How Do the Bullpens Line up for World Series Game 4?

Ken Blaze and Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Throughout the playoffs, the Brewers have blitzed past their opposition so quickly that their bullpen management has felt like an afterthought. The Rays, meanwhile, have subsisted on having their starters work deep while keeping their bullpen relatively fresh. Those two trends haven’t played much of a role in the World Series yet, and they might not; the Brewers are on the verge of a sweep, after all, and a 10-1 rout yesterday left the leverage arms in both ‘pens fresh. But with tonight’s Game 4 pitting Griffin Jax against a yet-to-be-announced Brewers opener, relievers are squarely on the menu, so let’s review how each ‘pen stacks up in terms of rest and familiarity. Brewers Bullpen MIL Pitcher/TBR Hitter Matchups, 2026 World Series The Brewers went to the same pattern twice to open the World Series: Abner Uribe for the top of the lineup, then Aaron Ashby afterwards for a longer stint. I don’t know the exact size of the reliever familiarity effect, but it definitely isn’t zero, and with a full bullpen game, the Brewers will have to think through their matchups carefully to minimize how many looks at the same guy they’re giving the opposition. Luckily, they’re well-equipped to do just that. Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan, both lefties, aren’t listed here because they haven’t appeared in this series, but they’re also available, and I expect at least one of them to pitch today. You can imagine something like this as a base plan, with Dustin May taking the mound to open the game: Sample Brewers Bullpen Plan, Game 4 Player Yandy Díaz Jonathan Aranda Chandler Simpson Junior Caminero Liam Hicks Jonny DeLuca Richie Palacios Victor Mesa Jr. Taylor Walls Dustin May x x x x Shane Drohan x x x x x Antonio Senzatela x x x x JoJo Romero x x x Aaron Ashby x x Aaron Ashby (cont.) x x x x x Abner Uribe x x x x Trevor Megill x x x x DL Hall x x x Quick note: Ryan Vilade and Ben Williamson both regularly pinch-hit for lefties, so the bottom of the lineup (and perhaps Aranda’s spot, we’ll see) isn’t fixed. Those guys will come in at some point, which is part of why I like using Uribe against the bottom half of the lineup. He might get better-than-expected matchups if the Rays are aggressive with their pinch-hitting early. The idea here is to get all of the best relievers into the game while avoiding any matchups that have already repeated and otherwise prioritizing the handedness advantage. It also provides a few useful places to let a pitcher go longer if they’re rolling. Pat Murphy seems content to let his relievers extend a bit if they’re pitching well – an admirable tactic, in my opinion – which adds to the flexibility. If JoJo Romero makes short work of his short segment, he can safely be extended through the bottom of the lineup. Ashby, of course, is always a threat to pitch more than one inning. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dustin May got the lineup once through if he starts out well; if there’s traffic on the basepaths when the bottom half of the lineup comes up, though, I expect a lefty to enter. Another option would be to flip Trevor Megill and Ashby in the order. It feels weird using your closer earlier than his two setup men, but there are no style points in the World Series, and it would set up Ashby to pitch as long as he’s able to late in the game. They could also use DL Hall earlier and test him out against the top of the lineup, though I’d prefer to save him for high-leverage spots against lefties. But regardless of how the elite relievers are ordered, the Brewers look well set up to present a ton of tough matchups to the Rays. Ashby hasn’t seen the top of the lineup much at all, so I like using him there, and Uribe is plenty capable of attacking the bottom of the order. Another benefit of this plan: It’s eminently adaptable if circumstances dictate a change. One way to get in trouble in a bullpen game is to run out of pitchers. If you use all your long relievers early and then your one-inning pitchers struggle, figuring out how to get 27 outs can become a struggle. But because of their construction, the Brewers have several options for covering extra outs even if things don’t go to plan. Ashby has been doing it all fall. Hall pitches multiple innings at a stretch when necessary, and he’s fresh. If May melts down spectacularly, the Brewers could deploy Romero to escape the inning and then ask Drohan to cover the next few to get back on schedule; he’s a starter working out of the bullpen. Another way of looking at this? The Brewers bullpen is really good, and that means that there aren’t many bad ways to line them up. I thought it might be more difficult to set up only good matchups while figuring