as he has not had that marquee start yet, but it's the brand that the Brewers have been playing. And if you want to be a starter in the major leagues, there is no better place than Milwaukee to be, because there is so little stress on those starting pitchers. If you give five quality innings, you trust to hand the baton off to the bullpen to get the job done. That has been the blueprint so far throughout these playoff games for Milwaukee. And how few of them they have played. And that has been the exact game plan that they've had to where you trust your bullpen. So Mizorowski goes five innings pitched, four hits, one earned one r one earned run, one walk, and three strikeouts. I also mentioned how the Rays are not a team that you can rely to have the strikeout against. We talk about how the Guardians racked up 75 strikeouts in that five game series. Their pitching staff did. against the White Sox, and then they just could not rely on the strikeouts as much as they did in the DS, and that was their big falter. Then moving on to the ALCS that they let the Rays move on. So we got to see more facets of Jacob Mizerowski's excellent game and how he pitches and game plans of relying and being okay with contact and allowing four hits is okay. It was just the one earned run that came around in the fourth inning. But then you get a hand the baton right off to your bullpen. Yes, the pitch count was up, but they give it to the bullpen. That was the game plan. They go eurebe to Ashby to McGill. Those are the three you trust so much. Yuribe goes one and a third, Ashby goes one and two-thirds, and then McGill gets a clean slate in the ninth, allowing that second or run, and we'll talk about that a little bit more later on. But want to talk a little bit more now about this Brewer's offense. And especially. Christian Yellich. This is a guy that has been the face of the franchise now since 2018 when he took over for as the head face of the franchise. And he was taking the place of Ryan Braun, who was someone who was not as easy to like in a lot of ways with the PED usage, with the MVP race he had. He takes over in Milwaukee. And since then they have been so good in making the playoffs time and time and time again. And yet they've never been able to fully get it done. And he has been there and at the forefront of getting this organization to where it has gotten now on the precipice of winning their first World Series as a franchise. Someone so easy to root for that has dealt with so many injuries and yet been so consistent, always showing up. And how fitting that he opens up the scoring with the triple in the first. almost an amazing web gem play by Johnny DeLuca, just out of the reach of his glove. If he had one more lace on his outfielder's glove, probably would have caught that one. Instead, skates to the wall and it's a le and it's the triple to start things off. So cool for Christian Yellich to get him going, get the Brewers going. and then they tag on another in that bottom of the first inning. Then in the fourth, the Rays make it two to one. then Milwaukee pulled ahead with the Jackson Churio single in the top of the seventh before we get to the top of the ninth, which is where all the controversy and the big review came in. So let's talk about that. It's bases loaded, one out, McGill gets the ground ball, and we think everyone in that stadium is celebrating as if they turned the double play. They then go to replay and they do get the right call of Cooper Pratt. Did not keep his foot on the bag. And it ends up scoring a run before McGill gets the strikeout on the next batter. But so close the Rays came to tying this game up, getting right back in the game just like that, showing how quick their offense is to respond just like Milwaukee has been. That was a big storyline in the Milwaukee versus LA series, was how of a majority of the innings that the Dodgers scored in, the next half inning. The Brewers were able to score, and it took so much momentum out of the sales for the Dodgers. Here the Rays trying to do the same thing this time, coming back. They almost get it, however, can not. And there's so much hate for Cooper Pratt online of how he wasn't able to keep his foot down. But he's a rookie at a premier position like shortstop in the World Series. And it is so common to see rookies rush things. And he would be the first one to take the blame on that one. And you know how he was feeling. And the emotions picked up when he feels like it's his fault. But baseball is a game where you have to be able to pick up your teammates around you if they make a mistake or an error. That's exactly what Trevor McGill did. He picks up the big strikeout, and the city of Milwaukee got to celebrate just as loud yet again as they now know for sure. They get game one and a big one to get the first one at home with your ace. And this is going to be a common theme now that I talk about it throughout this World Series is how both of these teams were looking to play to their strengths. And a strength for the Brewers coming into this one was how set up their starting pitching was after the sweep compared to the Rays going to six games with Cleveland. They have their ace on the mound against Nick Martinez, who is the Rays number three starter. They play to their strengths, they get it to the bullpen who gets the job done and they get the game one win. So now. Let's move on to game two, where again it's another Milwaukee one run win. So there you go, another super exciting game this one. Milwaukee with the comeback win. You get all those amazing storylines. And again, going back to playing to your strengths, this is a game that Tampa Bay felt so good about coming into this one with their starter on the mound, their ace and Drew Rasmussen. He's been