Pat Murphy signals confidence in his squad with Game 4 starting pitching decision

The Milwaukee Brewers have a chance to advance to their third NLCS and fourth League Championship Series in franchise history tonight. After winning the first two games of the NLDS against their division rival Chicago Cubs in convincing fashion and then dropping a close Game 3 at Wrigley Field last night, the Brew Crew looks to avoid a Game 5 by finishing off the North Siders in what will be a late-night matchup in Wrigleyville this evening.

The Brew Crew will do so behind their clear-cut ace and leader of the pitching staff, Freddy Peralta, as announced by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy on the social media platform X just moments ago.

It wasn't a guarantee that Peralta would throw tonight, after he tossed 95 pitches on Saturday afternoon, but with four days’ rest, Milwaukee's ace should be more than ready to take down the North Siders when the game begins tonight at 8:08 p.m. CT. After all, four days’ rest is generally considered "normal rest" for a starting pitcher, despite many teams doing whatever they can to give starters an extra day off when they can.

Freddy Peralta will get the ball in the Brewers' pivotal Game 4 matchup tonight

Opponents of the decision to pitch Peralta in Game 4 tonight made two valid points when arguing that the Brewers should instead turn to their bullpen with a 2-1 lead in the series. The first being: should the Cubs force a Game 5 with a win tonight, having Peralta ready for Game 5 at home on Saturday afternoon was far more favorable than having to turn to the bullpen in an elimination game. However, there's an easy way to avoid that reality: win Game 4. Saving Peralta for Game 5 would have been a signal to his team that Pat Murphy didn't believe in their abilities to win Game 4. In throwing Peralta tonight, Murphy has essentially told his team that he has all the confidence in the world in them defeating the Cubs tonight and advancing to the NLCS.

The second argument, which certainly holds some merit, is that if the Brewers didn't throw Peralta tonight, and did end up beating the Cubs with their bullpen, the team's ace would be ready to go for Game 1 of the NLCS on Monday night. However, the NLCS is a seven-game series, meaning the importance of Game 1 is far less than it is in the abbreviated best-of-five NLDS. Yes, it's still important to get out to an early series lead in the League Championship Series, but having Peralta throw in Game 2, on Tuesday night (which would also be on four days' rest), is still a fine strategy. Doing so, still allows Peralta to throw in a potential Game 6 which would occur six days after Game 2, giving him an extra day's rest.

All in all, in the postseason, you can't be playing for tomorrow. Yes, there is some foresight involved in bullpen decisions if you fall behind in a game, but if your ace is available with a chance to advance to the next round, you throw him. For that reason, Brewers fans will have the luxury of watching Freddy Peralta on the bump at Wrigley Field as the Brew Crew looks to take the next step in the postseason.