4 reasons to get excited about the World Series showdown between the Brewers and Rays

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

This introduction to the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays will not make mention of which teams are not playing in the World Series – even if that’s all many folks want to talk about.

That would be a disservice to the very deserving teams that will take the field at 8 p.m. ET on Friday when the Brewers host the Rays in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.

Suffice to say, however, that a neutral fan – and, given the size of the media markets directly involved, there are more of those than there have been in recent years – will likely have less of a visceral reaction to a Rays-Brewers World Series. If you are not from Milwaukee or the Tampa Bay area, perhaps you do not know who to root for or what to watch or, frankly, why to watch.

Here are four reasons to tune in to this year’s edition:

Small payrolls may have imbued both teams with an underdog vibe as they made their way through the postseason bracket, but don’t be fooled: This matchup is total chalk, two one-seeds. The Tampa Bay Rays had the best record in the American League, the Brewers had the best record in the National League and all of Major League Baseball .

That success is not entirely new, either.

The Brewers had the best record in baseball last year, too, before they were swept out of the playoffs by the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers . In fact, if you go back to the start of 2024, the beginning of when that Dodger dominance started to feel inevitable, no team has won more games than the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Rays, known for punching above their weight in the big-spending American League East, missed the playoffs entirely the past two years. But a longer lens reveals how they’ve earned a reputation as perennial contenders. The Rays, MLB’s newest team, made the playoffs for the first time in 2008. Starting with that season through today – a 19-year span – only the New York Yankees and Dodgers have won more regular season games.

Why baseball teams party so hard and so often in October

Within the sport, this sustained success has earned both organizations a reputation for being smart, savvy, and worth emulating. Front offices around the league are populated with people who honed their skills in Tampa or Milwaukee – and that actually includes Milwaukee.

Matt Arnold, now the Brewers president of baseball operations, spent nearly a decade in the Rays’ organization before coming to Milwaukee. Just about 24 hours before the World Series began, Arnold greeted the current Rays’ president of baseball operations Erik Neander, who started as an intern in Tampa while Arnold was a scout there, on the field. Neander lifted Arnold airborne and wrapped him in a bear hug.

“Still really good friends,” Arnold said of the relationships he still has in that front office. “Maybe not this week, but for sure for a lifetime. I consider them some of my closest friends.”

All that respect and regular season success has yet to translate to a ring for either franchise. There are five MLB teams that have never won a World Series. After this season, there will be four.

That alone imbues this series with compellingly straightforward stakes. For the Rays, it has been 29 years of existence and two failed trips to the Fall Classic, most recently in the neutral-site Covid-19 World Series in 2020. For the Brewers, it’s been 58 years of existence and they haven’t played in the final game of a season since 1982, before many of their current fans were even born.

The Rays, in particular, are often mocked on a national level for their fickle Florida fanbase that would rather enjoy the year-round sun than sit in the necessary traffic to get to games in St. Petersburg. But when the broadcast cuts to either crowd in a clinching scenario, keep in mind the people who are there are hoping to see history made.

Talk to your parents about baseball and see how quickly it takes them to bring up that, back in their day, hitters used to put the ball in play. Now, everyone just swings for the fences and all too often winds up striking out.

Well, mom and dad, have I got good news for you. Tune in to this World Series for a throwback in style. The matchup features the two teams with the highest batting averages in the regular season – the Brewers were best in the sport, the Rays a close second. The Rays had the lowest strikeout rate in the game. The Brewers scored the second-most runs in the sport while hitting the second fewest home runs.

Jeffrey Phelps/MLB Photos/Getty Images

How Milwaukee’s silly sausages became one of the most beloved spectacles in baseball

You will probably see someone bunt for a hit. The Rays’ 49 bunt hits in the regular season were not only a league-high this season, it’s the most any team has had since 2008 . The Brewers were second in the sport this season in bunt hits. And if it’s Rays’ speed specialist Chandler Simpson who reaches first on a ball that fails to leave the infield, you will probably see a stolen base soon after. Simpson’s 46 steals led the American League in the regular season. He has never hit a home run in the majors.

This style tends to amount to close, low-scoring games. So maybe not the most fireworks, but plenty of drama.

Something else you’re likely to see in this World Series? The fastest pitch and the slowest home run trot in Fall Classic history.

The former will undoubtedly be supplied by Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers’ 24-year-old flame-throwing phenom and probable Cy Young Award winner. To set a new speed record, he needs to top the 103.2 mph reached by Aroldis Chapman in 2016.

And will he? Oh, absolutely. His first pitch of the Brewers’ postseason this year was 104.8 mph. The Miz is a miracle of mechanics and strength and human extremes.

Pitchers throw faster than ever. It’s a problem

“Arguably one of the best arms to ever touch a dirt circle in the big leagues,” Kyle Snyder, the opposing Rays pitching coach, told CNN Sports . “I mean, what a fantastic season and what an incredible talent.”

That blink-and-you’ll-miss-it stuff will be juxtaposed on the basepaths by the unhurried one-man parade put on by Rays’ third baseman Junior Caminero if he homers.

