The Milwaukee Brewers have released their roster for the NLCS against the Dodgers. Notably, Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester, and Jose Quintana – maybe – are the only starting pitchers. Quintana isn’t even a lock for a traditional starting role. His only work in the Division Series came in relief, backing up a disasrous start by Priester, and those were his first innings since returning from a calf injury that kept him out for the last two weeks of the regulars season.
Pitching coach Chris Hook, however, isn’t worried about how the Brewers will navigate limited options in the rotation. For this pitching staff, that’s just a day’s work.
Calculated chaos is how the Brewers roll
While the Brewers are rolling with only three starters, they would like for those arms to go a bit deeper in games than they did in the NLDS. Peralta gave them 9.2 innings in two starts. Priester registered just two outs. Quintana pitched in relief and the other two games led off with openers in Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill. All in all, Milwaukee’s “starters” went just 13 innings in the five games.
That doesn’t capture the whole picture, though. Although technically he didn’t start, the Brewers used Jacob Misiriowski as the de facto starter behind Ashby and Megill. In his two appearances, Misiorowski gave Milwaukee a sparkling seven innings of one-run ball.
That formula is what this pitching staff is built for in the postseason aside from Peralta and his outings.
“Because we’re basically going in with three starters,” Hook said via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, “we have to be able to cover things if things go south, if we have to make a right turn. Like I’ve said before, this is just the norm for us. I don’t think it’s anything like, ‘Oh, God, how are we going to do this?’ We do this every day and we find a way.”
Certainly, they found a way in the Division Series with the Cubs. The Brewers’ NLCS roster is loaded with starters working in relief: Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers. That strategy should help them get by this round as well with only a handful of traditional starts from Peralta, Priester, and perhaps Quintana.
Having that kind of flexibility allows the staff to hunt matchups in unorthodox ways. Using your regular-season closer as a Game 5 opener in the NLDS? Check. Fans should look for more of the same as the Brewers seek revenge against the Dodgers and their first World Series berth since 1982.
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