Dodgers v Brewers

[KeithStone53151]

If we are going to go with a bullpen start at all wouldnt it make sense to do it game 2 when the bullpen can get a day of rest after that? Doesnt seem to make sense in games 3 or 4. Could do game 5 if the bullpen isnt used as much in previous days. If you do it game 3 it seems like you would hamstring yourself if you starter doesnt go deep in game 4

 

I tend to agree here. If it were me, I'd have Miley start 1 and 5, Chacin start 3 and 7, and do bullpen days 2, 4, and 6. You'd have Hader, Jeffress, Knebel, Soria, and Cedeno as short relievers and 5 of Woodruff, Burnes, GG, Guerra, Anderson, Davies, Peralta. More likely than not, you'll use 2 or 3 of those guys to get through 5-6 innings and send it to the short relievers. Doing it this way gives you 2 days of rest between each bullpen game, so theoretically you could have the same 3 guys pitch 2-3 innings all 3 games and have one or two guys in reserve for the other 4 games in case of a bad start.

[FVBrewerFan]

I guess reality is they're all bullpen games regardless of starter. That's become the identity of this staff. However, at some point, i think they're going to need a starter to get through 5-6 innings a couple times.

 

Good points. I don't see them using the full bullpen game more than once. If you use up the Frosty Boys in these bullpen games, they're not available in the others. I think we'll see a traditional starter in all the games, maybe one of them they go all bullpen depending on rest, when the next off day lands, etc.

 

BUT, I think the key is they will limit the starts to twice through the lineup then go the pen where nobody will face the lineup more than once. So ideally you can get 5 innings from the starter, then several guys can give you the next 2 and turn it over to the Frosty Boys. I think that will be the strategy, rather than having the "full on" bullpen games.

[rluzinski]

The weeknight games are tough for coming up from San Diego. Maybe Monday. 538 has the odds at 60/40 Dodgers. They are the toughest draw but I'm glad they're in. I think Kershaw is only .500 or so against the Brewers in his career. Braun and Yelich have both hit him well.

 

Vegas has it at 58/42. I can agree and live with those odds.

[rluzinski]

Definitely need Cain to get going if the Brewers are going to have a chance to win this series.

 

For starters I would go Chacin game 1

Woodruff/bullpen game 2

Miley game 3

Chacin game 4

Davies/Anderson game 5

Miley game 6

Chacin game 7.

 

I think Davies in LA would be fine but I would want to keep him away from starting at Miller Park.

 

Definitely going to need Arcia, Schoop, Santana and Pina to step up this series.

 

For those wanting Chacin to pitch 3 times this series, and twice on short rest, maybe take a look at his season numbers vs the Dodgers. They have many talented lefties and will certainly stack them against Chacin and his slider.

 

I can not care less about team splits but Chacin is not good enough to ask him to pitch on short rest. He's decent but nothing special. I'd have him go on normal rest, go through the lineup twice and pull him.

 

Also, Miley has a nice ERA in 80 innings this year but had a 5.75 ERA over the previous 200 IP (spread over 2 seasons). Not saying to leave him off the roster but game 1? No thanks.

[tmwiese55]

Chacin just went on short rest threw 5 shutout. One likely perk of this yank early strategy is that you might not need traditional full rest. First, because you only threw 75ish pitches last time. Second, because you only likely need to throw 75ish pitches next time. All this stuff is new to all of us so who knows what they do or how they view things like this, but that seems like it could be a 'thing' in the future evolution of pitching.

[rluzinski]

Chacin just went on short rest threw 5 shutout. One likely perk of this yank early strategy is that you might not need traditional full rest. First, because you only threw 75ish pitches last time. Second, because you only likely need to throw 75ish pitches next time. All this stuff is new to all of us so who knows what they do or how they view things like this, but that seems like it could be a 'thing' in the future evolution of pitching.

 

My point is that he isn't much better than other available options, so I'd prefer the alternative option on regular rest over Chacin on short rest. Chacin will still get most likely get two starts.

