World Series Game 5: What Brewers, Rays need to do to win -- and who is available to pitch

• ESPN

Oct 28, 2026, 07:10 AM ET

After a dramatic comeback victory on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays lived to play another day.

The Rays won on a walk-off single by Ben Williamson on Tuesday, denying the Milwaukee Brewers their first World Series title -- for now.

With Milwaukee up 3-1 in the series, will the Brewers raise the trophy on their second chance? Or will the Rays keep their postseason alive and push this series back to Milwaukee? And who is available to pitch for each team after Tuesday's marathon?

Stay tuned for pregame lineups, in-game action and postgame takeaways.

Key links: How to win World Series | Playoff MVP tracker | Full schedule

Milwaukee Brewers at Tampa Bay Rays (8 p.m. ET)

Starting pitchers: Jacob Misiorowski vs. TBD

What Brewers need to do to win: Play a clean game, something they've weirdly had a hard time doing in these playoffs. Brewers infielders have committed eight errors in these playoffs. Two of them occurred in Game 4 and led to runs, both of them errant throws from third base.

The Brewers should feel good about their chances in Game 5. They'll have their ace, Misiorowski, going up against a Rays team with few legitimate pitching options. And they'll be coming off a night in which their hitters produced 12 of the 13 hardest-hit balls with little to show for it. If they don't get in their own way, they'll be in good shape. -- Alden Gonzalez

What Rays must do to extend series: Make Misiorowski work. The Brewers have not relied on the hard-throwing right-hander for a heavy workload in the postseason. In Game 1, the presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner held the Rays to one run over five innings but was pulled after throwing just 78 pitches. He threw 88 pitches across four innings in his first playoff outing in the NLDS against the Padres and 94 pitches over 4⅓ innings in his NLCS start against the Dodgers. After using their best relievers heavily in Game 4, the Brewers could look for more length from Misiorowski in Game 5. They have the clear advantage in the pitching matchup with Tampa Bay likely opting for a bullpen game. It's on Tampa Bay's lineup to erase the edge. -- Jorge Castillo

Who each team has available to pitch

In a nutshell, when you're a manager looking at the middle game of a three-game set and trying to map out your pitching plan for the finale, you don't want to see numbers like these from Game 4:

• Fifteen pitchers used over 23 innings and four hours, 20 minutes
• 367 pitches thrown
• 90 batters faced

If you're Tampa Bay skipper Kevin Cash, you'll take it. You won, so you get to play another one. The expenditure of pitching resources is a little harder to stomach for Milwaukee's Pat Murphy, whose team lost a late lead that could have closed out a championship.

"We drained a lot of pitching, as they did, and that's part of playing a tight ballgame," Murphy said.

Now that the dust has settled from a long, dramatic, season-extending contest, what's left? How does the pitching landscape look after this grinder of a Game 4?

Brewers

Murphy surprised no one after the game in saying that Misiorowski will start Game 5 on Wednesday. Misiorowski started Game 1 on Oct. 23 and so will be pitching on four days rest. He made just four of his 30 starts this season on four days rest but went 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA in those games. Over 22 innings, Misiorowski had 34 strikeouts and three walks in those games. Murphy would take those kind of numbers in Game 5.

Alas, Misiorowski hasn't pitched at that level during the postseason and you have to figure that Murphy will once again need four or five innings from his bullpen. The big question will be how he might bridge the gap between Misiorowski and Trevor Megill or Aaron Ashby in a potential close-out situation.

Megill appeared in Game 4 but faced just one batter and threw five pitches to close out the eighth before giving way to Aaron Ashby. When asked at the podium after the game if he might have gotten more out of Megill, Murphy simply said, "Yes." He will likely need more in Game 5.

Ashby went 2 ⅓ innings but retired all seven batters he faced and threw just 31 pitches, a total he's surpassed 11 times this season. Ashby groused about being removed on Tuesday but since he didn't pitch in Game 3 and, after Game 5, there will either be a travel day or the season will be over, you have to figure Ashby can give Murphy at least an inning.

The same holds true for Abner Uribe, who threw two innings but faced the minimum of six batters, whom he retired on just 19 pitches. He also didn't pitch the Game 3 blowout so should be ready for an inning on Wednesday.

Thus Murphy should have an ideal plan in place: Misiorowski to some progression of Uribe, Ashby and Megill. Whether he needs another reliever or relievers in addition to that will depend on the score and Misiorowski's effectiveness.

Rays

Things are tricker for the Rays even though they used one fewer pitcher than Milwaukee in Game 4. While their top relievers should be OK -- Bryan Baker, Kevin Kelly and Cam Booser all appeared but didn't have to labor through their outings -- the Rays probably can't roll out one of their primary starters and hope he goes deep.

After Game 4, Cash said that the Rays would be looking at their options and that no decision had been made. One obvious possibility would be to start Game 2 starter Drew Rasmussen on short rest. Rasmussen only went 3 ⅔ innings but threw 89 pitches to do it.

If Cash opts to start Rasmussen, it may be for a shorter outing, which would be less than ideal. If Cash can find an alternative to navigate the game while keeping Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta on normal rest, that would be ideal. The big problem there of course is that the Rays have to win Game 4 or that's that.

The monkey wrench in the Rays' plan was that Game 1 starter Nick Martinez came out of the bullpen in Game 4 and worked two innings, throwing 33 pitches. So the Rays' problems start at the outset. Cash will likely opt for some kind of bullpen game, perhaps with Rasmussen in a bulk role, but we'll see.

However the Rays plan it, there are just glad they have a game to plan for. -- Bradford Doolittle

Lineups

Brewers
TBD

Rays
TBD