World Series preview: Surprising Rays-Brewers showdown to open with Jacob Misiorowski’s record heat

Few predicted this pairing of pennant winners when the season opened March 25. The first World Series with robot umpires is the first since 1980 between teams seeking their first championship and also could be the first with a 104 mph pitch — thanks to Misiorowski — and the first to be played totally indoors.

“I’m excited to see two great teams that play the game a little differently than maybe it’s been played the last decade or so,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Milwaukee is in the Series for the second time after a 44-year absence — an appropriate number given that it was the jersey of the Cream City’s most famous baseball player, Hank Aaron, who became a star with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s and ended his career with the expansion Brewers in the 1970s.

Both teams fell short in previous Series trips, the Brewers losing to St. Louis in 1982 and the Rays to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. Not since the Phillies beat Kansas City in 1980 have two teams met seeking their first title. The time before that was in 1920.

Misiorowski is likely to set a World Series velocity record

Misiorowski, a 24-year-old right-hander in his first full major league season, is a starting pitcher like no other. He threw 1,115 pitches of 100 mph or higher this year — shattering the old high of 673 since tracking began in 2008, by Jordan Hicks in 2018.

His fastest pitch was 105.5 mph to the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 27, and he appears likely to break the 101.1 mph record for a Series starter by the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard in 2015 and possibly the overall Series high of 103.2 mph by Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman to Cleveland’s Coco Crisp in Game 2 of 2016.

Misiorowski didn’t finish the fifth inning in either of his first two postseason starts this year. Batters have swung at 94 of his 182 postseason pitches and fouled off 51 — 28% of pitches and 54% of swings.

“He hasn’t been as crisp,” Murphy said. “They’re obviously looking at an area. They’re trying to exploit everything. He’s exposed, like all these guys get at some point.”

The Brewers and Rays have throwback offenses

In an age where power bats usually rule, Milwaukee scored a major league-low 32.1% of its runs on homers and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“It’s cool that you don’t have to be that team to hit 170 home runs a game or whatever,” Misiorowski said. “You can win a baseball game so many different ways.”

Rays batters had the fewest strikeouts among the 30 teams and Tampa Bay’s 45 sacrifice bunts were the most among American League teams since 2015.

“I was a little discouraged for the last 10 or 15 years in the way the game had gone as far as relying on the home run, not worrying about strikeouts,” said Hall of Famer Robin Yount, a star of the ’82 Brewers. “The game today looks like they’re starting to really focus on playing baseball again.”

After back-to-back Dodgers titles, MLB will have a small-payroll champion

This marks the first time since 1991 that both Series teams are in the bottom half of payrolls: the Brewers were 19th as of Aug. 31 and the Rays 25th. Milwaukee, MLB’s smallest market, could become the first small-market champion since Kansas City in 2015. The Rays rank 15th in market size.

To reach the Series, the Brewers swept the deep-pocketed, two-time champion Dodgers in the NL Championship Series and the Rays swept the New York Yankees in an AL Division Series.

The highest-paid player in the Series, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, was 44th overall in the majors on opening day. Yandy Díaz, who earns most among the Rays, ranked 154th.

Robot umps are changing games

Batters have succeeded on 63% of challenges during the postseason in the first year of the Automated Ball-Strike System, winning 40 of 63 appeals to the robot umps. That is up from 49% during the regular season.

Catchers’ 58% success rate in the playoffs (58 of 99) is down a tick from 59% during the regular season and pitchers are 1 for 1 — Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax made the only challenge. The 60% overall rate is up from 54% in the regular season.

Tampa Bay’s batters have yet to make a postseason challenge. Milwaukee’s have won 4 of 7, including a perfect 2 for 2 by Jake Bauers.

Brewers catcher William Contreras has won 60% (12 of 20) and Rays catcher Liam Hicks 67% (8 of 12).

Rest vs rust: Extra time off hasn’t been helpful in recent years

Milwaukee will have had seven days off going into the opener.

While teams with less rest are 15-15 in the Series since Wild Card Era started in 1995, they are 12-4 since 2009.

Both teams are happy at home

Milwaukee and Tampa Bay tied for the best home record this year at 55-26.

Forced from Tropicana Field for 2025 after damage from Hurricane Milton, the Rays played across the bay at the Yankees’ spring training stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, and then returned to the refurbished Trop for 2026.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Ronald Blum, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

World Series preview: Surprising Rays-Brewers showdown to open with Jacob Misiorowski’s record heat

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