Latest / Who's On First? / Episode 13- The Brewers Are Champions Of Baseball

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Episode 13- The Brewers Are Champions Of Baseball · Who's On First?

• 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 as we have a new champion of baseball. That's right, the Milwaukee Brewers take down the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to win their franchise's first World Series rings. We got so much to talk about. So what are we gonna cover today? We'll start by talking all about game five of the World Series and the Brewers win. Want to talk about the race season and look back on how they did this year. Want to talk a little bit about how this Brewers team could be the first domino to fall and some changes we could see in Major League Baseball. And then I want to let you know my offseason plans where the show goes in the future and what the goals are heading into November, heading into the offseason. That's all coming up on the Who's On First Show. So let's get going, starting with game five. of the World Series. It's the Miz, Jacob Mizarowski on the bump, Drew Rasmussen on the mound for the Rays. We had a good one where the Brewers come out on top and are world champions. So again, a congratulations to the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin, and all Brewers fans around the country as they get their first World Series ring. So let's talk some game five ball, starting things off. How about a round of applause for Jacob Mizarowski, the young flamethrower for the Brewers? Gets the pill in this one from Pat Murphy, their ace, the Cy Young winner. And what does he do? He gives the Brewers exactly what they needed. He goes five and two thirds innings. Only two hits allowed, zero earn runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. And that is the big number for me looking at this scoreline is that the Ms. Jacob Mizarowski did not rely on the strikeout. He was able to adjust and give this Brewers team what they needed. I mentioned how the best spot to be in baseball is a Brewer's starter, because you only gotta go five innings. And then you hand the baton off to this bullpen, which has been so excellent. And Mizerowski does exactly What they needed. Zero earned runs allowed through five and two thirds innings. And it was such an amazing performance. And sure it wasn't the Seven eight inning performance that so many amazing pitchers from the past decades have had in the World Series that will talk for ages to come about. But it was one where Mizarowski had struggled a little bit in the postseason of having that marquee start, and he gets the one here going five and two-thirds. And the reason for not going the incredible length that he needed to was because that's all he needed to get was five and two-thirds. And then you can hand the bullpen. Hand the baton off to the bullpen game where they did not even need to use Ashby. They go JoJo Romero for 0.2 innings. He got one out in the sixth. From there, it was Abner Yuribe for another 0.2. And then how about Trevor McGill, the big six foot eight righty, closing things out, pitching two full innings and only allowing one earned run? The reports coming into this game were that maybe. The Brewers had lost trust in McGill, or they weren't sure how they felt with him coming in in the ninth to close things out. Ashby had get been getting a lot of the closing done. But this is the guy they trusted all season, and he gets it done in the postseason when it matters most in game five of the World Series to secure the deal, and he will forever have the moment of being on the mound as the Brewers get their first franchise title. They Ashby to follow who was warming up. It would have been really cool to see him close things out with how dominant he was this postseason, not allowing a run. But McGill gets the call. His name ends up on the scorecard to close things out as he goes two innings pitched with the save as the Brewers win this one four to one. On the opposite side for the raise, Drew Rasmussen gets the start. This was against what a lot of the reports were saying. Kevin Cash came out and said how we've put too much time into rehabbing him, getting back to where he was, because he's had three major arm surgeries. He comes back, he says, Coach, I want the ball. Goes four innings pitch, two hits, only one earned run, four walks, and two strikeouts. Not a bad performance, but certainly not the dominance that he has set the standard of. being so far through this postseason. From there they went Kevin Kelly for two outs, he gave up the one, then Klevinger for an out, he gave up two, Tyler Wells went.2 innings, then Maths for one and a third, then Baker and Seymour for one inning each. That was what covered the distance for the raise. They were just not able to get it done. They could not get the bats going and Four runs. The Brewers top of the second strike first. They get the Cooper Pratt RBI single that puts them up one. Then in the top of the fifth, they get the David Hamilton single, which puts them up two. And at that point in the game, Mizarowski's