Brewers World Series choke gives Aaron Ashby chance to get award  that Guardians, Andrew Miller missed out on

For about 15 minutes on Tuesday night, it looked like Cooper Pratt had swung his way toward winning World Series MVP with a majestic go-ahead home run that put the Brewers ahead in the twelfth inning. Then reliever Shane Drohan entered the game and promptly gave up the lead (and the game). 

That meltdown means the World Series is guaranteed at least one more game that will be played tonight. For the Brewers players, it means they have another opportunity to stake their claim for World Series MVP. Milwaukee has plenty of players who have spent the first four games of the series putting together a strong MVP case, one of whom is reliever Aaron Ashby. 

While Ashby now has 5 2/3 scoreless innings under his belt in the World Series after his stellar 2 1/3 inning outing on Tuesday, he’s started his postseason with 18 straight scoreless innings, which has broken the record Andrew Miller set during the 2016 World Series. 

Aaron Ashby may win World Series MVP a decade after Andrew Miller came up short

Normally a performance like Ashby’s would preclude a pitcher from pitching the next day, but things are different in the World Series. And, to his credit, Ashby seems ready to answer the call. 

"I don't ever make any assumptions on how I feel until I play catch,” Ashby told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak.  "I've tried to keep it like that all year long. I'll wait until after I play catch and then I'll let [manager Pat Murphy] know if I feel good enough to go or not."

Ashby may have already passed Miller when it comes to his scoreless inning streak, any pitching performance from him tonight would thrust him into the upper crust of October legends (and likely win him MVP). 

Right now the Brewers with the three best chances to win the award are Pratt (1.132 OPS and his clutch homer), Jackson Chourio (10-for-20 start) and Ashby, though Jacob Misiorowski could put himself in the middle of that conversation with a great start tonight. 

But Ashby’s performance stands alone just because of how dominant he’s been. Pitching late in games in the postseason can sometimes seem like a trap since every reliever loses their advantage the more a team sees them (see Cade Smith’s ALCS), but Ashby has continued to look dominant. 

That was what ended up hurting Miller, who allowed runs in his final two appearances of the World Series after opening with two scoreless appearances. Meanwhile Ashby’s on his third appearance of the World Series and is on the cusp of making his fourth appearance in the Fall Classic. 

Ashby has already become a fan favorite in Milwaukee thanks to his strong postseason, but a good outing tonight could lead to him winning World Series MVP out of the bullpen. Miller’s legend will never die. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow