The Milwaukee Brewers will give the ball to Jacob Misiorowski on Wednesday night with a chance to win the first World Series in franchise history. Tampa Bay is answering with its ace on short rest.
The Rays will start Drew Rasmussen on three days’ rest, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin first reported Wednesday afternoon. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale also reported it, and MLB.com reported that the Rays announced it Wednesday afternoon.
Milwaukee leads the series 3-1 going into Game 5 at Tropicana Field (7 p.m. CT, FOX). The Rays stayed alive Tuesday with a 4-3 walk-off win in 12 innings, but it cost them seven pitchers, including Nick Martinez, who had been the likeliest Game 5 starter.
The Brewers are one of five current franchises that have never won a World Series, per MLB.com. The Rays are another. One of them comes off that list this week.
Misiorowski on regular rest
Misiorowski led the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), WHIP (0.80) and opponents’ batting average (.157) during the regular season. On Wednesday morning, players voted him the NL Outstanding Pitcher at the Players Choice Awards.
October has been a different kind of work for him. He has started the opener of all three Brewers series and is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA over 13 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs in four innings against San Diego in the NLDS and one run in 4 1/3 against the Dodgers in the NLCS, Sportsnet noted.
Game 1 against the Rays was his longest start of the postseason. He went five innings and allowed one run on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts in a 3-2 win. His first pitch, a 103.5 mph fastball to Yandy Díaz, was the fastest ever thrown in a World Series, per MLB.com. He got 17 swings and misses on 78 pitches that night, and the three strikeouts were a low number for a pitcher who averaged well over one per inning all season.
Tonight will be only the seventh start of his career, regular season or postseason, on four days’ rest. He has a 2.03 ERA in the first six, according to MLB.com. All three of his playoff starts came on at least five days.
“It’s nothing new,” Misiorowski said. “I’m used to it in the Minor Leagues going Tuesday-Sunday.”
He went down to the bullpen once Game 4 went to extra innings and stayed there even after Cooper Pratt’s go-ahead homer in the 12th, Sportsnet reported. Pat Murphy said afterward that he was never going to use him in relief, since that would have cost Milwaukee the chance to start him on regular rest tonight.
Rasmussen on short rest
The move goes against how the Rays have handled him. MLB.com had called a short-rest start unlikely earlier Wednesday, citing his injury history and the team’s preference for giving him extra rest, and noted this will be his first time pitching on three days’ rest since he was a multi-inning reliever and opener in 2024. He has made only seven career starts on four days’ rest, which is part of the reason Tampa Bay started Martinez in Game 1 and pushed Rasmussen to Game 2.
He was an All-Star this season and went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA, 174 strikeouts and a 0.91 WHIP in 172 innings over 30 starts, per Baseball-Reference.
He was sharp through his first three starts of the postseason. He threw eight scoreless innings against the Yankees in the ALDS on Oct. 3, then gave up two runs in six innings and one run in seven against Cleveland in the ALCS. That’s three runs in 21 innings.
The Brewers got to him in Game 2 on Saturday. Tampa Bay handed him a 4-0 lead before Milwaukee came to bat, and he was out of the game after 3 2/3 innings and 89 pitches, charged with three runs on six hits and two walks. The Brewers came back to win 5-4. For the postseason, he’s 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in 24 2/3 innings, per Baseball-Reference.
How long he can go matters more than usual tonight. Tampa Bay’s five regular-season starters have all pitched in the last four nights: Rasmussen in Game 2, Freddy Peralta in Game 3 on Monday, and Griffin Jax, Martinez and Ian Seymour in Game 4. MLB.com raised the possibility that Cash could use Rasmussen for only an inning or two and treat Game 5 like a bullpen day, then bring him back for Game 6 if the Rays win.
The bullpen behind him
Whatever Rasmussen gives them, the relievers behind him are coming off a long night. The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin had Tuesday’s pitch counts at Jax 74, Martinez 33, Seymour 32, Wells 24, Baker 21, Kelly 12 and Booser 9. Steven Matz, Garrett Cleavinger and Cole Sulser didn’t pitch, which makes them the freshest arms on the staff.
“I’m going to guess most guys are going to say they’re capable of an inning or more,” Cash said, “given it’s Game 5 of the World Series.”
Closer Bryan Baker went two innings Tuesday for the first time since July 9, 2024, but needed only 21 pitches and said he could be used in any scenario tonight, MLB.com’s Brian Murphy reported. Lefty Cam Booser said he’d be available despite pitching a second straight night. Seymour, who gave up Pratt’s go-ahead homer in the 12th and has now allowed four homers in nine postseason innings, was asked whether he had anything left.
“That’s never a question,” he said.
If the Rays win, Thursday is an off day before Game 6 in Milwaukee.
