Rays’ Drew Rasmussen gets Game 2 start against the Brewers, the team he once called home

Drew Rasmussen will make the Game 2 start for the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays against his former team, the National League champion Milwaukee Brewers, at American Family Field on Saturday night. The contrast is personal as well as professional, since Rasmussen said he would have found himself rooting for Milwaukee if circumstances had been different.

Rasmussen’s connection to the Brewers goes back to the way he entered the majors. Milwaukee selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft after he carried an injury history that included two Tommy John surgeries. He later debuted in Milwaukee and built relationships there that remain part of his routine when the Brewers play.

Despite that early Brewers chapter, Rasmussen’s current opportunity is tied to Tampa Bay. The Rays acquired him in a May 21, 2021 trade from Milwaukee that sent shortstop Willy Adames and right-hander Trevor Richards to the Brewers in exchange for J.P. Feyereisen and Rasmussen.

Rasmussen’s development as a starter has been shaped by a different arc than a typical straight line. After his early bullpen role in Milwaukee, the article notes that by the time he reached his current form with Tampa Bay he had developed a larger, more reliable pitching arsenal, a change supported by how he’s handled his expanded responsibilities in recent seasons.

Tampa Bay’s pitching plan also has a health-and-recovery angle. The team announced Nick Martinez would start Game 1 instead of Rasmussen, and the reasoning described in the report centered on allowing Rasmussen to pitch on five days’ rest rather than four. With a history that includes three major elbow surgeries, and a 172-inning workload across 30 regular-season starts plus 21 more innings in three postseason outings, the Rays’ approach is aimed at getting him to the mound “at full strength.”

Rasmussen also brings recent, place-based familiarity to the matchup. The story says he made his second start of the season at American Family Field, limiting Milwaukee to two runs (one earned) while striking out eight over five innings, and it adds that he has thrown more innings there than at any other park besides a handful of major league venues.

For Rasmussen, the Game 2 setting is a double reminder. The article describes how he remembers what an electric home crowd looks like in Wisconsin and frames this start as both a reunion and a hurdle, with the Rays competing to win their own World Series title.