out an entire game’s worth of pitching, but as it turns out, having a few elite multi-inning relievers and an embarrassment of riches overall makes things much easier. This might be a bullpen game, but the Brewers are well-equipped to make it look like an intricately-designed run prevention machine. Rays Bullpen TBR Pitcher/MIL Hitter Matchups, 2026 World Series The Rays haven’t used closer Bryan Baker yet this series, but the rest of the relievers have some miles on them. That presents a tricky problem, because they don’t have as many flexible options as Milwaukee to take the pressure off. They don’t like the matchup of Cam Booser against righties, particularly elite righties, and he’s already had to face William Contreras once to boot. That more or less limits him to the bottom half of the order, but he’s faced them twice already, and they kicked his teeth in last night, with all four batters he faced reaching. To me, that suggests a piggyback plan might be the best option. Jax went four innings in his last start, and I’d be interested in giving him a similar workload today. More specifically, I’d plan on giving him the first 13 batters, two times through against the top four, ending by facing Contreras. After that, my ideal plan would be to give Ian Seymour, another starter working out of the bullpen, the next 14 batters – the bottom five guys in the lineup twice, sandwiched around one trip through the top of the order. That’s 27 batters; Kevin Kelly and Baker could either try to slam the door on their own from there if things have gone efficiently, or the Rays could use those two along with Tyler Wells and Booser if the Brewers are putting a lot of baserunners aboard. This plan is far more speculative than the one I advanced for the Brewers, though. It relies on two different piggyback starters working through a tough Milwaukee order more than once each, without getting into a jam that leads to Kevin Cash pulling them. The Inevitable Reliever Blowup Theory might be false, but the Inevitable Brewers Offensive Explosion Theory has been looking quite solid this October. No one has survived contact with the Brewers offense; it would hardly be a surprise if they continued to chew through opposing arms tonight. To that end, there are a few obvious places to hunt extra batters faced and try to make the arms I’ve already named go deeper into the game. I’d be open to having Jax pitch two times through the order if he’s efficient through his scheduled trip; I don’t mind the matchup of him against the bottom half of the Milwaukee lineup, particularly if he can surrender a hit without giving up a run. That would likely bring in Wells for a short stint against the top of the lineup, because I do think that letting Seymour go long and having him double up on the Brice Turang-Garrett Mitchell portion of the Brewers lineup is important. I think the Rays should also consider using Baker the first time that Jackson Chourio bats with a runner on base. Yes, he’s the closer. Yes, the Rays will have to play again tomorrow if they win today. But he’s fresh, and he’s obviously pitching today regardless of how the game goes. If they’re ahead, he’s the closer. If they’re behind, there’s no tomorrow. So would it be that crazy to see him enter in the fourth inning to shut down the top of the Milwaukee order before giving way to Seymour? Not to me, it wouldn’t. One last point for the Rays bullpen: Southpaw Garrett Cleavinger missed time with injury and wasn’t a lock to even appear in the World Series, but he looked perfectly healthy last night, and he’s actually better against righties than he is against lefties, which gives the Rays extra flexibility if they think he’s 100%. I’d prefer to hold him in reserve to fill in whatever part of my plan fails – because against the Brewers offense, everyone’s plans have been failing. It’s weird to come to the conclusion that Milwaukee’s pitching plan today is more flexible than Tampa Bay’s. The Brewers are almost certainly going to use more pitchers, and their top guys have put in more work than their counterparts thanks to winning all three games. But the Rays bullpen has worked hard too, and they don’t have the flexible options that will let the Brewers mix and match freely. Their lefty high-leverage guy, Booser, shouldn’t face righties and has also gotten beaten up by the lefties already. Their righty setup man, Kelly, struggles with lefties and rarely goes more than an inning. Baker’s a one-inning guy. The Rays can’t plan on extra length from the back of their bullpen, and they also have to consider matchups when deploying it. That puts them in a bind that the Brewers simply don’t face. It won’t be the factor that determines the World Series, but it’s just another place where the Brewers can make the most of a small edge in team construction.