virtually untouchable so far in the postseason. And then even better than that, you get the four-run lead to start in the top of the first. Liam Hicks with the two-run home run and then Junior Caminero and Chandler Simpson both with an RBI. It's four to nothing. You have your ace on the mound. All of a sudden we're thinking, have the turntables turned? And is this the moment where the Rays are able to tie this one up? But again, we see the Brewers chipping away and taking back runs one after another. This is the same script of game four of the NLCS that ended in the sweep where the Dodgers got the big three-run home run. From Shohei Otani after getting that first. They're up four, feeling good. And then it's a couple home runs. Great base running, great base play, as the Brewers get back into it and ultimately win that one. And the same is true here. Brewers again answering back in that half inning immediately. They get a quick two runs in the bottom of the first, then they add a third in the bottom of the fourth, then bottom of the sixth. It's The South Freelick home run that tied things up at four. and then another Freelick home run and the Spencer Pratt RBI make it five to four. And that was all she wrote. As another amazing Milwaukee win. they get the two at home. And at this point, the writing was on the wall for the Rays that they were in trouble because the two games they had circled that they had to win were the two Rasmussen starts. And then you had to get one of the Peraltas, more than likely. You have to get of a combination, three of those games to go your way. Cause you knew both of them were going to be getting two starts if this series went to seven with how they set up their pitching. They're not able to get this one. Rasmussen does not look good, going only three and two thirds. And this was right then and there you knew that the Rays were going to be in trouble. And yes, they were going back home for game three. But you knew that they were gonna have trouble with just how good this Milwaukee team looked and how unfazed they are. This is such a well-coached, well-run organization. And it just shows the battle mentality that they have where a four-run lead does not phase them, especially with the pitching they have and the offense they've had. And this is the difference between these two teams is Milwaukee, if you have that four-run lead, your bullpen's gonna go lock it down, and that has been A constant throughout this postseason with how good their bullpen has been. But for Tampa Bay, their bullpen has struggled in a lot of ways. They gave up leads to the Guardians in that championship series. They have struggled. Yes, they did great against New York when they got the sweep, but a lot of that was because of the starters. And Rasmussen going eight innings pitched. He handed the baton to Baker, who only needed to get the one. And so this was again the writing on the wall of this bullpen has struggled. And they give up the lead and Milwaukee steals this one. They get both at home. They're up two, now heading back to the drop. Surely things have to shift for this Rays team. They're headed back home to a rowdy St. Petersburg crowd. But again, Milwaukee comes away with this time a huge margin of victory in the game three win to go up three to nothing. So the Brewers this win this one big. They win it 10 to 1. Just an absolutely dominant performance. And now the Rays are in trouble. Down three. Let's talk about this one that happened last night. And Robert Gasser might get overlooked in this World Series with Jacob Mizarrowski and the Logan Henderson and how good they have been, even though Henderson didn't have his best stuff by any means and has not been great. Jackson Churillo and Wils William Contreras and all these amazing key players for the Brewers, the Sal Freelix, the Garrett Mitchells, Christian Jelich. They've had so many contributors from so many different facets of the game. Robert Gasser has probably the best resume for an entirety postseason of giving him an MVP. It's probably Ashby with how dominant and how many innings he has covered out of the bullpen without giving up a run. He's certainly so far the postseason MVP, but holy cow has Robert Gasser been good for this Brewers team. He goes six innings pitched, just one hit, no earned runs. The only earned run he allowed was against the Dodgers. Just one earned run allowed. He's got a sub-one ERA in the three starts he's had going against the Padres. The Dodgers and now the Rays. And the only reason he hasn't been a bigger factor is because they've been so dominant. They sweep the Dodgers. He gets one start against the Padres. And then now they're up three to nothing against the Rays. He'd typically be a game seven starter where you get the big storylines about Robert Gasser. But he has quietly, absolutely dominated every team he has played. There's certainly an argument that he should win World Series MVP after the performance he had yesterday. likely now it'll probably go to Sal Freelick for getting the game tying home run in game two and how good he has been. But Milwaukee with the 10-1 win. It's the eighth run, eight run, fifth inning but between Freddie Peralta and Cam Boozer. And again, Freddie Peralta had so much pressure on him coming into this game. He had to be Superman for the Rays to win this one. He goes four and two thirds. Seven hits, five runs, all of them earned on three walks and four strikeouts. Then Boozer comes in, who's a guy that you have trusted to hopefully stop the bleeding. He gets no outs and gives up four earned runs. and after that, the game was over. Rays, Punt, the Brewers, they get Gasser for six, then Antonio Senzatella for two, then Brandon Woodruff in an on-save opportunity. And The Rays are in a bad