still in the game. Their bullpen is well rested after the night before in the loss. They didn't use too many crazy high leverage arms except for Ashby, who threw thirty one pitches it was in game four. So it felt like that was a bigger lead than two to nothing. It felt like more for the Rays with the uphill battle that they had to go through. Then when Contreras adds run number three in the top of the six with the double and then Cooper Frat Platt. Whoa, Pratt with the sack fly to bring him home. That made it four to nothing. He felt like this game was really out of the reach. And it felt like going from the sixth inning on, the Brewers were going to be world champions. That is obviously the result that we end up getting. The Rays were able to scratch one across in the bottom of the ninth against McGill with the Chandler Simpson double, but it was too little, too late. As the Brewers win the World Series. Couple more things I want to talk about. Just how dominant this Brewers team was throughout the postseason. They go 11 and 2, winning the 11 games needed to bring home the Commissioners trophy. The only two losses: one against the Padres, one against the Rays, and they sweep the Dodgers. And in this postseason run, they did not let a team score more than four runs. That is ridiculous. Of the playoff. Offensive caliber that we've seen, especially with the juggernaut that was the National League with the Padres and the Braves and the Phillies and the Dodgers all joining the the Brewers as well as the Cubs. So many amazing offenses. The Brewers go up against the Padres and the Dodgers, then get the Rays in the World Series. And in those games, they did not allow more than four runs a single time. That is utter bullpen dominance because their starters. Not too long in the games. The longest one of their starters went what I was, I believe, six innings pitched with Robert Gasser. Their bullpen absolutely dominated. And that was the keynote the entirety of the playoffs was just how good their bullpen was with Aaron Ashby headlining things and how he good was how good he was from the left side. Obviously, McGill had a little bit of a shaky postseason. But he was able to get outs when they needed it most. He was able to close out game one, although it was a little shaky. You had DL Hall, Jojo Romero, Amner Uribe. So many guys contributing out of this bullpen and so many A plus guys that Pat Murphy could turn to at so many times. You felt like with the Rays, there was maybe really two or three guys that you really trusted, whether that be K Clevinger and then definitely Baker. With the Dodgers, it was Vesia, Scott, and maybe Edwin Diaz coming off the injury were the three guys you really trusted. But with this Brewers team, there were so many guys going down the line that you felt good about. Even Antonio Centatella. How cool for him to get his first ring coming from being in Colorado for so long, pitching at cores, to now getting a second chance in his career, a second start with the Brewers. He pitches some crucial innings in this one. Threw a couple innings in the extra innings game as well as the beatdown game, when the Brewers routed the Rays in game three, as well as Brandon Woodruff, the guy that they gave so much money to to be their marquee pitcher. He's dealt with so many injuries throughout his career. He hadn't pitched since July. And a little bit controversially, he comes and makes it on the World Series roster instead of Chad Patrick. And he gets the job done. And that is the recipe for success that this Brewers team had was having so much bullpen depth and guys that you trusted at any point of the game, no matter what inning. They didn't need to have the setup, okay, this is our setup guy, this is our closer, this is who gets us through the seventh. It was next man up mentality, and that is what allowed them to be so successful and so dominant in the postseason. This is one of the more dominant postseason runs we have ever seen going back. a couple decades, we not many teams have been this dominant, especially now in this modern era of baseball with so many good teams and such high level talent and all the statistical analysis and next level scouting that we see, it's rare for a team to be this dominant. And that's exactly what the Brewers were. It was utter domination as they close this one out and win game five of the World Series. So now what to talk about next? Wanna talk a little bit about This Brewers team, the model they had, and going forward, how other teams can emulate the style of play that the Brewers have had. Because I'll start by saying they're the 19th ranked payroll in baseball. Great for baseball. That it was a smaller market team that ends up winning it, even though Milwaukee, a great sports city, there with the Bucs and then the love for the Packers that they have. But it was a smaller payroll team that wins it, nineteenth in payroll again. So what are what is gonna happen and what are teams gonna do after seeing this? How can other teams shift their mentalities or how they play the game or how their franchise views baseball and how to find