Christian Yelich has been one of the Brewers' best hitters in the postseason, but manager Pat Murphy has already benched the former MVP twice against tough left-handed starters.
Yelich was not in the starting lineup against Tarik Skubal or Blake Snell, but he was against Robbie Ray. Yelich had a hit against Ray, but the Brewers have a great hitter in Andrew Vaughn and feel a need to get him in the game. Even though Yelich is hitting .292 in October, Vaughn is too good to leave on the bench.
So far, benching Yelich against lefties for a platoon advantage with Vaughn has worked, but the Tampa Bay Rays' top four starters are all right-handed. Is Vaughn going to stay on the bench the entire World Series and be reduced to a pinch-hitter role?
It's possible, but there is one starter he should start against despite Yelich having the platoon advantage: Freddy Peralta. Peralta was a Brewer for his entire career until this year, so Yelich has only faced him once in an actual game. Yelich is 1-for-3 with a double against him.
However, that was when Peralta was on the New York Mets. He's been a completely different pitcher with the Rays. Vaughn has faced Peralta 11 times in his career. He is 5-for-11 with a double and a home run. That includes eight at-bats against Peralta as a Brewer, when Peralta was an All-Star-caliber pitcher.
Vaughn has been a great hitter all season, against both lefties and righties. However, Jake Bauers has been so good that he cannot be benched. Bauers is a little banged up, so the Brewers are not going to stick him in right field as they did in the regular season in order to get him, Vaughn and Yelich in the lineup together.
Benching Yelich against Peralta in favor of Vaughn would look confusing on paper. However, Vaughn has great numbers against him, and there is no real starter on the Rays Vaughn would start against. If the Brewers want to get the most out of him, they should start him against Peralta.
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