The Team That Won’t Swing Is One Win From a Title
The Brewers ranked last in the majors in swing rate and next-to-last in home runs. They’re up 3-0 in the World Series after an eight-run, all-two-out fifth inning with no homer. Their hitters call it “dragging” pitchers, and it’s the most copyable approach in baseball for an adult lineup. Plus: the speedster whose own speed got him tagged out, and a startup selling stakes in MLB players.
How did the Brewers score eight runs with two outs and no homer?
Milwaukee ranked next-to-last in homers, swung less than anyone, and just put up the biggest two-out inning in World Series history. Their secret is a mindset any adult lineup can steal.
The Brewers lead the World Series 3-0 after a 10-1 win at Tropicana Field on Monday, Oct. 26. They scored all eight runs in the fifth inning with two outs, a World Series record, and didn’t hit a home run all night. Milwaukee ranked last in the majors in swing rate this year. Their hitters call the approach “dragging” pitchers, and it doesn’t need a big swing.
The fifth inning ran 12 batters: eight hits, one walk and eight runs, per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Christian Yelich walked with two outs, then took second on an infield single after a replay challenge reversed the call. Brice Turang followed with a two-run single, and Garrett Mitchell, Cooper Pratt, Sal Frelick, David Hamilton and Jackson Chourio all drove in runs. The box score shows Milwaukee out-hitting Tampa Bay 16-3.
MLB.com’s research lists the records. Eight two-out runs is the most in any World Series inning. Seven straight hits made Milwaukee the first team to do that in any postseason game. Chourio went 4-for-5 and became the youngest player with multiple hits in each of his first three World Series games. Jayson Stark noted on X that five of the runs came within eight pitches.
The setup took longer than the damage. Milwaukee made Rays starter Freddy Peralta throw 22 pitches in the first inning, and in Game 2 the Brewers saw 184 pitches, the second-most by any team in a game this postseason. “Our offense is built to kind of chip away and wear on pitchers,” Frelick said.
The regular season fits. According to MLB.com, the Brewers ranked next-to-last in home runs but first in on-base percentage, second in runs, last in swing percentage and first in hitting to the opposite field. Game 4 is Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 PM Central on FOX. Teams up 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series have won 42 of 43 times.
Adult lineups can’t buy power, but they can copy this.
In leagues where a pitcher may throw a full game on a short staff, a lineup that takes pitches and spreads the ball around probably gets more from pressure than a team swinging early hoping for a big hit.
Where did the Brewers’ “drag ’em” mindset come from?
It started with a video of a player who never played for Milwaukee. Hitting coordinator Jason Lane saw an Instagram clip of his former teammate Lance Berkman describing a playoff at-bat against John Smoltz. “He would envision himself being down in a pit, and he tried to drag the pitcher down with him,” Lane said, per MLB.com. Lane shared it with Frelick, who turned it into a question: “How can I drag this pitcher to hell with me?”
Manager Pat Murphy now uses the phrase himself. “That’s dragging them,” he said after Game 2. Jake Bauers explained the payoff from the on-deck circle: “You know you’re about to step in the box and the guy on the mound is probably a little bit gassed. There’s definitely a little bit of a mental edge there that you can gain.”
Amateur stat apps already measure some of this. GameChanger’s “quality at-bat” stat, as its own blog explained it, credits at-bats that are productive regardless of result, including “making the pitcher throw a lot of pitches.”
A long at-bat that ends in an out still did its job, and box scores don’t show it.
Adult players who only see batting average miss that, so pitches-per-plate-appearance and two-out production are worth tracking for any team that wants to play this way.
How did the World Series’ fastest player get tagged out?
Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson’s speed hurt him and then helped him in the first two innings of Game 3. In the bottom of the first, he stole second running at 30.5 feet per second and beat William Contreras’ throw, but slid past the bag and Brice Turang tagged him out, per MLB.com.
An inning later he ran down a Frelick liner and made a leaping catch at the short left-field wall, then crashed into it. He waved off the trainer and stayed in. “It didn’t feel too good,” Simpson said, per Sporting News, “but it feels a little better now that I know I made the catch.”
At second, third and home, a runner who slides past the base can be tagged out, and full-speed catches near a wall are a collision risk.
Adult players come back after years off, so practicing slides and checking how close and how padded a field’s fences are deserve a spot on the preseason checklist.
Also this week
Selling shares in MLB players: Agentiq raised $4 million in a round led by defy.vc (announced Oct. 7) for a platform that lets fans indirectly invest in pro athletes’ careers. Each offering gives a player capital in exchange for a set percentage of future on-field brand income, and the first ones are headlined by MLB players Justin Martinez and Esmerlyn Valdez.
What people are asking
What is the Brewers’ “drag ’em” hitting approach?
It’s Milwaukee’s name for long, patient at-bats that make the pitcher work. Hitters take pitches, put the ball in play, pass the at-bat to the next hitter and wear the pitcher down, rather than swinging early for home runs. The idea came from a Lance Berkman video about an at-bat against John Smoltz.
What is a quality at-bat in baseball?
A quality at-bat is one that helps the team even if it doesn’t produce a hit. Examples include a long at-bat that runs up the pitch count, a walk, a hard-hit ball or a productive out like a sacrifice. Coaches and stat apps such as GameChanger track it because batting average misses these.
Can a runner be tagged out after sliding past second base?
Yes. Only at first base can a runner overrun the bag and return without being tagged out. At second, third and home, a runner who slides past the base and loses contact with it can be tagged out, even after reaching it safely.
Yours from the on-deck circle,
Gouda
