Brewers Try to Complete World Series Sweep of Rays in Game 4

The Milwaukee Brewers can wrap up their first World Series championship on Tuesday night, when they visit the Tampa Bay Rays for Game 4 with a 3-0 series lead. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. ET on FOX. A Milwaukee win would also be the first sweep of the Fall Classic since 2012.

The Brewers arrive with momentum after a 10-1 victory in Game 3 on Monday. They scored eight runs with two outs in the fifth inning, the most with two outs in a single inning of a World Series game. The only other postseason game with at least eight two-out runs in an inning came in the 2020 NLCS, when the Los Angeles Dodgers scored 10 in the first inning of Game 3 against Atlanta.

Milwaukee is now 10-1 in these playoffs and has won eight straight, tying the longest winning streak in a single postseason, shared by the 2004 Red Sox, 2005 White Sox, 2014 Royals and 2019 Nationals. All of those teams except Kansas City went on to win the title. Oddsmakers have taken notice: before Game 3 the Brewers were -750 to win the series and the Rays +500, and now the lines sit at -5000 and +1500.

History is firmly against Tampa Bay. The 2004 Red Sox, in that year's ALCS against the Yankees, are the only team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in an MLB best-of-7 series. Milwaukee is the 43rd team to lead a playoff series 3-0, and only 10 of those trailing clubs have forced a fifth game. No team in a World Series has reached Game 6 after falling behind 3-0.

The expected starters are Dustin May for the Brewers and Griffin Jax for the Rays, though neither is likely to go deep. Both teams have used their top three starters in the first three games: Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson and Robert Gasser for Milwaukee, and Drew Rasmussen, Freddy Peralta and Nick Martinez for Tampa Bay. Managers Pat Murphy and Kevin Cash are expected to turn to their bullpens early.

May, 29, went 7-9 with a 4.70 ERA this season between St. Louis and Milwaukee, which acquired him at the trade deadline. In four playoff appearances, one of them a start, he has a 5.63 ERA over 8.0 innings and has not gone beyond three innings. He faced the Rays in his season debut in St. Louis and gave up six runs and 10 hits in four innings. Yandy Diaz is 3-for-4 against him in the regular season. Milwaukee rested Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill in Monday's blowout, so May may have a short leash. Ashby has not allowed a run in 15.2 playoff innings, with 17 strikeouts.

Jax, 31, was 8-10 with a 3.53 ERA in 34 regular-season appearances, 23 of them starts. He has a 6.00 ERA in two playoff outings, one a start, though none came in this series. He was stronger at home in the regular season, with a 3.45 ERA and a .218 opponent batting average.

In the World Series MVP market, Brewers catcher William Contreras was the +200 favorite entering Game 3. Outfielder Jackson Chourio, who had four hits Monday, is now -110 alongside Contreras, and no one else is shorter than +4000. At 22 years and 229 days old, Chourio became the youngest player with four hits in a World Series game since Joe Garagiola in 1946.

If Tampa Bay forces another game, Game 5 is Wednesday, also at Tropicana Field, with a travel day to follow if the series continues. The SportsLine projection model favors Milwaukee in Game 4 by a score of 4.8 to 4.0.