[tmwiese55]

Right. I'm just saying that our traditional notions of "short rest" might be completely out the window at this point and irrelevant to our management.

[Patrick425]

My feelings going into the NLDS vs. the Rockies: cautiously confident

My feelings going into the NLCS vs. the Dodgers: optimistically afraid

[A Swing and A Drive]

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't get having anything but glowing positivity. Nobody thinks the Brewers are winning these series so they can be perfectly lose. They will get to open and likely close with a raucous home crowd. The Dodgers have been a big boom or bust team all year right to the end. Anything the Brewers achieve at this point is gravy. Yes, opportunities are limited for a team like the Brewers, but there's no shame in any outcome at this point, and I say that as someone who thinks they're going to be competitive and stand a good chance to win this series.

[StCroixCtyBrewer]

The more Puig talks, the happier I am. Seeing the tweet earlier tonight from Alden Gonzalez that Puig said he's "100 percent" sure LA is going back to the World Series made me happy.

 

Beat these guys.

[dlk9s]

Damn, it's so cool to see all the graphics and articles that show us in the final four.

[dlk9s]

The more Puig talks, the happier I am. Seeing the tweet earlier tonight from Alden Gonzalez that Puig said he's "100 percent" sure LA is going back to the World Series made me happy.

 

Beat these guys.

 

Eh, whatever. He's just having fun, pumping up his team. We loved it when Aguilar said that the Cubs knew they were in trouble.

[StCroixCtyBrewer]

The more Puig talks, the happier I am. Seeing the tweet earlier tonight from Alden Gonzalez that Puig said he's "100 percent" sure LA is going back to the World Series made me happy.

 

Beat these guys.

 

Eh, whatever. He's just having fun, pumping up his team. We loved it when Aguilar said that the Cubs knew they were in trouble.

Sure, but I think there is a difference between "they know they have a problem tomorrow" and "we're going to beat Milwaukee, 4 games" or saying he's "100 percent" sure they're going back to the world series

[Eye Black]

Only 36 hours to first pitch of this series! I can’t wait.

[long ball]

I think it's funny how all of the analysts on TV and radio keep acting like the Brewers are asking for 6-7 innings out of their bullpen every day.

 

Then at the same time they're ripping Boone for not pulling Sabathia and Sevi earlier. I know the Yankees lost and they were playing the Red Sox, but they got fewer innings out of their rotation than the Brewers did and the Yankees played an extra game.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think it's funny how all of the analysts on TV and radio keep acting like the Brewers are asking for 6-7 innings out of their bullpen every day.

 

Then at the same time they're ripping Boone for not pulling Sabathia and Sevi earlier. I know the Yankees lost and they were playing the Red Sox, but they got fewer innings out of their rotation than the Brewers did and the Yankees played an extra game.

 

100% agreed - depending on how the 25 man roster shakes out for this series, there are going to be at least 2 and possibly 3 "relievers" out in the pen who are essentially starting pitchers in waiting (Woodruff, Burnes, Peralta). The depth they've assembled makes it more like how minor league games are managed with piggybacking starters - instead of doing it to limit innings, at the MLB level the Brewers are doing it to limit exposure for pitchers, and they seem to have alot of interchangeable parts between starters/middle relievers.

[KeithStone53151]

I'm not sure if this was posted yet, for conspiracy theorists out there...

 

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/10/10/former-baseball-executive-mlb-is-going-to-do-anything-they-can-to-have-the-dodgers-beat-the-brewers/23557176/

[JohnBriggs12]

The Nationals had the most talent in the NL, the Dodgers are probably 2nd and the Cubs were 3rd. Only 1 of those teams is left. Nationals and Dodgers are both really stacked and really deep, the Cubs had some serious holes.

