The Tampa Bay Rays' made a peculiar decision on the mound for Game 1 of the World Series. Manager Kevin Cash is starting Nick Martinez over Drew Rasmussen, the ace who led the American League with a 0.91 WHIP during the regular season.
Martinez dazzled in the AL Championship Series, allowing only one run and two hits across 5.1 innings in Game 4 against the Cleveland Guardians. But Cash's decision had more to do with preserving Rasmussen than it did rewarding Martinez.
"(Rasmussen) has had a pretty thick workload here," Cash said. "We've relied on him heavily. We know when he takes the ball, we're trying to get the full-pitch allotment out of him."
It'll be Martinez's third career postseason start at age 36, and he has the daunting task of facing off against Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski. Martinez is keeping his mindset simple in the biggest game of his life.
"It's exciting," Martinez said. "I think as a team, as a staff, we're confident in whoever we call up to the mound. It fell on me, and my job is just to rack up as many outs as we can and keep us in this ballgame."
The World Series begins in Milwaukee at 8 p.m. tonight.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why Rays are starting Nick Martinez over Drew Rasmussen in Game 1