spot going into game four, and you feel like this one is over. The Brewers just circling around, waiting for the kill shot, and they're gonna go after it tonight. For the Rays, you have to get one. You can't win four games today. No matter how hard you try, the Rays cannot win four games today. And no team in the World Series has come back from a three to nothing deficit. But teams have come back from three-one. So you gotta get the first. If you get to three-one. Then teams have come back from a 3-2 deficit. And then if you get it and go win game six, then anything can happen in a game seven. That's the mentality that you need to have coming to the ballpark today. don't let them get one. Because then if they get two, three, anything happens in game seven. No matter how hard you try, you cannot win four games at once. That is the hope that you can hold on to if you are the Rays. But real quick, I want to talk about one play in this game that summarizes. Everything that the Brewers are about and how well coached they are with Pat Murphy and how this organization is run from rookie ball to the major leagues was it was g top of the ninth inning, two outs. South Freelick was at first. It is a 10 to nothing ball game, and it's a lazy pop fly hit into shallow center field. And the broadcast feed that's from behind home plate, that's what they cut to when the ball is hit to the outfield. You see Sal Freelick running as fast as he can, taking a big turn around second base. And that is the attention to detail that this franchise has that has allowed them to be so successful. And if you are a high school coach or you are a coach of young baseball players, that is the clip that you should be showing your team of any throughout this postseason. Is the attention to detail and the care for the game of baseball that this Brewers team has is truly. Unmarked a close second would be this Rays team. And that's a reason these two teams have had so much success. It's a reason that they are the number one seeds respectively on the American League and National League side of things. And it's a reason that the Brewers are having as much success as they are having throughout this World Series and throughout this postseason, is because of the attention to detail and the little things that they don't take for granted and do right every single day come into the ballpark that have put themselves in a position to where they can go win a World Series tonight and be champions of baseball. And that is the play that stands out the most of any, of the big home runs, of the 12 pitch at bats. It's the little things like that that stick out that you may not see. I saw a Twitter post about it and had to talk about it. And that's so cool to see a team doing it right, not relying on the home run. There's only been two home runs hit in this in s in this series and yet the Milwaukee Brewers able to put up 10 yesterday. They're doing the little things right, and there is a reason that they have put themselves in this situation to be one-one away from a world championship. So now let's talk about game four. Want to give you a little preview before I say so long, and then I'll be back at some point during this week when this series concludes. But it's going to be Griffin Jax against Dustin May. And your backs are against the wall if you're the Rays. Griffin Jax has to go give them five to six innings. It is simple as that, and give them the lead. And then from there, it's who do you trust? You did trust Boozer, not anymore. You're now in trouble in that you've used most of your arms. I would assume it'd be Klevinger is a guy you trust, and then Brian Baker. That that that's pretty much it. It is not looking good for this Tampa Bay Rays bullpen. Maybe Kevin Kelly too, with the inning in the third that he gave you in game two is another guy you trust. But you gotta go get one. That's how the Rays are gonna play this. But I think the Brewers get it done tonight. I think they win it all and become champions of baseball. On the opposite side, it'll be Dustin May going for the Milwaukee Brewers, a 5-6-3 ERA in his postseason. It is two postseason starts. He has not been great, but again, he's gotten the job done to be able to hand the baton off to the bullpen and go get it done and close things out. You can rely on that offense so much. And I think the I think the Milwaukee Brewers are going to be world champions of baseball tonight. The Raysbacks are against the wall. Never say die. They could come back and get get back into this one just like that. If they go get today and then they close out, you got to get the home stretch sweep. And then you head back to Milwaukee where it's 3-2 and anything can happen. Same exact scenario we saw last year when the Dodgers went back to Toronto down three to two. So you gotta go get these two at home and then let anything happen in games six and seven. It's gonna be a tough battle and one that I'm looking forward to tonight as we may have a new champion in baseball after three years with the Dodgers back-to-back championships. Tonight, we could find a new champion. Super excited for that. I will be back to talk all about it later in the week. Thank you so much for tuning in again. Sorry I got this episode out so late. but wanted to get one out anyway to talk about these three games and preview game four. It's going to be a fun one and a possible end to a very fun season we have had, and then so much more to talk about with the offseason. Leave a comment, leave a review from wherever you may be watching, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. I want to know your input, as well as what I can change, what I can do better, as well as it helps me out a lot. Thanks so much for tuning in. I'm Joseph Lund saying so long.