 

Right now the Brewer talent stacks up with any in the NL. Yeah the Dodger lineup is scary. But with Arcia back to the hitter he was in 2017, the Brewer lineup is just as scary. The Brewer lineup vs. LHP is probably a step below with Kiki Hernandez over Perez, but against RHP, the Brewers stack up with anyone. If Perez can get hot for a series, even that can be evened out. Both benches are formidable.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not sure if this was posted yet, for conspiracy theorists out there...

 

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/10/10/former-baseball-executive-mlb-is-going-to-do-anything-they-can-to-have-the-dodgers-beat-the-brewers/23557176/

 

I came here to post that. First off Dan LeBatard is an (former?) ESPN idiot who like most news personalities is more interested in creating controversy than reporting news. Secondly, the lead up to his question was basically, say something ridiculous. As for whether or not MLB wants to see to Dodgers in the World Series, I don't know if they want an organization currently under federal investigation in the national spot light. In fact, I'm surprised I've only seen that mentioned in the initial story that came out about it a couple weeks ago.

[sveumrules]

Each of the last 17 World Series has featured a team that didn't even make the playoffs during the prior season.

 

The Brewers are the only team left that was not in the playoffs last year.

[monty57]

Mike Petriello at MLB.com did a nice write-up on his thoughts for the Brewer rotation. It's in the Brewer team news feed on their site.

 

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/brewers-pitching-plan-against-dodgers-in-nlcs/c-297498996

 

He puts a lot of thought and numbers into it, and ends up with Chacin, "bullpen game," Gonzalez, Miley followed by Guerra or Peralta, then "Wing it/who knows what will happen" for the final games.

 

Nice point by Fear the Chorizo a couple of posts ago. "Bullpen game" is used in kind of a derogatory way, but the bullpen the Brewers are using has guys who were "Top 100" minor league starters over the past few seasons (Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, Peralta) as key pieces. Starting Woodruff, Peralta or Burnes may be called a "bullpen game," but there is a good chance that they will all be starters after this season. That we have talented young starters in the bullpen is the reason Counsell can manage the pitching staff the way he does. It's not really a repeatable strategy for most teams, and probably won't be for us beyond this year, but it's working well in 2018.

[KeithStone53151]

Mike Petriello at MLB.com did a nice write-up on his thoughts for the Brewer rotation. It's in the Brewer team news feed on their site.

 

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/brewers-pitching-plan-against-dodgers-in-nlcs/c-297498996

 

He puts a lot of thought and numbers into it, and ends up with Chacin, "bullpen game," Gonzalez, Miley followed by Guerra or Peralta, then "Wing it/who knows what will happen" for the final games.

 

Nice point by Fear the Chorizo a couple of posts ago. "Bullpen game" is used in kind of a derogatory way, but the bullpen the Brewers are using has guys who were "Top 100" minor league starters over the past few seasons (Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, Peralta) as key pieces. Starting Woodruff, Peralta or Burnes may be called a "bullpen game," but there is a good chance that they will all be starters after this season. That we have talented young starters in the bullpen is the reason Counsell can manage the pitching staff the way he does. It's not really a repeatable strategy for most teams, and probably won't be for us beyond this year, but it's working well in 2018.

 

The astros have a few horses in their rotation, but they utilized guys like Morton and McCullers much the same we we are utilizing our back end starters. We simply have quite a few more than they do...and no Keuchel or Verlander.

 

I'll also add that this guy has completely ignored Miley's success against the Dodgers this year, and Chacin's struggles. That's a bit sloppy...

[sveumrules]

I'm not sure if this was posted yet, for conspiracy theorists out there...

 

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/10/10/former-baseball-executive-mlb-is-going-to-do-anything-they-can-to-have-the-dodgers-beat-the-brewers/23557176/

 

David Samson saying "MLB is going to do anything they can to have the Dodgers beat the Brewers" gives me confidence that the opposite will occur.

[clancyphile]

Davies, over his career, has dominated the Dodgers. I'd go Miley, Gio, Davies, Bullpen

 

In any case, the Brewers need to take the first two in Miller Park. Game four is the Johnny Wholestaff.