The World Series is here!
It’s been over a week since the Brewers dispatched the Dodgers in the NLCS. Since then, we’ve watched the Rays defeat the Guardians for the American League pennant and done plenty of speculation about whether Brandon Woodruff would be healthy enough to make the Brewers’ World Series roster.
Woodruff, whose season appeared over after he exited his last start on July 4th with a new injury to his already surgically repaired shoulder, has gotten surprisingly close to game-shape.
After it was determined that his shoulder did not need surgery as originally anticipated, Woodruff opened the door to a late October return. During the NLCS, he threw a bullpen session. Earlier this week, he faced live hitters.
It wasn’t a straightforward decision, though. The league has rules about replacing players due to injury in the postseason, and per their rules, a player can only be replaced on the roster in the event of a new injury, meaning that if Woodruff were to pitch (or try to pitch) but reaggravate the shoulder, the league likely would not allow the Brewers to replace him. That would make the inclusion of him risky, as there would be a very real possibility that you’d be leaving yourself a man short.
It turns out that the Brewers were willing to take that risk.
Woodruff has made the Brewers’ World Series roster, at the expense of Chad Patrick, who was on the roster but did not pitch in either of the team’s first two series. Here is the full roster:
Brewers:
Catchers (2): William Contreras, Gary Sánchez
Infielders (6): Jake Bauers, David Hamilton, Joey Ortiz, Cooper Pratt, Brice Turang, Andrew Vaughn
Outfielders/DH (5): Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Luis Lara, Garrett Mitchell, Christian Yelich
Pitchers (13): Aaron Ashby (L), Shane Drohan (L), Robert Gasser (L), DL Hall (L), Kyle Harrison (L), Logan Henderson (R), Dustin May (R), Trevor Megill (R), Jacob Misiorowski (R), JoJo Romero (L), Antonio Senzatela (R), Abner Uribe (R), Brandon Woodruff (R)
On the position player side, there is, unsurprisingly, no change. There was perhaps a world in which the Brewers chose to go with Bo Naylor as a third catcher, which would free up Gary Sánchez for more pinch-hit duty, but Milwaukee has opted to stick with 13 pitchers.
Harrison, like Patrick, has been on the roster but hasn’t appeared in a game. Senzatela did not pitch in the NLCS, but had a couple of appearances against San Diego in the NLDS. Drohan had a shaky, short start in game four of the NLCS. Milwaukee has been leaning heavily on basically four pitchers in their bullpen: Megill, Uribe, Ashby, and Hall, with Romero playing a nice role as well. The Rays’ two best hitters are both right handed in Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz, but they’ve got a couple of good lefties, too—Jonathan Aranda and Victor Mesa Jr.—so the Brewers will have to pick and choose how they play matchups in the bullpen.
Rays:
Catcher (2): Nick Fortes, Liam Hicks
Infielders (6): Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero, Jorge Mateo, Richie Palacios, Taylor Walls, Ben Williamson
Outfielders (5): Johnny DeLuca, Victor Mesa Jr., Cedric Mullins, Chandler Simpson, Ryan Vilade
Designated Hitter (1): Yandy Díaz
Pitchers (12): Bryan Baker (R), Cam Booser (L), Garrett Cleavinger (L), Griffin Jax (R), Kevin Kelly (R), Nick Martinez (R), Steven Matz (R), Freddy Peralta (R), Drew Rasmussen (R), Ian Seymour (L), Cole Sulser (R), Tyler Wells (R)
The Rays, on the other hand, have been using 12 pitchers the whole postseason, which continues in the World Series. In the ALCS, Tampa Bay had only two left-handed pitchers on the entire roster, but the Brewers match up well against right-handed pitching—they were second in the majors with a .759 OPS against righties, while they were 14th with a .706 OPS against lefties—so the Rays opted for an extra lefty in Garrett Cleavinger. Cleavinger didn’t have a great season, and he hasn’t pitched in a big-league game since early September; an injury kept him out of the season’s last month, though he was healthy enough to be on the ALDS roster but did not pitch. Cleavinger will, at least, take a little pressure off of Ian Seymour and Cam Booser, who we are likely to see a lot over the next week.
Beyond the Cleavinger/Hopkins switch, the Rays are going with the same roster they used in the ALCS.
