Milwaukee will finally get another World Series night, and by the time this matchup is settled, either the Brewers or Rays will own a first championship. The clubs with the best regular-season records in their respective leagues meet in Game 1 on Friday, with Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski set to face Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen in a Series loaded with hard throwers, deep bullpens and a little franchise history.
Key takeaways
- Game 1 is scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. ET at American Family Field, airing on FOX and FOX Deportes, with FOX One carrying the stream.
- The Brewers won a club-record 103 regular-season games, while the Rays finished with 98 victories.
- Milwaukee or Tampa Bay will become a World Series champion for the first time; Seattle, San Diego and Colorado are the other active clubs without a title.
- Rasmussen is lined up on four days’ rest after an 11-0, 1.73 ERA run over 15 starts following the All-Star break.
- Misiorowski led the majors during the regular season in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), WHIP (0.80) and opponents’ batting average (.157).
- The Brewers’ relievers have gone 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA through 40 2/3 postseason innings.
Game 1 belongs to the power arms
Rasmussen is the likely Tampa Bay choice, giving the Rays a familiar October formula: hand the ball to their ace and trust the rest of the staff to cover the late innings. There is an added wrinkle, too. Milwaukee drafted Rasmussen before sending him to the Rays five years ago.
Tampa Bay has won 14 of Rasmussen’s past 15 starts. He also opened Game 1 of both the ALDS and ALCS, and the Rays can follow him with Freddy Peralta on regular rest for Game 2. Peralta, another former Brewer, was named ALCS MVP. Nick Martinez and Griffin Jax are also fully rested options deeper in the rotation.
Misiorowski arrives with 11 full days between appearances against opposing hitters after Milwaukee put away the Dodgers in four games. Rest should matter for a young right-hander who has already pushed close to 190 innings, far beyond his previous workload.
His velocity remains the headline act. Misiorowski’s opening pitch in Game 1 of the NLDS against San Diego registered 104.8 mph, the fastest postseason pitch recorded in the tracking era that began in 2008. But the Padres made him grind through 30 foul balls over four innings and forced him out at 88 pitches. The Dodgers took a similar approach in NLCS Game 1, seeing 94 pitches in 4 1/3 innings; 21 of their 42 swings resulted in fouls. Misiorowski limited Los Angeles to one run anyway.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said the young right-hander showed another gear whenever traffic appeared on the bases. Murphy also acknowledged that the innings, stakes and workload can leave any young pitcher feeling the strain, even one capable of reaching triple digits.
The projected Game 1 batting orders lean into the matchup. Tampa Bay figures to stack its usual left-handed presence against Misiorowski, while Milwaukee has reason to retain the group that handled right-handed starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow in the NLCS.
Projected Rays lineup
- Yandy Díaz, DH
- Jonathan Aranda, 1B
- Junior Caminero, 3B
- Liam Hicks, C
- Chandler Simpson, LF
- Victor Mesa Jr., RF
- Jonny DeLuca, CF
- Richie Palacios, 2B
- Taylor Walls, SS
Projected Brewers lineup
- Jackson Chourio, LF
- Brice Turang, 2B
- William Contreras, C
- Jake Bauers, 1B
- Christian Yelich, DH
- Garrett Mitchell, CF
- Cooper Pratt, SS
- Sal Frelick, RF
- David Hamilton, 3B
October performers, late-inning relief and Milwaukee’s return
The Rays’ bullpen has been built around closer Bryan Baker, who has finished all seven Tampa Bay postseason wins and has thrown seven scoreless innings. Cam Booser has become the primary left-handed setup option, while Tyler Wells and Kevin Kelly are positioned for key work against right-handed bats. Tampa Bay also leaned on starters in relief during the first two rounds, including Peralta, Jax and Ian Seymour. Seymour developed into a regular left-handed bullpen presence, though his ALCS Game 6 outing was uneven.
Milwaukee’s relief corps has carried every decision in its eight postseason games. Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall have combined for 23 1/3 scoreless innings, limiting opponents to a .096 average. Ashby alone has worked 12 1/3 innings. Abner Uribe surrendered his first earned runs of the postseason in the Brewers’ comeback 6-2 victory in NLCS Game 3, when he allowed two runs and lost the lead, but he did not pitch in the clincher and enters the Series rested. The group follows a regular season in which Brewers relievers led the majors with 48 wins and topped the National League with a 3.40 ERA.
At the plate, Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz hit .333 in the ALCS, adding four doubles, two homers, four RBIs and a 1.061 OPS. His six postseason extra-base hits lead the league. Caminero announced himself in Game 6 against Cleveland, driving a two-run homer off the left-field foul pole against closer Cade Smith. Palacios went 6-for-12 in the ALCS and delivered a major two-run double, while Simpson again supplied speed at the top and bottom of rallies. Hicks, DeLuca, Walls and Mesa were quieter offensively in that round, but their defense remained important.
Bauers was Milwaukee’s NLCS MVP after driving in six runs, twice the total of any other player from either club in the series. His 12-pitch walk helped swing Game 2, then an 11-pitch homer in the seventh inning of Game 3 put the Brewers ahead. Contreras has hit .367 with five RBIs over eight postseason games. Chourio has driven in a team-leading seven runs despite a .171 average, going 6-for-35. His leadoff homer against Blake Snell in NLCS Game 3 gave him 18 career postseason RBIs, passing Andruw Jones for the most by a player before his 23rd birthday.
There is one Milwaukee roster question still hanging around the clubhouse. Brandon Woodruff has spent two weeks trying to make himself available after abandoning plans for season-ending shoulder surgery in August. He threw before the NLDS for the first time since that decision, then added a 31-pitch bullpen session at Dodger Stadium between Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS. Woodruff said he was not easing into the work, but was throwing as hard as his body allowed while staying within what he believed was safe. Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan, meanwhile, remains unavailable for the postseason but is expected back next spring.
American Family Field has never hosted a World Series game. Milwaukee has seen the Fall Classic before, however: the 1957 Braves and 1982 Brewers played their Series home games at County Stadium, west of the current park. A marker for County Stadium’s home plate remains on the concourse at the youth baseball and softball field now on that site.
It has been 44 years since the World Series last came to Milwaukee, a number that resonates in a city that remembers Hank Aaron. Aaron wore No. 44 and hit his 755th, and final, major league homer at County Stadium 50 years ago.
Two late-game trends will be worth watching from the first pitch. Teams scoring first have gone 23-12 this postseason, yet Milwaukee is 5-1 after allowing the opening run; every other club has combined to go 7-22 in those games. The Rays, meanwhile, are 92-0 across the regular season and playoffs when leading after eight innings. The last club to finish a full season and postseason unbeaten with at least 92 wins in that situation was the 2002 Athletics, who went 93-0 before losing in the Division Series.
As Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander put it amid Tampa Bay’s clinching celebration, this is a meeting of two exceptional teams. Four wins will decide which clubhouse gets to say something neither franchise has said before.
