Category: MLB

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski threw the fastest recorded pitch in World Series history as his side began the best-of-seven season finale with a win.

The right-hander played a starring role in the 3-2 win at home to the Tampa Bay Rays, in the first match of the 122nd World Series.

It is only the second time in more than a century that neither side contesting the World Series has won the title before.

A sell-out crowd watched the Brewers in only their second appearance in the finale of the Major League Baseball season, and their first since losing to the St Louis Cardinals in 1982.

Milwaukee's American Family Field has 41,900 seats but with standing-room-only tickets available for the 'Fall Classic', 43,250 fans packed in to see the game.

"It was amazing - just to have the city behind me, it means the world, we couldn't ask for anything better," said Misiorowski.

The Brewers host the second match of the best-of-seven series on Saturday before the teams move to Florida for three games, then return to Milwaukee for the final two matches, if needed.

Misiorowski, 24, became the youngest starter since 1997 to win a World Series opener, after restricting the Rays to just one run in five innings.

His fastest pitch at 103.5 mph beat the previous mark of 103.2 mph set by Aroldis Chapman of the Chicago Cubs in 2016 - though speeds have only been recorded since 2008.

Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich also played a key role, scoring one run and driving in another as they took a 3-1 lead.

The Rays added one run in the final inning and had a runner on third base as they pushed to level the score, but Milwaukee closed out victory.

"It feels great. The guys settled in right away and did a great job," Yelich said. "We've still got a ways to go but nice to get that first one."

The Brewers made the World Series by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 to claim the National League title, while the Rays clinched the American League pennant with a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians to reach the post-season finale for only the third time.

The Rays lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2008 World Series and the Dodgers in 2020, but manager Kevin Cash took solace from the fact that they tested the Brewers on Friday.

"We came up a little bit short, but there's some benefit maybe from a loss," said Cash.

MILWAUKEE — Trevor Megill induced the game-ending double play Friday night and screamed. The sellout crowd roared. Fireworks went off. Brewers players hugged. GM Matt Arnold was high-fiving friends and employees in his suite.

The Brewers had just won Game 1 over the Tampa Bay Rays, their first World Series victory in 44 years.

Then, as Megill stomped off the mound, he noticed the umpiring crew starting to huddle.

The Tampa Bay Rays were challenging.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal," Megill said. “It was the last out of the game, so what did they have to lose? I thought they were just challenging the call at first base.

Nuh-uh.

The Rays were challenging the play at second too. Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt’s foot barely lifted off the base as he turned what appeared to be the game-ending double play.

After all the pomp and circumstance, after all the anticipation, the Milwaukee Brewers finally hosted a World Series game for the first time in 44 years, and my goodness did it live up to the hype with a 3-2 Brewers victory.

In the first inning, Jacob Misiorowski ran into a little bit of trouble, allowing singles to Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson. The Rays had two on and one out with a big time threat in Junior Caminero at the plate. Caminero ripped a line drive, but it was right at third baseman David Hamilton, who easily caught it and doubled off Aranda at second base.

The crowd erupted on that play and they were able to erupt again in the bottom half of the first. Multiple times.

Jackson Chourio swung at the first pitch he saw from Rays starter Nick Martinez and lined a single to right field. The captain, Christian Yelich, then crushed an 0-2 cutter on the inside corner into the gap in right-center.

Jonny DeLuca came oh-so-close to running that down and making an incredible catch, but he just couldn’t hold on to it. It goes as a triple for Yelich and it gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

“It got in on me a little bit, I could kinda tell I backspun it, so it’s not really like hooking or it’s not really diving, so you know it’s gonna kind of hang up there a little bit. Was just hoping that it was fan enough away from him to get down and fortunately it did.” Yelich said.

With Yelich on third, the Rays infield was drawn in for William Contreras. And he took advantage.

Very quickly, the Brewers established a lead for Misiorowski and got to Martinez before he was able to settle into the game.

After that, though, the Brewers offense struggled for a few innings, going three-up and three-down in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.

Meanwhile, the Rays were able to get some traffic against Misiorowski in the 4th. A leadoff walk to Aranda was followed by a scorching double to center just off the outstretched glove off Garrett Mitchell. The ball left the bat at 112.7 MPH. That led to 2nd and 3rd for the Rays and Liam Hicks cashed a run in with a groundout to first on a slow roller.

