A game in the making for 44 years. Finally, Game 1 of the World Series is finally here. The Milwaukee Brewers will face the Tampa Bay Rays to determine who will be the champion in 2026.
Both teams are looking for their first World Series title. The Rays have been here twice before, in 2008 and again in 2020. The Brewers have only been here once, since 1982.
Both teams were the best in their league this year. The Brewers cruised through the National League with a 103-59 record, winning the NL Central by 14 games. The Rays won the AL East by 4.5 games. In the HL, the Brewers eliminated the San Diego Padres in four games, while the Rays swept the New York Yankees in three. Then in the LCS, the Brewers swept the Dodgers in four games, while the Rays fell behind to the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 in three games, but then reeled off three straight wins to beat Cleveland in six.
The Rays have had three full days off since their last game. The Brewers had a bye week. Finally, after all this waiting, we’re back to baseball.
Veteran Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff is also returning to baseball. Woodruff hasn’t pitched in a game since July 4, but he has been recovering from a shoulder injury, and after throwing live BP to the Brewers’ best hitters during the week, Woodruff was placed on the 26-man roster for the World Series.
“I expressed how I felt about things and where I stood, and I was very honest and very open. At the end of the day, I wanted one thing, whether I was on the roster or not, and that was to win. So whatever the decision was, I was OK with that,” Woodruff said.
“We feel like there’s a window where he can help us. That was the whole decision. It’s not great, we love Woody, he’s great for the organization, because he’s already told us, I don’t want to be a sympathy pick. I want to be a pick because I can help the team. Then you go through all the things and you say, can he help us? The answer is yes, he can definitely help us.'” Pat Murphy said.
The Brewers removed Chad Patrick to make room for Woodruff, who had not pitched in either the NLDS or NLCS.
Woodruff will not start the first game, however. Unsurprisingly, that honor goes to Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski started every Game 1 of the playoffs for the Brewers. He hasn’t been as sharp as he was during the regular season, which may be due in part to fatigue after a long year with more innings than he’s ever pitched. Even though he didn’t go as deep in games or be as accurate, he still kept the Brewers in those games, and the Brewers won both of his starts.
On the other hand, the Rays will have Nick Martinez on the mound, giving an extra day of rest to Tampa aces Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta. Martinez had a 3.10 ERA in the regular season. In his two postseason starts, Martinez went 3 2/3 IP and allowed two earned runs in his start against the Yankees. Then in the ALCS, Martinez had 5 1/3 IP, allowing just two hits and one run.
The Brewers are shaking things up a bit with their roster. Jackson Chourio remains in the lead; it is unchanged. But after him, Jake Bauers is batting second and Christian Yelich is third. Next, William Contreras does the batting cleanup, followed by Brice Turang and Garrett Mitchell. Cooper Pratt is at shortstop in seventh while Sal Frelick and David Hamilton round out the bottom of the order. That’s three righties in the lineup, each with two lefties between them.
The Rays lineup is also intriguing. Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda bat 1-2 at the top of the order. This is not new. But Chandler Simpson, the speedster, with a whopping zero career home runs in his two years in the league, occupies the third batting spot, a traditional power spot. His role is to get on base for the real cleanup of power hitter Junior Caminero. Liam Hicks and Jonny Deluca complete the rest of the middle order. Then Victor Mesa Jr., Ben Williamson and Taylor Walls round out the bottom of the lineup.
These are the Brewers and Rays of the 122nd World Series. Here we go.
Gn sports