success in baseball to where we can see other teams emulate what the Brewers did? It starts with none of these top market teams, the Dodgers, Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, teams like that, none of them are gonna start dropping payroll. That's not what's gonna happen. I think there's a different route that you can go when analyzing and looking at this Brewers team. no big market team is gonna drop down to 19th in payroll all a sudden because the Brewers were so good at it, and that's obvious obviously a recipe for success. When we look back at the last decade, a majority of the World Series winning teams have been top 10 in payroll. Even going back, the Nationals had an incredibly high payroll. Teams like that typically Paying for players, getting better guys, looking towards the free agent market and the trade market to pick up guys has been a recipe for success. But one thing I think that a lot of teams can emulate when looking at this brewer's team is how many contracts they gave to guys coming up to their system, getting them extensions to where they could go play carefree baseball. And it was a big talking point in the last CBA when there was the lockout that was in 2024. or three, was how there was so much talk about manipulating service time and how players coming up through the systems were not getting paid, and how minor leaguers were often overlooked for major league talent. And how there was this stigma in baseball that none of these minor leaguers have proved anything. But that is quickly shifting, especially with the new CBA and how we look at things and what's going to change in this upcoming CBA when hopefully not. More than likely there's going to be a lockout and possible miss baseball. Again, we're hoping not. Is we're starting to see more and more teams pay their young players as they come up and make their debut because scouting has gotten so good and statistical analysis. We've gotten so much better as a sport and sports in general of to of analyzing players, seeing how they're going to perform at the major league level or at the top of the NFL level. And then we're able to give them a contract to where they can co-play carefree baseball. And it's also a team-friendly deal because a lot of these players, 19, 20, 21, 22 years old, when all of a sudden you have this big long-term contract where you're gonna have a stance in this organization, it allows you to play carefree baseball and you're not nervous about going out and playing for your contract. You already have money. set aside that you can go play with. This is the example for Cooper Pratt, Jacob Mizarowski, Jackson Churio, Luis Lara, so many guys that have come up through this brewer system that have gotten able that have been able to get paid early and play. Obviously baseball is still a stressful game, but you can play stress-free baseball knowing that you have that first paycheck and that first contract signed, it is a big relief off the shoulders of young players, knowing that you don't have to constantly Be worried about your stats and how that's gonna attribute to you signing a contract once you hit arbitr arbitration. Signing these early extensions has been really good. And it has been something that a lot of owners and GMs have been hesitant to, but I think it's something that really helped the Brewers as well. A couple other things that teams can try to emulate. The bullpen dominance that we've seen from the Brewers. This has been one of the best bullpen performances we've seen since. Let's see, the 2021 Astros were an absolutely dominant bullpen. And then another team that absolutely relied on their bullpen because they didn't have the starter firepower, was the 2015 Kansas City Royals team. Those are two teams that we've seen that have really put their bullpen at the forefront of their pitching plan and rotation that have allowed them to have postseason success. I think that is an immediate one of having the ability to go get free agent market arms. trade for arms and then develop your own arms is gonna be something that so many teams start really putting money into. Cause two of the sports best teams at developing pitchers and having a pitching lab is what they call it, are the Rays and the Brewers. The two teams that have had so much success in the postseason, not just this year. Look back for the Rays. They had World Series appearances in 2020 and now 26. And yet so many Postseason berths and playoff chances in series one. Same thing is said for the Brewers. From 2018 to 2026, they've had now seven postseason appearances. This has been a consistent dominance from this team, starting with Craig Council when they made it to the NLCS, forced it to game seven against the Dodgers, and ultimately lost. For so long now, we've seen this team have so much success. And these two franchises and how they develop pitchers. Has been so successful to where a lot of teams are going to be putting a lot more money into pitching and developing pitchers early on in their system, getting guys up through the franchise that you trust and are used to the pitching coaches and the