The Rays had some more traffic in the 5th and 6th innings. They were 11-for-11 on stolen bases in the first two rounds of the postseason. But they hadn’t yet faced William Contreras. Contreras gunned down Victor Mesa Jr at 3rd base in the 5th and then completed a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the 6th inning.

Contreras literally could not have walked the baseball down there and handed it to Hamilton in a more perfect spot than he did on that throw in the 5th.

It was a 2-1 ballgame after that, typical of the Brewers this postseason. A close, intense matchup, battling out long at-bats and grinding your way through.

The Brewers finally broke through again in the 7th inning. Cooper Pratt got things started with a leadoff walk. Sal Frelick then flew out and David Hamilton grounded out, but the grounder allowed Pratt to reach second base. That would prove important for the two out rally as the Brewers had their most clutch hitter due up in Jackson Chourio.

Chourio has said he was born for those moments. Once again, he proved that he was.

Swinging at the first pitch, Chourio delivered a single past a diving Jonathan Aranda that brought home Pratt and made it a 3-1 Brewers lead.

“The way I’ve always looked at it is it’s important to start with a good foot ahead. So if I have the opportunity to do that, I’m going to take advantage.” Chourio said.

“He’s special. He’s got special ability to compete at the big time. He’s poised. The last AB is the last AB. He’s ready every time. The kid is continuing to do this (indicating up), and it’s scary.” Pat Murphy said.

The Brewers bullpen was once again spectacular. Abner Uribe went 1.1 scoreless IP. He turned it over to Aaron Ashby, who again, delivered a perfect outing, retiring each of the five batters he faced and striking out three of them. Then it was on to Trevor Megill to close things out in the 9th.

Megill retired Yandy Diaz on a grounder to third. Jonathan Aranda reached base for the fourth time with a single to left. Then Chandler Simpson lined a single to center and Junior Caminero drew a walk. That loaded the bases for Liam Hicks.

Hicks hit a grounder to Turang’s left, forcing a tough turn and fire to second base to attempt the double play. Initially, it was a double play, the game was over, the fireworks went off, the TV postgame show set was being wheeled onto the field, fire up Glory Days, it’s a big Brewers win.

But hold on. Hold everything. The Rays challenge and upon review, Cooper Pratt’s foot left second base just a little bit early. That meant the Brewers had to lock back in, there was still one more out to get. A run had scored, so it was a 3-2 Brewers lead now. Tying run is on third, the go-ahead run is on second.

Megill, unphased, comes back to strike out Jonny DeLuca to end this game for good this time.

“Just freaking get after it. Gotta go for a strikeout there.” Megill said on his mentality after the overturn.

The Brewers got four impressive innings from their bullpen in support of Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski hasn’t had the strikeout stuff he had during the regular season, tallying just three punchouts in his five innings. But he still kept barrels off the ball, and he kept the lead for the Brewers and the bullpen to hold.

Yelich struck first, Contreras added on, and Chourio came through with what ended up being the winning run in front of a crowd of 43,250.

The Brewers have taken a 1-0 series lead over the Rays. They are three wins away from immortality. Logan Henderson gets the start for Game 2 while the Rays will have Drew Rasmussen.

The Tampa Bay Rays had a World Series Game 1 win on the line multiple times. They just could not reel it in.

Tampa Bay dropped Game 1 of the World Series 3-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. A ninth-inning rally, kept alive by a replay review, ended with the tying run on third base when Jonny DeLuca struck out against Trevor Megill. Between a ball that popped out of a glove and two double plays that caught two runners stealing, the Rays had their hands on this one several times. The Brewers lead the series 1-0, and if the rest of the series is anything like this one, everybody is in for a ride.

The first near miss came three batters in. Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson singled, but Junior Caminero lined a ball right at third baseman David Hamilton, who doubled Aranda off second.

The bottom half was where the first opportunity slipped free. After Jackson Chourio led off with a single against Nick Martinez, Christian Yelich drove one to deep center, where it bounced out of DeLuca’s glove. Instead of a long out, it was an RBI triple. William Contreras followed with a single that caromed off shortstop Taylor Walls into left, and Milwaukee led 2-0 before the Rays could settle in.

Martinez ultimately settled in. He struck out Brice Turang and Garrett Mitchell to end the first, stranded Sal Frelick at third in the second, and retired eight straight at one point. His final line: five innings, two runs, five hits, no walks and five strikeouts.

