Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I want to thank the Brewers for locking up that game early so I could catch the end of WNBA Finals Game 5.
In today’s SI:AM:
🍻 Brewers erupt in Game 3
🤔 WNBA’s odd scheduling fix
🏀 Men’s college hoops rankings
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Get the brooms ready
There’s no way the Rays can come back from that.
Digging out of a 3–0 hole is daunting enough. Doing so after being on the wrong end of an eight-run, two-out rally is impossible.
The Brewers took Game 3 of the World Series last night, 10–1, thanks to a historic fifth inning that put the game—and perhaps the series—out of reach.
Tampa Bay starter Freddy Peralta, who had been brilliant all postseason, struggled last night. He first got into trouble in the third, allowing two runs on a walk and three singles, and things started to get hairy again in the fifth after he issued a two-out walk to Christian Yelich. Then, William Contreras hit a sharp grounder between third and short that was fielded by third baseman Junior Caminero. He tried to get the out at second, but Yelich hustled to beat the throw. That loaded the bases and marked the beginning of the end for the Rays.
Cam Booser replaced Peralta on the mound, and the Brewers jumped all over him. Booser was tagged for two singles and two doubles as six runs crossed the plate. Cole Sulser entered at that point and gave up a single and a double as Milwaukee scored two more. By the time the inning mercifully ended, it was 10–0.
No other team in World Series history has scored more two-out runs in a single inning.
If you were paying attention, you’ll notice there’s something the Brewers didn’t do in that inning: hit a home run. They’re the first team to score at least 10 runs in a World Series game without hitting a home run since the 2014 Giants. But that’s the way the Brewers have won all season. They had one of the most potent offenses in the majors in the regular season (second in scoring behind the Cubs) because they strung together hits and worked long at-bats. They were tied for the second-fewest home runs in the majors.
That approach helped power them to a win last night and seize control of the series. No team has swept both the LCS and the World Series since the LCS was expanded to a best-of-seven series in 1985. Unless the Rays can shake off last night’s nightmare, the Brewers might become the first.
This doesn’t solve anything
Hey, Valkyries fans. Make sure you set your alarm on Thursday.
The WNBA announced yesterday that Game 6 of the WNBA Finals will be played at State Farm Arena in Atlanta—at 12:30 p.m. ET. That’s 9:30 a.m. in the city the Valkyries call home.
I’ll be honest, when I was thinking about ways for the league to solve its unfortunate scheduling predicament, the prospect of playing it at lunchtime never occurred to me. With Atlanta’s largest arena (the Dream’s part-time home) already booked for a Hawks game on Thursday night, it seemed as though the game would have to be played at the 3,500-seat Gateway Center. The league didn’t want to use another mid-sized venue in the Atlanta area because it “would feel like road games for both teams,” ESPN reported. Shifting Game 6 to Friday and a potential Game 7 from Saturday to Tuesday was another possible answer.
Moving the Cavs-Hawks game to Cleveland would have been less than ideal for the Hawks, who would have to get on a plane after Wednesday night’s home game against the Heat. But you know who’s already getting on a plane after playing on Wednesday night? The Cavs. The Hawks easily could have been more accommodating to avoid this whole scheduling crunch. Instead, the Finals game will be played in the early afternoon, and the Hawks have moved tip-off for their game back by one hour to 8 p.m.
Is this solution really all that much better than playing the game at the smaller arena? Crowning a champion in a gym with the same capacity as Quinnipiac University’s would be a bad look, but so would doing so at 3 p.m. on a weekday. Will enough Dream fans be able to skip work on short notice to sell out the arena?
And how many are going to watch on TV? Sports are first and foremost a television product. By moving the game to the early afternoon, the WNBA is prioritizing the extra 13,500 fans who can now attend in person over the potentially hundreds of thousands who now won’t tune in on TV.
I understand the WNBA’s thinking. The league is ascendant, growing exponentially in popularity every year while adding teams and gaining new audiences. Playing Game 6 in the league’s smallest arena (which the Dream are ditching next season when they move to State Farm full-time, for the record) would be a visual unbefitting of a league on the rise. It would be a small-time setting for a big-time league. Unfortunately, so is playing a potential championship-clinching game on a weekday afternoon.
The best of Sports Illustrated
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Dak Prescott’s perfect pass to CeeDee Lamb to give the Cowboys the lead.
4. Red Wings rookie Michal Postava’s difficult save in the final seconds of overtime. He then stopped all three attempts in the shootout to earn the win in his first NHL start.
3. Veronica Burton’s behind-the-back dribble to get herself open for a clutch bucket in the fourth quarter.
2. The strangest basket you’ll see all season in the NBA.
1. Chandler Simpson’s unbelievable catch while crashing into the wall. Here’s another angle. That would have earned a spot on the list of best World Series moments if the Rays had gone on to win.
📺 What we’re watching today …
MLB
Brewers at Rays, 8 p.m. ET, Fox
Milwaukee will have a shot at sweeping the World Series and winning the franchise’s first championship.
NBA
Pistons at Knicks, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
The defending champions will look for their first victory of the season after an 0–3 start.
Trail Blazers at Lakers, 11 p.m. ET, NBC
Luka Donćić has averaged 34.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game in Los Angeles’s first three wins of the season, and he’ll aim to keep his hot start going against Portland.
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