philosophy that the brewers have that has obviously worked. Implementing that is going to be important on the major league level. That's another thing that teams can turn to. A third, I would say, is the attention to detail that this Brewers team has. I talked about In the last episode, how Sal Frelick it was the lazy pop fly in the center field with two outs, and Sal Frelick was running as fast as he can around second base. I bring that up because that's such a small play, but it shows the attention to detail that this team has and this Brewer team has to where they can go win a series in dominant fashion, like they just did, with hitting three home runs. They hit three home runs in this World Series. There was a game where they put up ten runs. This team dominated through small ball. And again, there are a lot of teams that are very home run reliant that are not going to completely shift their mindset on a dime in one offseason. The Dodgers is one. They've had success and they've relied so much on the long ball. And they did not have the most successful postseason because they could not hit with runners in scoring position. Well, I think there might be more of an emphasis on small ball. It's certainly not going to shift your mentality. But for a team That has relied on the home run ball so much. Shifting to having a full one to nine lineup depth of anybody could beat you. Talk about how important David Hamilton was to this team. He barely started throughout the regular season. It was Joey Ortiz constantly starting at third. He was one for 19 in the postseason coming into this World Series. And Hamilton had played much better. And having that one to nine lineup depth was so crucial for this Brewers team in moving on and having success. Is that any guy could beat you, and there was no easy out in that lineup for starters or pitching staffs to pick on. Throughout one through nine, every guy was producing. Same thing for the rays. There were so many guys in that ALCS that could have won MVP. It ends up going to Freddie Peralta. But having that success and that one through nine lineup depth is so crucial. And I think that's another thing. So those Are three quick things that the Brewers have done that you could apply to a franchise, the paying young players early, the bullpen dominance and the pitching lab mentality of developing pitchers in your system and how you view things in your pitching coaches and how you call games. Then that attention to detail, and I would say the fourth thing is having a mix of young players and veteran leadership for this team, the young guys. Again, like I mentioned, the guys have been paid Cheurio. The Pratt's, David Hamilton's, the Luis Lara, Jacob Mizarowski. So many young guys that have been so crucial to this team. But at the same time, this team would not have been as successful and would not have as would not have had as much production from their younger guys if it wasn't for a guy wearing the C patch like Christian Yelich. And I want to talk about Christian Yelich real quick, because he is a guy that so many people root for and is beloved in the baseball community. Grew up in Southern California. Played for the Marlins, was this young rookie star coming up, gets traded to the Brewers and then gets this amazing deal, gets his big payday. He struggled so much with injury. But I mentioned how of the last nine years, the Brewers have made it to the postseason eight times and a immediate Cause for that has been Christian Jelich and how he goes about things and how so many times he's picked up this franchise and this organization and carried them through a playoff run and done so well to where now in 2026 he is now a veteran player and he was struggling this year. He did not have his best year and he would be the first person to tell you that. And this team picked him up. Pat Murphy had a conversation with him in the middle of the season of how this has not been the year you wanted. So now how are you going to best affect this team? And we're gonna pick you up and we want you to wear the captain patch. And I think that was so crucial for Christian Yelich of the leadership role that he took on, especially after starting to wear the captain patch, as now it's really three teams that have designated captains with Salvador Perez, Yelich, and then Aaron Judge. And I know Salvi and Yelich both wear the captain C. But having the leadership and the role that he has taken on has been so crucial to this team. So just so awesome for Christian Yelich that he gets his first World Series ring. Such a deserving player who has played the game the right way for so long and been the franchise front of the billboard face for Milwaukee for so long, with a Milwaukee team that for a while before him, the headliner was Ryan Braun, who I mentioned, not the most likable player. With the PED scandal that he had in the post or in the MVP chase that he had. Where now they shift to Christian Yelich, such a likable guy, and he gets his first World Series. I thought that was really cool. And I think those are the four things that a team could emulate or try to copy, cheat