Jacob Misiorowski, the majors’ ERA leader at 1.80 during the regular season, threw triple-digit heat, topping out at 103.5 mph on the first pitch of the game. The Rays finally started making a dent on him in the fourth. Aranda walked, Caminero scorched a double to center, and Liam Hicks grounded out to bring Aranda home. DeLuca flew out, leaving Caminero at third, and it was 2-1.

Then the basepaths started taking bites out of the line.

Victor Mesa Jr. singled to open the fifth and moved to second, only to be thrown out by Contreras trying to steal third with two outs. Mesa got some payback in the bottom half, starting a relay that nailed Hamilton at third after a double to right.

In the sixth, Aranda singled off reliever Abner Uribe and was cut down stealing second on the same pitch Simpson struck out on. Normally that’s a hit-and-run you can count on like the sun rising but tonight it did not work according to plan. That made three Rays runners erased on the bases in six innings in what ultimately would be a one-run game.

Milwaukee needed only one extra-base hit. Steven Matz wiggled out of two two-out walks in the sixth but walked Cooper Pratt to lead off the seventh. Pratt reached second with two outs, and Kevin Kelly came on to face Chourio, who grounded a single into right. 3-1.

That run looked like a minor detail at the time. It wasn’t.

The Rays bullpen kept the door shut. In the eighth, Garrett Cleavinger and Cole Sulser stranded runners at the corners, with Caminero handling three plays at third, including a bunt he caught on a line. Aaron Ashby, meanwhile, set down all five Rays he saw for Milwaukee.

That set up the ninth, and the closest the Rays came to reeling it in. Díaz grounded out, but Aranda singled for his third hit and Simpson followed with another. Jorge Mateo ran for Aranda, the two pulled off a double steal, and Caminero walked to load the bases.

Suddenly, a game that felt just out of reach felt like a comeback was moving from possible to probable.

Hicks hit a hard grounder to Turang that was initially called a game-ending double play. Tampa Bay challenged the call at second, and it was overturned because Pratt’s foot was off the base, and suddenly the game was still breathing. Mateo scored as a result; Simpson was on third with the tying run, and Caminero was at second with the go-ahead run. Hicks had driven in both Rays runs without a hit. If the Rays pulled off the win, it would have been one of the most impactful replay reviews in history.

DeLuca, though, struck out swinging, and the tension in the game and proverbial fishing line went slack.

The Brewers are now 5-0 at home this postseason. The Rays get another chance in Game 2 on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, with Drew Rasmussen starting opposite Logan Henderson.

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Brewers fans patiently waited 44 years for this night, and three hours later, with hoarse throats and weary legs, oh, was it ever worth it.

The Brewers, in front of 43,250 screaming fans who stood most of the game Friday at American Family Field, delivered a powerful victory in Game 1 of the World Series, 3-2, over the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was hardly easy, with the Rays refusing to fade into the night, but the Rays were their own worst enemy, three times running into outs on the bases, and having two balls glance off their gloves in the field.

“This team was the best team in the National League," Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda said before Game 1, “best team in baseball for a reason. … They do almost everything well."

WORLD SERIES: Brewers manager with Springsteen tattoo got call from The Boss

The Brewers, led by ace Jacob Misiorowski, dominated for five innings, and then sat back and watched the Brewers’ bullpen completely suffocate the Rays’ offense. The Brewers’ bullpen pitched four shutout innings, giving up just two singles, while Aaron Ashby continued his brilliance, pitching 1 ⅔ shutout innings. He has pitched 14 shutout innings this postseason, giving up just four hits.

The Brewers had just two extra-base hits without a homer, but scrapped and clawed their way to three runs with the top four hitters in the lineup_Jackson Chourio, Jake Bauers, Christian Yelich and William Contreras_producing six of their eight hits. They did most of their damage in the first inning with Chourio leading off with a single, Yelich hitting a one-out triple to center field field that glanced off Jonny DeLuca’s glove with Contreras following with a sharp single off shortstop Taylor Walls with a drawn-in infield.

But the real heroes, the Brewers say, are their fans.

MILWAUKEE – William Contreras is already having a historic run through this postseason. The Tampa Bay Rays certainly didn’t need to play into his hands in Game 1 of the World Series.

