The Buzz — Thursday, October 22

Jacob Misiorowski

The take Brewers ace starts WS G1 vs Rays after Cy Young season

The presumptive NL Cy Young takes the ball Friday with 11 days of rest and one question attached: which version shows up. The regular-season version went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts, an 0.80 WHIP and a .157 opponents' average over 174.2 innings, leading the majors in all four. The award has not been formally presented, but the case is closed.

In two playoff starts, the fastball whiff rate fell from 40% to 16%. The velocity did not budge — he is averaging 101 mph, has run 96 of 122 postseason fastballs into triple digits, and opened NLDS Game 1 with a 104.8 mph pitch, the fastest tracked in a postseason game since 2008. Hitters are fouling off what they used to miss, and the counts climb: 88 pitches in four innings, 94 in four and a third.

But the outcomes held. A 3.24 ERA across two starts, one run allowed in the NLCS outing where he gave up five hits and three walks in four and a third, and the Brewers won both. He survived with double plays and a bullpen that cleaned up. The question Friday is whether 11 days of rest restores the whiff — and the bet here is that it does. The velocity that produces it never went anywhere. What dropped was the swing-and-miss, not the stuff, and those are separate problems.

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Shohei Ohtani

The take Ohtani needs only rest, not surgery; pitches two-way in 2027

The prescription is rest, not surgery, for the knee and biceps issues that ended his pitching after July 3 and dragged his home run total to 30, his fewest since 2019. Friedman said, 'I fully expect him to pitch next year,' and the plan is to train as a two-way player for 2027. That is intent. The blueprint for a full season of pitching plus hitting plus October does not exist yet. The injuries this year were in the knee and the biceps, and they compounded. Spring training is where the rest gets tested.

Shohei Ohtani cards on eBay →(paid link)

Junior Caminero

The take Rays star's clutch ALCS HR sparks World Series hype

The home run off Cade Smith in the seventh inning of ALCS Game 6 was the first postseason home run of his career, and it arrived after 36 plate appearances without one — including an 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Game 3. A two-run shot that turned a tight clinch into a 7-3 rout. The crowd is right to call it a breakthrough; it was.

But the reason the Brewers are already planning how to pitch to him — MLB.com has published the analysis — runs deeper than one swing. He hit 42 home runs, drove in 101, and started all 162 games at third base for the team with the AL's best record. The homer announced to a national audience what the regular season established across the whole year. Friday is where the moment and the season meet.

Junior Caminero cards on eBay →(paid link)