At 1 a.m. on Wednesday, October 29, Kevin Cash called Drew Rasmussen to tell him he was starting Game 5 of the World Series. It wasn’t a conversation about options. Nick Martínez — the scheduled starter — had thrown two innings of relief in Game 4 and couldn’t take the ball. Rasmussen said yes. He did it on three days’ rest, with 89 pitches already in his arm from the previous Saturday and three elbow surgeries on his résumé.
Why Cash Had No Other Choice
Game 4 changed everything. Tampa Bay won in 12 innings on a Ben Williamson walk-off hit, but that heroic victory came at an immediate cost: Martínez threw two innings and 33 pitches out of the bullpen to help hold the game together, which took him off the table as a starter for Game 5. Cash confirmed it before first pitch — Martínez was available in relief, but not to open.
Cash admitted he was up until 4 a.m. mapping out the pitching plan. Pitching coach Kyle Snyder had already checked in with both Rasmussen and Martínez during Game 4 to gauge their availability. Rasmussen’s answer was yes. At that point, it was the only answer Tampa Bay could have hoped for.
Rasmussen Did His Job. The Bullpen Didn’t.
The plan was set before the first pitch: 60 pitches or four innings, whichever came first. Rasmussen delivered exactly that — four innings, one run, two hits, four strikeouts, zero walks on just 48 pitches. Cash pulled him at the start of the fifth, right on schedule.
The context matters. In Game 2, Rasmussen had exited after 89 pitches across 3⅔ innings. Coming back three days later — with the season on the line, against a Milwaukee offense that posted a 1.89 ERA allowed throughout the postseason — was no small ask. But Rasmussen arrived at Game 5 as one of the best arms of October: 2-0, 2.19 ERA, 27 strikeouts and a 0.97 WHIP in the postseason. He held up his end.
What came after him didn’t. Tampa Bay’s bullpen couldn’t protect the lead, the Brewers won 4-1, and Milwaukee claimed its first World Series title in franchise history. Jacob Misiorowski, the likely 2026 NL Cy Young winner, closed out the series at 2-0 with a 1.89 postseason ERA.
What Cash Actually Asked of Rasmussen
It’s worth naming what this really was: a Game 5 World Series start on three days’ rest, for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery in both 2016 and 2017, plus an internal brace procedure in 2023. Three major elbow surgeries. That’s not a footnote — it’s the entire reason the 60-pitch, four-inning limit existed before Rasmussen ever laced up his cleats that night.
In the 2026 regular season, Rasmussen finished 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA, 5.0 WAR and 174 strikeouts in 172 innings. He’s exactly the kind of pitcher Tampa Bay cannot afford to lose by overextending in October. Pulling him when he did was the right call.
The bullpen blowing the lead is a separate conversation entirely.
Only 14.6% of teams that fall behind 3-1 in a best-of-seven postseason series have ever come back to win. The Rays pushed it to a fifth game, got four strong innings from a pitcher on three days’ rest and three surgeries, and still came up short. Cash’s decision was the only one that made sense with the cards he had left.