Yet over the course of just a few innings, Contreras, the Milwaukee Brewers’ dynamic catcher, showed just how much he can control a single baseball game – on both sides of the ball.

It is not often that one man smokes his team’s hardest-hit ball of the night for a run-scoring hit that stood up as the winning run, then snuffs out two of the opposition’s scoring chances by cutting down baserunners foolhardy enough to run on him.

Contreras, though, is truly built different.

The three-time All-Star finally has a stage befitting his massive skills and nickname to match – Wild Bill – for the baseball world to appreciate. And Friday, Oct. 23, as Milwaukee was ready to burst over its first World Series appearance in 44 years, Contreras gave them what they asked for as he commanded the Brewers’ 3-2 victory before 43,250 giddy onlookers at American Family Field.

Milwaukee takes a 1-0 lead into Saturday’s Game 2, thanks to a victory in a game that was taut yet also featured several unforced errors by the Rays.

Then again, Contreras forced the issue on numerous occasions.

Major League Baseball is monitoring the investigation involving Dodgers owner Mark Walter.

Walter caught the attention of federal authorities following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between the Guggenheim founder’s companies. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the complaint and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the league’s interest in the situation.

“As always when we have an investigation, external law enforcement, whatever, we monitor that and that’s where we are right now,” Manfred told reporters.

Walter has already sold several parts of his sports empire in light of the investigation. The business mogul sold the Lakers at a record $12.5 billion valuation as well as his stakes in Chelsea FC.

The latest report states Walter is also looking to sell his controlling interest in the Sparks at a record valuation.

The investigation has propelled several questions regarding Walter’s sports portfolio, which has shrinked in recent months. Walter’s remaining holdings include the Dodgers, the Cadillac F1 team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

This summer, Dodgers president Stan Kasten explicitly said the MLB team was not being sold.

“I wanted to make sure everyone understood one thing very clearly: The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten told reporters.

“They’re not gonna be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell it, period,” Kasten continued. “We are planning only to win. That is what we are always doing. And we are still continuing to do that.”

The results of the federal probe, however, could have implications for the back-to-back World Series champions.

It was an evening for pomp and pageantry, for celebrating a World Series between two of the five major league teams never to win one. But, before the first pitch of the first game, the commissioner of baseball and the head of the players’ union held separate media gatherings that only served to reinforce the notion that a lockout in December is a virtual certainty and Opening Day next March is in serious jeopardy.

Of all the major North American sports, baseball is the only one without a salary cap. The players and their union vow to keep it that way, and union chief Bruce Meyer said every proposal the owners make on every issue is contingent upon a salary cap. How, someone asked commissioner Rob Manfred, can the owners strike a deal if the union is entrenched against a cap?

“Re-thinking where you are is a really important part of trying to make a deal,” Manfred said. “It’s actually a skill in collective bargaining. It’s easy to say, ‘I’m here and I’m never moving.’ That’s not a particularly skilled approach to the process.”

Read more:Shaikin: Why Dodgers fans need to be cheering for the Brewers in this World Series

That is perilously close to telling the other guy at the negotiating table how to negotiate. It’s also something you might say when you’re feeling pretty darn good that you’re going to win the negotiation.

“We have an unprecedented level of unanimity among ownership that it is something that we need to do,” Manfred said.

He wouldn’t say otherwise at this point, of course. The owners were unified in 1994, when they last demanded a salary cap. They didn’t win, and fans lost the final two months of the 1994 season and the first month of the 1995 season.

When the NHL got its salary cap, owners shut down the league for a full year. Would MLB owners forgo a year — or at least several months — of ticket sales and media revenue to get their cap? Would MLB players forgo a year — or at least several months — of their salaries to stave off a cap?

We won’t know the answer to either question until the spring, and until then a new collective bargaining agreement would require one side or the other to abandon its position.

That makes this year’s World Series something of a Rorschach test: Is a Brewers-Rays series proof that the system actually works just fine the way it is?

To Manfred, the answer is no. A series featuring two of baseball’s smaller markets is an anomaly when history shows a correlation between payroll and success, not only in the regular season but in advancing through the playoffs.

“It’s not that no small market can win,” Manfred said. “It’s just that it’s pretty rare.”

To Meyer, the answer is yes.

“It has nothing to do with what the Dodgers are doing,” Meyer said. “There is no reason whatsoever that the Pirates can’t do what the Brewers have done, or what the Rays have done.”

