The Milwaukee Brewers pulled a fast one on the Los Angeles Dodgers with their Game 5 pitching decision.
The Brewers had announced left-hander Wade Miley as their Game 5 starter on short rest, and did indeed send him out to pitch to leadoff man Cody Bellinger. After walking him, Brewers manager Craig Counsell promptly replaced him with right-handed reliever Brandon Woodruff.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, this was all planned.
Removing Miley was Brewers’ plan. He will start Game 6.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 17, 2018
The belief is that Counsell announced Miley as the starter to entice the Dodgers into running out their righty-heavy lineup against the left-handed pitcher, then brought in a right-hander to neutralize it. Naturally, the strategy was wildly controversial and got a lot of responses on Twitter.
This might be a good idea and it might not be, but remember, the alternative here was Wade Miley on short rest. You got to screw with the Dodgers by misleading them about who was starting, and you don't actually have to have Wade Miley on short rest. Well, yeah. Why not
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) October 17, 2018
back in my day starting pitchers went much deeper into games
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) October 17, 2018
I'm assuming Wade Miley is now going to start Game 6 and Craig Counsell mostly just did this to get the Dodgers to stack the lineup with righties. But now I'm curious what he would have done if Dave Roberts hadn't moved a left-handed bat (Cody Bellinger) into the leadoff spot?
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) October 17, 2018
Bizarro move deserves a bizaarro stat:
Wade Miley is 1st pitcher in MLB history to start a postseason game, face one batter, get no outs and leave the game.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) October 17, 2018
During pre-game talk with #Dodgers Dave Roberts solicited pitch count guesses from beat writers on #Brewers starter Wade Miley. We all went over 5 pitches
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 17, 2018
I mean to be fair you just gotta get Brandon Woodruff’s bat in the lineup as soon as possible
— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 17, 2018
Full highlights of Wade Miley's Game 5 start: pic.twitter.com/0OrhcTix7p
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 17, 2018
Smart move by Counsell. Obvious that Wade Miley just didn’t have it today.
— Ned2point0 (@Ned2point0) October 17, 2018
The Brewers have played fast and loose with their starting pitching announcements all postseason, prompting some to call for a rule change requiring them to disclose their starter in advance of each playoff game. Such a rule would do nothing to prevent strategies like this one, however.
