MILWAUKEE — October baseball has reached its ultimate destination, and it brings with it a matchup steeped in championship hunger and long-awaited glory. As the Milwaukee Brewers prepare to host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday evening for Game 1 of the 2026 World Series at American Family Field, both franchises stand on the precipice of baseball immortality. Neither organization has ever hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy, setting the stage for a Fall Classic that guarantees a first-time champion will be crowned.
This Fall Classic marks the first World Series meeting between two franchises without a title since 1980, when the Philadelphia Phillies triumphed over the Kansas City Royals in six games. For Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, the journey to this stage represents the culmination of organizational grit, player development, and stellar regular-season campaigns that have now translated into postseason brilliance.
The Brewers arrive in the championship series riding the wave of a historic regular season in which they captured a franchise-record 103 victories. Under the guidance of manager Pat Murphy, Milwaukee kept its momentum rolling through the National League playoffs, statement-making enough to sweep the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the National League Championship Series.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays carved their own arduous path through the American League, outlasting the Cleveland Guardians in a hard-fought six-game series in the American League Championship Series to secure their third World Series berth in franchise history. The Rays previously reached the Fall Classic in 2008, where they fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games, and again in 2020, losing in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For Milwaukee, this is just their second-ever appearance in the World Series, and their first in over four decades. The club’s lone previous trip came in 1982 during their years in the American League, when the charismatic squad fondly remembered as "Harvey’s Wallbangers" fell just short, losing 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals in a dramatic, decisive seventh game. Now, forty-four years later, Brewers fans are eager to witness their team take that final, elusive step.
Misiorowski Seeks to Rediscover Dominance
The opening salvo of the series will feature a compelling duel on the mound between Milwaukee’s flamethrowing young phenom and Tampa Bay’s crafty veteran. The Brewers will turn to hard-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski to set the tone in Game 1, looking for their ace to regain his untouchable regular-season form on the grandest stage in the sport.
Misiorowski enjoyed a breakout regular season that established him as the prohibitive favorite for the National League Cy Young Award. The 24-year-old right-hander finished the campaign with a dazzling 16-5 record, a league-leading 1.80 ERA, and a major-league-best 252 strikeouts, regularly terrorizing opposing hitters with a fastball that routinely crosses the plate at triple-digit speeds, often topping 100 mph.
Yet, despite his regular-season dominance, Misiorowski has faced a steeper learning curve in his maiden postseason voyage. Through his first two playoff starts, the young right-hander has not managed to pitch through the fifth inning, though the resilient Brewers bullpen and timely hitting allowed Milwaukee to rally and win both contests. He opened the National League Division Series with a gritty outing in a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres, followed by another short start in a 2-1 triumph against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS opener.
Across those two postseason appearances, Misiorowski has labored through trouble, yielding three runs on nine hits over 8 1/3 innings of work, while racking up 11 strikeouts against four walks.
"I feel good. I feel like the first one might have been a little under what I expected, but the second one was pretty much right where I wanted to be," Misiorowski reflected on his postseason progression ahead of Friday’s opener.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy acknowledged that opposing teams have adjusted their approaches, treating the young fireballer with hyper-focus and refusing to be easily overwhelmed by his sheer velocity.
"He hasn’t been as crisp," Murphy noted. "I don’t think people are up there thinking it’s going to be 104, and I think they’re elated if it’s anything less than that. They’re obviously looking at an area. They’re trying to exploit everything. He’s exposed, like all these guys get at some point."
Veterans and Bullpens Set the Stage
Opposing Misiorowski in Game 1 will be Tampa Bay’s veteran right-hander Nick Martinez. The 36-year-old pitcher has carved out a wealth of postseason experience over the years, having pitched in October with the San Diego Padres in 2022 and the Cincinnati Reds last season, but Friday will mark his very first World Series appearance.
Martinez earned the victory in Game 4 of the ALCS, helping the Rays even the series with a stellar 7-3 win in Cleveland where he surrendered just one run on two hits across 5 1/3 innings. Rays manager Kevin Cash praised the veteran’s adaptability, particularly given the challenging conditions.
"He was pitching in pretty cold weather in Cleveland," Cash said. "Made some adjustments, he got the strike throwing where he wanted, the cutter gone, and the changeup. I don’t even know, somebody told me he changed his grip in between innings, between the first and second. I’m glad I didn’t know that in the moment."
That performance followed a solid start in Game 3 of the ALDS, where Martinez allowed two runs over 3 2/3 innings during an eventual 4-3 victory that helped sweep the New York Yankees. In his career against Milwaukee during the regular season, Martinez holds an 0-1 record with a 4.44 ERA across 12 games, including seven starts, though he has fared better at American Family Field with a 2.93 ERA in eight appearances.
Looking ahead in the rotation, Tampa Bay plans to hand the ball to ace Drew Rasmussen in Game 2 with the benefit of an extra day of rest, followed by former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in Game 3.
"It’s exciting," Martinez said on Thursday. "I think as a team, as a staff, we’re confident in whoever we call up for the mound. It fell on me, and my job is just to rack up as many outs as we can and keep us in this ballgame."
Both bullpens enter the Fall Classic boasting elite shut-down capabilities. The Brewers’ relief corps has been virtually unhittable this postseason, allowing a meager six runs across 40 2/3 innings for an astonishing 1.33 ERA. Closer Trevor Megill has anchored the back end of the bullpen with four postseason saves, building on a stellar regular-season campaign in which he converted 30 saves.
Tampa Bay counters with its own late-inning anchor in closer Bryan Baker, who tied for the major-league lead with 41 saves during the regular season. Baker has been a workhorse this October, converting all five of his postseason save opportunities while appearing in seven of the Rays’ nine playoff games.
Power Bats and Postseason Surges
Offensively, both teams have experienced unique trajectories to reach the championship round. Milwaukee finished the regular season sitting at the bottom of the National League with 154 home runs, but the bats have come alive in October. The Brewers lead all playoff teams with 10 home runs through their first eight games, while the Rays have clubbed seven long balls in nine games.
Catcher William Contreras has been a vital offensive engine for Milwaukee, batting .367 with three home runs and five RBIs through the first two rounds. Outfielder Jackson Chourio has also made a massive impact despite a .171 batting average, pacing the team with seven RBIs and slugging two crucial homers.
Meanwhile, utility man Jake Bauers—who originally broke into the major leagues with the Rays in 2018—was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player after hitting .286 with one home run and six RBIs against the Dodgers. Bauers put together a career year during the regular season, establishing personal bests with 26 home runs and 86 RBIs.
For Tampa Bay, the lineup continues to look for an offensive spark from star third baseman Junior Caminero. Despite launching 42 regular-season home runs to finish second in the American League, Caminero has endured a cold stretch this October, collecting just one hit in his first 33 postseason at-bats. As the Rays look to capture their first World Series title, unlocking the middle of their order will be paramount against Milwaukee’s formidable pitching staff.