The Pirates, Meyer said, do not spend all the money they are allotted to sign draft picks. The Brewers, playing in baseball’s smallest market, might not routinely hand out free-agent riches, but owner Mark Attanasio said his team ranks “right in the middle” of the 30 teams in spending on baseball operations.

Attanasio publicly stumped for a salary cap here Friday, saying it would “help us compete but more importantly all of the other teams with lower payrolls too.” He said Brewers fans already fear it might take another 44 years to return to the World Series.

Read more:Shaikin: As a kid, this World Series starter rooted for the Astros. Then he learned they cheated.

Said Meyer: “That doesn’t seem like a great way, with all due respect, to try and generate excitement among your fans.”

Meyer said this year’s series “undermines their argument” for what he called “the nuclear bomb of a salary cap.” He said the owners are uninterested in the union’s proposals for addressing competitive balance, including increased revenue sharing among owners and a tax against teams that fail to win consistently, and he alleged the league’s argument is “a charade” for what the owners really want: “to suppress salaries and gut player rights.”

The takeaway: Don’t book non-refundable airline tickets and hotel rooms for spring training.

On other topics:

— As The Times has reported, MLB is keeping an eye on federal investigations into Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his insurance empire, which is under scrutiny for allegedly violating laws designed to protect investors. Walter also is a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits filed by investors alleging fraud and breach of contract.

“As always when we have an investigation — external, law enforcement, whatever — we monitor that,” Manfred said. “That’s where we are right now. We’re just watching what’s going on right now.”

Over the past two months, amid efforts to find what could be more than $20 billion to recapitalize insurance funds, Walter has sold his controlling interest in the Lakers and a minority share of Chelsea, the English Premier League club. On Friday, Bloomberg reported he is seeking to sell the Sparks. He has no plan to sell the Dodgers, team president Stan Kasten has said.

— Meyer said the MLBPA continues negotiations with LA28 over how major league players would be accommodated in the 2028 Olympics. “As of now, we’re not getting satisfaction on those things,” Meyer said.

Both the league and the union say they want to participate in the Games, but Manfred said MLB would normally start preparing its 2028 schedule early in 2027. The league has agreed to an extended All-Star break to accommodate the Olympics, but MLB also could tire of waiting for the union to agree with LA28, which badly wants MLB players to participate.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It didn’t take long for Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski to break a record in his first World Series appearance.

Misiorowski set the record for the fastest World Series pitch in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) on his very first ball thrown during Milwaukee’s 3-2 Game 1 win of the Fall Classic on Friday — a 103.5 mph heater to Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz.

The pitch, which Diaz took for a ball above the strike zone, was listed as 103.4 mph on the scoreboards at American Family Field, but MLB’s Statcast system clocked it at 103.5 mph.

Misiorowski’s record-setting pitch beat out lefty flamethrower Aroldis Chapman’s 103.2 mph fastball for the Cubs during Game 2 of the 2016 World Series, which ultimately resulted in a groundout by Cleveland outfielder Coco Crisp.

The right-hander was fastball-heavy in the first inning, starting the game with 10 in a row and throwing it on 11 of 13 pitches in the frame, averaging a scorching 101.9 mph.

Misiorowski ended Friday’s game with three strikeouts and gave up one earned run through five innings.

Misiorowski has made waves across the MLB in his first full season for his incredibly high velocity for a starting pitcher, throwing 1,115 pitches over 100 mph in the regular season this year.

The high velocity has translated into success for Misiorowski, as the righty led the league in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (252) with a 16-5 record in 30 starts.

He hasn’t let off the gas much in the postseason either, pitching to a 3.24 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 8 ⅓ innings in two starts headed into Friday’s game.

Following his start earlier this month during Game 1 of the NLCS against the Dodgers, Misiorowski opened up on the pressure of starting a postseason game compared to coming out of the bullpen, which he did in the 2025 postseason.

“I think it’s different just the fact that I’m starting, that nerve of actually having the whole game and it being behind me, and it’s kind of different,” he said during an appearance on FOX Sports after the game. “Coming out of the bullpen, you’re like, you get thrown in a situation, it’s unknown. So this one’s a little different.

“Nerves are a little higher with the start, so nothing crazy, but that’s about it.”

Jacob Misiorowski's first pitch of the 2026 World Series came in at 103.5 miles per hour.

