MILWAUKEE — It’s always unwise to assign too much importance to Game 1 of any best-of-seven series. After all, if Game 1s told all, we’d be submitting this World Series dispatch from Cleveland, not Wisconsin.
So, what to make of the Brewers’ 3-2 victory over an uncharacteristically mistake-prone Tampa Bay Rays team?
It’s not nothing. The Brewers were probably, slightly, the superior team coming in. They didn’t steal anything. They’re three wins from their first World Series title.
Yet the Rays never trailed by more than two runs. Had the tying and winning runs on base when the game ended. And have their ace, Drew Rasmussen, primed for Game 2.
It’s never too early, though, to assess winners and losers from this affair. With that, a look at who’s
up and who’s down from American Family Field:
Loser: Raysball
This was supposedly the mirror image series, featuring two fundamentally-brilliant teams stout on defense, bullish in the bullpen and contact-oriented on offense.
Instead, the Rays’ greatest strength – aggression on the bases – became their downfall.
Victor Mesa Jr.’s attempted steal of third with two outs and slugging leadoff man Yandy Díaz mired in a battle with fading Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski was the most egregious. Dumb move, Mesa acknowledged later.
“I think baseball treats you that way,” he said with more than a little poignance, “when you don’t do the right thing.”
But.
“Obviously, not saying what I did was the right thing. But I’d rather be aggressive than be (passive).”
He’s not wrong. It just backfired spectacularly in Game 1, when they were obviously starved for runs. The Rays will get flattened if they get too flat-footed. Then again, there’s another problem lurking.
Winner: William Contreras
Wild Bill made his World Series debut with an absolute podium game, driving in the club’s second run, getting two hits and reaching base three times and cutting down Mesa and then Jonathan Aranda on a game-turning, strikeout-throw-out double play an inning later.
Dude’s also batting .394 this postseason. The Brewers know who’s been stirring their lagers.
“He’s been unbelievable,” says DH Christian Yelich, who scored on Contreras’s 108.4 mph single in the first inning. “You know, he’s been great for us obviously all year, but since the postseason started, I feel like he’s really taken it to another level and he’s commanded that pitching staff.
“He’s done a great job back there and obviously his bat’s been unbelievable. It feels like every time he’s finished the at-bat, he’s turned something around. I can’t say enough great things."
Winner: Aaron Ashby’s postseason
They’re gonna have to get a light show for this dude at some point.
Ashby’s now pitched 14 innings in these playoffs. He has yet to give up a run. He retired all five batters he faced in Game 1, and has given up just four hits in October.
Sure, we’ve seen epic postseason scoreless streaks. But those are usually the domain of starting pitchers. Ashby is now, essentially, 7-for-7 in these playoffs – that’s the number of games he’s impacted, all Brewers wins.
Winner: Jonathan Aranda
If Brewers fans had a sick feeling in their stomach all night, well, this guy was the one lurking in the shadows to create constant pressure. A single in the first. A walk and a run scored in the fourth. A single in the sixth. A single in the ninth, kick-starting the weird and unsettling rally that included a replay overturn that could have turned into the biggest horror show Wisconsin’s seen since Randy Wright was quarterbacking the Packers.
This guy is a pure hitter, rarely misses, almost singlehandedly wore down Jacob Misiorowski. Certainly, others will have to pick up the slack going forward. But Aranda can always keep the Rays in the fight.
Loser: Reliever exposure
It’s a thing: You see a guy multiple times in a seven-game series and he becomes less exotic, more hittable, theoretically. In that case, the Brewers cashed in some of their reliever equity in using Ashby, Abner Uribe and closer Trevor Megill to record the final 12 outs.
“It’s huge, in a seven-game series, to face a guy multiple times,” says Rays shortstop Taylor Walls. “Dig your cleats in and get comfortable, or at least see the shapes you’re going to see throughout the series, is really big.
“I’m glad we got to see all three of their guys tonight so hopefully that’s a strength for us moving forward.”
On the flip side, clubs also shouldn’t obsess about overexposure. The Rays trotted out lefty relievers Steven Matz and Garrett Cleavinger – who hadn’t pitched since Sept. 4 – while leaving top lefty Cam Booser and righty Tyler Wells out in the pen.
And suddenly that one run Matz yielded in the seventh looked huge after the Rays pushed one across in the ninth.
Sure, you don’t want to expose guys. But it’s the World Series, and at some point you’re going to have to throw good pitching into slightly suboptimal situations.
Winner: The Replay Center
Or whatever that joint’s called in New York where umpires decide whether to overturn calls or let them stand. Did Cooper Pratt’s right foot ease off the bag on an apparent game-ending double play? Or did a little piece of his spikes keep in contact?
It would’ve been easy to defend the latter – or at least throw up your hands and say this wasn’t clear and compelling evidence. But the folks in New York overturned the call, said play on, even though fireworks had gone off inside American Family Field and 43,000 soggy Brewers fans were ready to party.
A win-win, really: The Rays got new life, but the outcome did not change on what might have been a too-close call to overturn.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World Series Game 1 winners and losers: Sloppy Rays, Wild Bill, exposed relievers
