In the cinematic classic that is Pokemon: The First Movie, there is a scene where Mewtwo and his clone army face off against the heroes and their pokemon companions. The pokemon and their clone counterparts engage in an epic battle with neither side claiming a clear advantage. The battle rages on for an eternity until eventually both sides just collapse from exhaustion.
That is how I picture the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers right now after playing 12 incredibly strenuous innings last night
in game four of the 2026 World Series.
Tampa Bay came out victorious, stalling out the Brewers World Series hopes for at least one more night.
Now, they’ll have to do it all over again.
Who will be on the mound for the Rays?
Nick Martinez was the scheduled starting pitcher but after entering last night’s game in relief, delivering two scoreless innings, he might not be available to start tonight’s game for more than 1-2 innings, and that’s assuming he’s good to go.
Following the game last night, Kevin Cash said it will be all hands on deck and we know that each Rays pitcher would be willing to throw. However, realistically, Cash’s options are a lot more limited.
The Brewers offense has been relentless in grinding down the Rays pitching staff, forcing the hurlers to inflated pitch counts. The two most well rested arms for Kevin Cash to turn to will be Cleavinger and Steven Matz; Matz has made two appearances in the World Series, last pitching on Monday when he threw 17 pitches.
Tampa Bay may also call upon potential game 6 and 7 starters Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta to help cover some innings. Drew Rasmussen told reporters that “I’ll be smoking hot” and both starters will need a bullpen day before their scheduled starts. It might as well be tonight!
The pitching plan is obvious for Milwaukee.
They’ll be sending the eventual National League Cy Young to the mound, Jacob Misiorowski.
However the Jacob Misiorowski of the postseason has not been the same dominant force of the Summer. His triple digit fastball isn’t generating as many whiffs and his command of his slider has been off leading to an inability to quickly put hitters away and driving up his pitch count.
Thus far in three postseason outings, Misiorowski is averaging under 5 innings a start with strikeout rate dropping to 25.5% compared to 37.9% during the regular season. During his start in game one of the World Series, Misiorowski allowed a run on 4 hits, while he walked one and struck out three over five innings pitched; the three strikeouts were the fewest he had in any start of 2026 and since striking out three Cubs in the postseason last year on October 11th, 2025.
Concluding thoughts
The Rays offense, despite walking it off last night, has been abysmal all postseason. They are currently averaging 3.5 runs a game and have a 68 wRC+, while the Brewers have a 110 wRC+. The World Series has seen the Rays unable to draw walks (4.2 BB%) or hit for power as they are collectively hitting .195/.236/.256 with only one homerun. For the Rays to have any chance of making a historic comeback, the offense needs to wake up.
There is also uncertainty regarding Junior Caminero who suffered a thus far undisclosed injury during the game last night. It looks like he might have gotten hurt during the play in the 4th inning, in which Caminero avoided a tag from David Hamilton. Later in the game, Caminero noticeably had difficulty making it up the line on a groundout. Then in the 12th, he also was seen in pain as he reached base on an error. He was still able to race to third base on Liam Hicks’ basehit but was then removed for Cedric Mullins.
Caminero told reporters that he would play in game five, but given his injury situation it may make things tricky for Kevin Cash in terms of a defensive lineup.
There are a lot of important decisions to be made between now and first pitch later tonight.