The Brewers’ bullpen
Milwaukee used eight pitchers of its own in Game 4, but most of them didn’t work long. Closer Trevor Megill threw five pitches and Abner Uribe threw 19, so both should be ready, according to MLB.com. Aaron Ashby is the open question. He needed 31 pitches to get seven outs, and MLB.com’s reporting has split on him: the Game 5 preview said he’ll probably be available, while a separate storylines piece put the chance of seeing him at “virtually zero.” Ashby told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo he would go through his usual catch play Wednesday and then tell Murphy whether he feels good to go. Asked before Game 5 whether Ashby could pitch again tonight, Murphy said, “Possibly,” MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reported. He has pitched the day after a multi-inning outing three times this month, but never after getting more than six outs.
“If I feel good enough tomorrow to go, I’ll certainly be ready,” Ashby said Tuesday night.
His 2 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 4 ran his streak to 18 this postseason, passing Andrew Miller for the longest by a reliever within a single postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. DL Hall went 1 2/3 innings in Game 4. Brandon Woodruff, who got the last three outs of Game 3 and talked about being ready for Game 4, could be in the mix as well, per MLB.com.
Milwaukee’s bullpen is in better shape than Tampa Bay’s going in. That still puts weight on how deep Misiorowski can go, since five innings has been his ceiling this month.
How the Rays have hit
Milwaukee’s pitchers have held Tampa Bay to a .195 average, a .236 on-base percentage and a .256 slugging percentage in this series. The Rays’ .222 wOBA ranks fifth-lowest for a team in a World Series on the FanGraphs leaderboard that MLB.com’s Mike Petriello shared Wednesday. Petriello noted that Díaz and Junior Caminero “not having done much” is part of it.
The Rays have scored 11 runs in four games. The Brewers have scored 21.
There were some signs of life Tuesday. Chandler Simpson had three hits, Liam Hicks had two, including a single in the winning rally, and Díaz added a hit and a walk after going hitless in the first two games and getting two hits in Game 3, per MLB.com.
Caminero is the one to watch. He reached in the 12th inning of Game 4 when Joey Ortiz’s bounced throw got past Jake Bauers at first, and he was limping by the time he got to third, where Cedric Mullins ran for him. The left foot isn’t keeping him out. Cash said Wednesday that Caminero is “just fine,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported, and he’s batting third and playing third base in Game 5. Cash said after Game 4 that the Rays didn’t lift him until he reached scoring position, partly because their bench was already thin.
“He’ll play tomorrow on one leg,” Cash said. “I’ll make sure of it.”
On the other side, Jackson Chourio has 10 hits in the series, tied with Babe Ruth in 1928 for the most through the first four games of a World Series. His 31 postseason hits, in 24 games, are the most by anyone before turning 23, one more than Andruw Jones had, per MLB.com. Pratt had four hits Tuesday and is hitting .333 with an .829 OPS this postseason.
Lineups
Both teams had posted their Game 5 lineups as of 5:40 p.m. CT, per MLB.com. The Rays are going with Yandy Díaz (DH), Jonathan Aranda (1B), Caminero (3B), Liam Hicks (C), Jonny DeLuca (CF), Chandler Simpson (LF), Ben Williamson (2B), Ryan Vilade (RF) and Taylor Walls (SS). Williamson went 0-for-3 against Misiorowski in Game 1 but earned the start after winning Game 4 as a pinch-hitter.
The Brewers used the same lineup for the first three games, including Game 2 against Rasmussen, then flipped Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell for Game 4, moving Frelick up. They’re sticking with the Game 4 order tonight: Jackson Chourio (LF), Jake Bauers (1B), Christian Yelich (DH), William Contreras (C), Brice Turang (2B), Frelick (RF), Cooper Pratt (SS), Mitchell (CF) and David Hamilton (3B).
What’s at stake
Teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in a World Series and forced a Game 5 haven’t gotten any further. The 2024 Yankees, 1970 Reds, 1937 Giants and 1910 Cubs all won Game 4 and lost Game 5. The Rays have lost Game 5 in both of their previous trips to the World Series, the clincher in Philadelphia in 2008 and a game that put them down 3-2 in 2020.
Before Tuesday, the Brewers hadn’t lost since Oct. 6, Game 3 of the NLDS in San Diego, MLB.com noted. That one was a one-run loss on the road, too.
“You’re playing the best team in the American League,” Murphy said after Game 4. “They proved it all year long, and they came up big today.”
Jonny DeLuca, who drove in the tying run Tuesday, put the Rays’ side of it more simply.
“There’s really nothing to lose,” he said. “So just go out there and balls to the wall and compete and do anything to win the game.”
A Brewers win ends it tonight. A Rays win sends the series back to American Family Field for Game 6 on Friday, with Game 7 on Saturday if needed.
Featured photo: Jacob Misiorowski pitching for the Brewers in Milwaukee, June 2025. Drovetochicago / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
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