The Rays and Brewers Have Never Won a World Series. Baseball Guaranteed a First-Time Champion on Monday Night.
The 2026 World Series is going to produce a champion that has never existed. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 at Tropicana Field on Monday night to win the American League Championship Series in six games, and on Friday they open the Fall Classic against a Milwaukee Brewers team that has been waiting even longer than they have.
Neither franchise has ever won a title. The Rays have lost two World Series, in 2008 to the Phillies and in 2020 to the Dodgers. The Brewers have not been back since 1982, when they lost in seven games to the Cardinals as an American League club. This is the first World Series between two title-less teams since 1980.
The ALCS MVP Is a Pitcher Milwaukee Developed
Freddy Peralta threw 12 innings across two starts and one relief appearance against Cleveland, allowed one run, struck out nine and walked six. He pitched in three of Tampa Bay’s four wins, including Game 6, where he went 5 1/3 innings to get the victory.
Peralta pitched for the Brewers from 2018 through 2025. The Mets traded him to Tampa Bay at this year’s deadline after he put up a 4.99 ERA across 113 2/3 innings in New York. As a Ray he has a 2.75 ERA in 72 innings counting the postseason, and he becomes a free agent in a few weeks.
“Milwaukee is the team and the city that gave me the opportunity to make my dream,” Peralta said after winning the award.
How Game 6 Got Away From Cleveland
Richie Palacios opened the scoring with a two-out, two-run double in the second. Junior Caminero hit his first career playoff home run in the seventh, a two-run shot off the left-field foul pole, and Yandy Diaz added a two-run homer in the eighth in front of a sellout crowd of 40,230.
Yandy Diaz had said before the game that “it all ends tomorrow.” Manager Kevin Cash kept his response short. “I’m really glad he backed it up,” Cash said.
Cleveland’s championship drought now stands at 78 years.
Milwaukee Has Been Resting Since Last Thursday
The Brewers swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, closing out the two-time defending champions 6-4 in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 15. Jake Bauers won NLCS MVP. Milwaukee went 103-59 in the regular season, the best record in baseball and a franchise record, and this is the first National League pennant in team history.
Tampa Bay went 98-64 and won the AL East with the best record in the American League. Both clubs finished in the bottom half of the sport in payroll, which is an inconvenient result for a league heading toward a labor fight over a salary cap.
Rasmussen Against Misiorowski, Probably
Game 1 is 8 p.m. ET Friday at American Family Field on FOX, the first World Series game ever played in that building. Neither team has formally named a starter, but the expected matchup is Drew Rasmussen against Jacob Misiorowski.
Rasmussen went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA over 30 starts and 172 innings, and he was 11-0 with a 1.73 ERA after the All-Star break. He is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA across three postseason starts. He also arrived in Tampa Bay from Milwaukee, in the 2021 Willy Adames trade.
Misiorowski led the majors in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and opponents’ batting average: 16-5, 1.80, 252 strikeouts, a 0.802 WHIP and a .157 average against over 174 2/3 innings. He has thrown 8 1/3 innings this October and will have had 11 days between appearances.
Pat Murphy, who has won the last two NL Manager of the Year awards, is not pretending otherwise. “The kid’s bound to be a little bit tired, you know what I mean?” Murphy said.
Milwaukee is the pick. The Brewers have home field, the best record in the sport, a rested rotation and a bullpen that did not have to survive a six-game pennant series. Tampa Bay counters with the hottest starter in baseball and a lineup that refuses to strike out. A Game 7 would fall on Halloween, and this series feels like it gets there.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
