Pat Murphy shuffles Brewers' batting order ahead of World Series opener against Rays

The Milwaukee Brewers are less than three hours away from their first World Series game since 1982. A showdown with the Tampa Bay Rays, who play a similar brand of baseball to Pat Murphy's NL-pennant-winning squad, awaits them.

While the Rays may not be as hot as the San Diego Padres were when the Brewers defeated them in the NLDS and certainly don't have as star-studded of a roster as the Los Angeles Dodgers, who the Brewers knocked off in the NLCS, Tampa Bay undoubtedly poses a difficult task for the Brewers. Possessing a roster with very few flaws, the Rays rattled off 98 regular-season wins, ran away with the competitive AL East, and secured the top postseason seed in the American League.

Then, when the playoffs rolled around, the Rays, backed by strong performances from starting pitchers Drew Rasmussen and former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta, swept the New York Yankees in the ALDS before knocking out the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 of the ALCS. Peralta, who was named the ALCS MVP, started Game 6, which took place on Tuesday, meaning he was in line to pitch Game 2 of the World Series, while right-hander Rasmussen, who made his MLB debut with the Brewers back in 2020 before being included in Milwaukee's 2021 trade for Willy Adames, was set to start Game 1. However, Rays manager Kevin Cash decided to push back his top two starting options and send No. 3 starter Nick Martinez to the mound for tonight's World Series opener.

Pat Murphy is countering Cash's rotation switch-up by shuffling around his batting order for Game 1. It's by no means a drastic change -- all of the usual suspects are still in the lineup -- but there are some notable differences between Murphy's Game 1 lineup for the World Series and the lineup he's used for most of the 2026 postseason.

Christian Yelich moves up to No. 3 spot in Brewers' World Series Game 1 lineup

Certainly, the most notable lineup change is the fact that Brewers' captain Christian Yelich will bat third in tonight's opener. Yelich, who has seven hits in 24 at-bats during the postseason this year, unsurprisingly has the most experience against Martinez, who debuted one year after Yelich in 2014. Yelich has 19 career at-bats against the Rays' right-hander in his career and is batting .263 with a homer in those matchups. Moving Yelich up to the third spot in the order could force Cash to make a decision of whether or not he wants to leave Martinez in to face the Brewers' captain for a third time or potentially turn to his bullpen early.

Meanwhile, Bauers is up to the two-spot, protecting Jackson Chourio, while Turang, who batted second throughout the NLCS, drops down the five-spot for tonight's series opener. Both performed excellently in the NLCS, but Bauers' at-bats stuck out as especially impressive, and ultimately led to him earning the NLCS MVP award. Moving Bauers up in the lineup increases the chances of him turning in more of those game-changing at-bats in the late innings of tonight's opener.

Finally, throughout the lineup, Murphy and the Brewers have elected to stack their six left-handed hitters in pairs of two. Such a decision allows them to create advantages in two out of three at-bats down the stretch by turning to right-handed players on the bench. That lineup choice forces Cash and his coaching staff to determine which matchups they want to prioritize in the later innings, which can lead to some difficult decisions.

The Brewers certainly didn't stick to one consistent lineup throughout their record-breaking regular season, so why would they stray from that strategy in the postseason? The Brewers' franchise HR and RBI leader, followed by the only LCS MVP in franchise history, followed by the Captain -- that's how Milwaukee will start their first World Series game since 1982.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow