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The Milwaukee Brewers have been pushing all of the right buttons in the postseason so far, to say the least.
That was the case on Friday night in Game 1 of the World Series as well. When the Brewers announced their starting lineup before Game 1, there were some intriguing changes. Milwaukee hadn't shaken up the lineup too much throughout the playoffs, outside of the platoon guys. But on Friday, the Brewers did shake it up and it ended up being the biggest decision that shifted Game 1 in Milwaukee's favor, especially with Christian Yelich moving out.
In Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the righty Tyler Glasnow, the Brewers rolled with the following lineup:
1. Jackson Chourio, LF
2. Brice Turang, 2B
3. William Contreras, C
4. Jake Bauers, 1B
5. Christian Yelich, DH
6. Garrett Mitchell, CF
7. Cooper Pratt, SS
8. Sal Frelick, RF
9. David Hamilton, 3B
With the Rays sending righty Nick Martinez to the mound, it would've made sense to simply roll with that lineup once again. If it's not broken, don't fix it, right? Well, Pat Murphy did make changes.
1. Jackson Chourio, LF
2. Jake Bauers, 1B
3. Christian Yelich, DH
4. William Contreras, C
5. Brice Turang, 2B
6. Garrett Mitchell, CF
7. Cooper Pratt, SS
8. Sal Frelick, RF
9. David Hamilton, 3B
The Brewers shuffled Bauers, Yelich, Contreras and Turang around. Bauers moved up from No. 4 to No. 2. Turang dropped from No. 2 to No. 5. Yelich moved up from No. 5 to No. 3. And Contreras moved from No. 3 to No. 4.
These decisions actually played a big role in the game. With Yelich batting third, he stepped up to the plate in the first inning with Jackson Chourio on base and delivered a triple to give Milwaukee its first run of the evening. If he were still batting fifth, he wouldn't have been at the plate in that spot. Contreras delivered the second run of the game with a base hit right behind Yelich as well. It took just a few batters for the lineup changes to work.
In general, Bauers, Yelich, Contreras and Turang combined to go 4-for-11 with two RBIs and two walks. Milwaukee came out on top and this is where the offense was, for the most part. In a tight contest, every decision is under a microscope and what Murphy and the Brewers did was the right call.