Dustin May’s surging ERA and shaky command force the Milwaukee Brewers to reconsider his October role.
The Milwaukee Brewers may have pulled out a 6-5 win against the Baltimore Orioles, but Dustin May sure made them work for it.
The recently acquired starting pitcher hasn't exactly been dominant in a new environment. Sure, he got hit with a liner that made him exit a game after just one pitch, but to say he's inconsistent right now would be an understatement.
The Brewers need May as part of this postseason rotation, but they know they can't force it.
They're going through the same thing right now with Kyle Harrison, and obviously, this is the time of the year when they're missing Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester more than ever.
May needed 70 pitches to record seven outs against the Orioles, and that simply can't happen in the postseason if the Brewers want to make a deep run.
Do the Brewers trust May to start in the playoffs?
May, 29, has plenty of playoff experience. He's got a career 3.86 ERA in the postseason, and that came in three starts (nine overall appearances) with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2019-20.
He's now on his fourth team in the last two years, and while it seems like the Brewers are always able to get the best out of struggling starters, that simply hasn't been the case this year.
May now has a 5.40 ERA since being traded to Milwaukee. He's a -0.2 WAR player, and that's just not going to cut it for a team that's desperate for a World Series appearance.
There seems to be a spot for May in the playoffs, no doubt, but a guy like Robert Gasser may have leapfrogged him in the postseason rotation.
How the Brewers postseason rotation currently looks
Cy Young frontrunner Jacob Misiorowski will lead this team into the postseason with Logan Henderson not too far behind.
That's a one-two punch most teams could only dream of having, but the Brewers thought Harrison would be right there with those two.
Once they added May, it seemed obvious these four would get the Brewers over the hump that is the National League Championship Series.
As of Sept. 19, that's no longer the case.
Gasser has been the Brewers' most reliable starter out of the May and Harrison trio, so he could be the guy they give the ball to in game three.19
There's still a bit of time for May and Harrison to figure it out, so it's crucial they each make the most out of their last regular season start.
Should the Brewers clinch a bye sooner rather than later, there's a chance both are shut down for the rest of the year to get as much rest as possible before potentially being on the playoff roster.