That four-seamer to Yandy Diaz was a ball, but it certainly set the tone for the night. The Milwaukee Brewers right-hander made his longest postseason start against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 on Friday night at American Family Field. He held Tampa Bay to one run on four hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out three.

Misiorowski threw 37 pitches at 100 mph or faster out of 78. His four-seamer averaged 101.2 mph and 10 of them reached at least 102. None were faster than the opener, according to StatCast.

The Brewers have reached baseball’s biggest stage, but haven’t stopped talking about the Dodgers.

After Milwaukee swept the back-to-back World Series champions in the National League Championship Series, manager Pat Murphy took a jab at the Dodgers. Since then, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has also thrown shade at the juggernaut and catcher William Contreras is the latest to mention the eliminated Dodgers.

Contreras penned a letter to fans in The Players Tribune and discussed the 2025 postseason where the Brewers were swept by the Dodgers.

“The playoff series against the Dodgers, we got swept…… It was terrible,” Contreras wrote. “I understand why there was not so much belief in us after a loss like that. But if you want the truth, I’ll tell you, because I was there. I’m the one who saw it from both sides, right? I’m behind the plate for their side … and I’m at the plate for our side.

“Here’s the truth: The Dodgers were the lucky team last season.

“No, I’m not saying they were lucky to be champions. Of course not. It’s a tremendous team, with tremendous players. I’ll take nothing away from them. But were they lucky to SWEEP us? That’s a different story.”

While Contreras continues to express his belief in the National League’s best team, the ongoing comments surrounding the Dodgers have become a distraction to the Brewers’ success. Yes, the Dodgers fell short of their ultimate goal.

Yes, the Brewers played far better baseball than LA in the NLCS. But to continue mentioning the Dodgers only takes away from what Milwaukee can achieve with only four more wins.

The Brewers have the chance to take home its first World Series title in franchise history, but defeating the Dodgers appears to be the highlight of October for the squad.

Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability). 

A Glove-First Outfielder

After being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 11th round of the 2019 draft, Jase Bowen flashed potential in his final season in the Pirates’ system. In 2025, he slashed .272/.353/.449 across four levels of the minor leagues. Most impressively, Bowen hit .294 with an .870 OPS in 36 games for Triple-A Indianapolis. In November of ‘25, Bowen elected free agency and signed with San Diego. He posted a .292/.362/.600 slash line in 49 games with Triple-A El Paso before being called up to make his MLB debut.

Overall Grade: C-

To that end, Bowen struggled. He never quite found a groove at the plate in the big leagues. Bowen often looked overwhelmed against big-league pitching, batting an anemic .146 with a .438 OPS. The power all but disappeared. Bowen had hit 13 homers in 49 games with El Paso, but launched just two in 83 contests at the big-league level.

Some of that is due to his usage as a defensive replacement. Bowen was really only put in games late, often not starting. Of the 83 games that Bowen played in, he started in less than a quarter of them. He boasts a phenomenal glove, posting +2 Fielding Run Value and +1 Outs Above Average in such a small sample (283.0 INN). Still, his glove is not enough to keep him on the roster.

Bowen has a potent bat, but he needs more time to develop. Starting the season in Triple-A to get more time against high-caliber pitching could help him mature enough to face big-leaguers. Alternatively, if he shows improvement during Cactus League play, Bowen could work his way onto the Opening Day roster. That said, Bowen needs to improve, otherwise he’s not going to last long on this squad in a stacked outfield crop.

MILWAUKEE — Just two hours before the start of the small-market, low-payroll World Series, commissioner Rob Manfred reiterated that Major League Baseball needs a salary cap and that the Milwaukee Brewers' presence backs up the owners' stance.

“I think the small markets operate at a disadvantage economically," Manfred said. “They just don't have the resources that our bigger markets do. I mean, (here’s) the best evidence. Look, the Brewers have been a well-run franchise forever. It's been 40 years since we're here.

“Once every 40 years is not enough."

Despite the Tampa Bay Rays having the fifth-smallest payroll and the Milwaukee Brewers having the 11th-smallest, winning 201 games between them, it doesn’t change the owners’ view that there needs to be a cap on player payrolls.

“Look, no one ever said that differences in economics are perfectly outcome determinate," Manfred said. “If you look at the data, our larger markets have a very statistically significant advantage in terms of making the playoffs and going deeper in the playoffs."