off the paperwork from this Brewer's team, is paying the young players early and giving them a stress-free environment, having a dominant bullpen, the attention to detail, and the mix of both veteran leadership. And young star talent has driven them to the dominant run that they went on throughout this postseason and allowed them to be so effective. And so now I want to end on for the Rays. This is a tough loss for you. Now they've had three World Series appearances as a franchise: 2008, 2020, and 2026. All three, of course, they ended in a loss. They're still looking for their franchise's first World Series. But they are still on the up and up and they still have a lot to look forward to. However, there are also a lot of question marks in the free agency market. Nick Martinez has a mutual option. I would bet with the year that he has had, he would probably decline that and test free agency. However, this is obviously a very different free agent market this season with the CBA expiring. Cedric Mullins has a mutual team option. And then the two big stars that you're losing in the free agent market are Drew Rasmussen and Freddie Peralta. And I'm gonna have more content pushed out about free agent predictions, but I really like the Ray's odds of signing Freddie Peralta after how much success he has had with the pitching development that they have had with him and developing his changeup and switching to pitching out of the stretch. I would bet he signs again. And they also have so much amazing young talent. Chandler Simpson, one of the most fun players to watch in all of baseball, with how he flies around the bases. I think this is a team to where it stinks. Again, that you have had this World Series loss now for the second time in the last six years. But think about how long and stretched out this Brewers team had so much postseason ability to make it there, but not playoff success. I think this team is on the up and up. They're not done. A constantly overlooked team that continues to dominate time and time again in this American league. And so I would say there's a lot to look forward to for this Rays team and how they go about things. It's going to be fun to see what they do this offseason. They are incredibly well coached. They have an incredible franchise going down from the front office to rookie ball and how they go about things. This is two premier franchises in the world of baseball that carry themselves so well and it's a reason that they have success. And it is a big part of that. And so this segues me into my last point. And I want to talk more about free agents. And I am really excited for this offseason. Obviously, this baseball season comes to an end. with the World Series ending yesterday. It has been a lot of fun for me in this my first season really covering baseball. I'm studying sports media here at Indiana University and I want to keep doing this and I'm honestly really excited for this off season because a lot of the times I get very statistical with the game and how I talk about things and this guy went point one innings pitch then this guy went point two and going over games and I absolutely love that part of baseball. But I'm really excited now for the offseason. And I wanna give more of my opinions on things and talk about maybe it's a tier list of starting pitchers or give my rankings or those more free-flowing episodes where I talk about where I think the headliner free agents are gonna land in baseball. And so I'm super excited for this offseason. Please do not think that any content will be stopping anytime soon. And my first big project that I wanna do and I'm gonna take on is throughout the month of November, through all thirty days of November, I'm going to be putting out on YouTube shorts and on Instagram Reels every day a quick video on one team per day and how they're going to go about this offseason, what players they're losing, what teams they what players they should look to add in the free agent market or a trade they should pick up. So please be on the lookout for that. If you're not following the Who's On First Show on Instagram, please do as well as subscribe on YouTube. And then I try and get throughout this postseason about three episodes out per week. that'll probably shift to about one or two per week throughout this offseason. There's so much to talk about. I want to have guests on as we talk about the CBA and the lockout and the business of baseball. I think is so interesting. But I'm super excited, even though baseball is over. There's still so much to talk about in this baseball world as we head into the offseason. So I'm very much looking forward to it. Thank you so much for tuning in to this postseason coverage that I've been so lucky to have. As I continue to gain experience, it's been so much fun, but be on the lookout for that content coming up in the future and in November. I'm super excited. This is just the start, but thank you so much for tuning in. That is a wrap on the 2026 season. Again, and congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers, your 2026 world champions. I'm Joseph Lund, saying so long.