Brewers Add Woodruff to World Series Roster — SkimNews
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- Brewers added Woodruff to the World Series roster on Friday before Game 1, replacing right-hander Chad Patrick from the NLCS roster and leaving the team with 13 pitchers and 13 position players.
- Woodruff had not pitched since July 4, when he left a start against the Arizona Diamondbacks with an inflamed right shoulder. Before the planned procedure—his second surgery in four years and one that would almost certainly end his 2026 season—imaging showed enough healing for a two-month throwing rehabilitation.
- Woodruff’s fastball velocity was reported at 92-93 mph in a simulated game earlier in the week, compared with 87 mph on July 4, and Brewers general manager Matt Arnold called him one of the most successful, dominant big-game pitchers he had been around.
- Woodruff posted a 2.98 ERA over nine starts before the injury and is a two-time All-Star who finished fifth in 2021 NL Cy Young balloting.
- Matt Arnold said MLB’s postseason roster rules constrained the selection, with a recurrence of Woodruff’s shoulder injury creating the possibility that Milwaukee would have to play a player short.
- Brewers entered the World Series matchup with a franchise-record 103 regular-season wins and a 7-1 postseason start; Woodruff, 33, is the club’s longest-tenured member.
- Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers’ Game 1 starter, called Woodruff “an awesome human being” and said he was “in there every day working.”
Why it matters: Milwaukee gains its longest-tenured player and a starter who posted a 2.98 ERA in nine outings, but MLB’s postseason replacement rules limit the move. Arnold said a recurrence of Woodruff’s shoulder injury created the possibility that the 13-pitcher roster would be short-handed, while the club enters with 103 regular-season wins and a 7-1 postseason start.
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