And will he? He’s got as good a chance as anyone else who steps to the plate this series.

Over the past two seasons combined, Caminero has the second-most home runs in baseball. He’s 23 years old, playing in his first postseason, and soaking up every second of it. When he homered in the clinch Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Caminero staged an elaborate celebration that took 38.66 seconds to round the base paths.

It was the slowest uninterrupted playoff home trot since MLB Statcast started measuring in 2015 – and the second slowest ever, behind only another one from Caminero in September of this season.

The Miz and Junior aren’t yet household names. But this World Series could change that.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

这篇关于密尔沃基酿酒人和坦帕湾光芒队的介绍不会提及哪些球队没有参加世界大赛——即使很多人只想谈论这个话题。

那样做对那些非常值得一战的球队来说是一种不公平，他们将于周五晚上 8 点（美国东部时间）上场比赛，届时酿酒人队将在世界大赛第一场比赛中主场迎战光芒队。

不过，可以肯定的是，中立球迷——考虑到直接相关的媒体市场规模，这类球迷的数量比近年来要多——对光芒队和酿酒人队的世界大赛可能不会有那么强烈的情感反应。如果你不是密尔沃基或坦帕湾地区的居民，你可能不知道该支持哪支球队，该看什么比赛，或者坦白说，你甚至不知道为什么要看这场比赛。

以下是收看今年节目的四个理由：

两队薪资水平不高，这或许让他们在季后赛征程中都带有一丝不被看好的姿态，但千万别被这种表象迷惑：这场比赛胜负已定，两支头号种子球队势均力敌。坦帕湾光芒队拥有美联最佳战绩，而密尔沃基酿酒人队则拥有国联乃至整个美国职业棒球大联盟的最佳战绩。

这种成功也并非完全是新鲜事。

去年，酿酒人队也曾拥有棒球界最佳战绩，但在季后赛中被最终的冠军洛杉矶道奇队横扫出局。事实上，如果追溯到2024年初，也就是道奇队开始展现统治力的时期，没有哪支球队的胜场数超过密尔沃基酿酒人队。

坦帕湾光芒队素以在财力雄厚的美国联盟东区逆势而上而闻名，但过去两年却无缘季后赛。然而，纵观历史，他们早已赢得了“常年劲旅”的美誉。作为美国职棒大联盟（MLB）的新军，光芒队在2008年首次打入季后赛。从那个赛季至今的19年间，只有纽约扬基队和洛杉矶道奇队的常规赛胜场数超过了他们。

为什么棒球队在十月份如此频繁、如此疯狂地庆祝？

在体育界，这种持续的成功为这两支球队赢得了精明、老练且值得效仿的声誉。联盟各队的管理层中，不乏曾在坦帕或密尔沃基磨练技艺的人士——事实上，这其中也包括密尔沃基本身。

现任酿酒人队棒球运营总裁的马特·阿诺德在来到密尔沃基之前，曾在光芒队效力近十年。就在世界大赛开赛前大约24小时，阿诺德在球场上热情地迎接了现任光芒队棒球运营总裁埃里克·尼安德。尼安德最初在坦帕湾光芒队担任实习生，而阿诺德当时是那里的球探。尼安德一把将阿诺德举了起来，给了他一个熊抱。

“他们仍然是非常好的朋友，”阿诺德谈到他与球队管理层的关系时说道。“也许这周不是，但肯定会是一辈子。我把他们视为我最亲密的朋友。”

尽管两支球队都赢得了尊重，常规赛也取得了成功，但至今仍未获得总冠军戒指。目前MLB共有五支球队从未赢得过世界大赛冠军。本赛季结束后，这个数字将变为四支。

单凭这一点就足以让这场系列赛充满扣人心弦的意义。对于光芒队来说，他们已经走过了29个年头，两次闯入世界大赛却都铩羽而归，最近一次是在2020年因新冠疫情而改在中立场地举行的世界大赛。而对于酿酒人队来说，他们已经走过了58个年头，自1982年以来就再也没有打进过赛季的最后一场比赛，那时他们现在的许多球迷甚至都还没出生。

坦帕湾光芒队尤其经常因为其善变的佛罗里达球迷群体而受到全国的嘲笑，这些球迷宁愿享受全年阳光，也不愿忍受前往圣彼得堡观看比赛的拥堵路程。但当比赛进入关键时刻，电视转播切换到双方球迷的画面时，请记住，在场的球迷都渴望见证历史的诞生。

跟父母聊聊棒球，看看他们很快就会提起，在他们那个年代，击球手都是把球打进场内。现在，每个人都只想着打全垒打，结果往往三振出局。

爸妈，我有个好消息要告诉你们！这届世界大赛绝对精彩纷呈，值得一看。两支球队在常规赛中打击率最高，酿酒人队高居榜首，光芒队紧随其后。光芒队的三振​​率是全联盟最低的。酿酒人队的得分排名联盟第二，但全垒打数却是联盟第二少。

Jeffrey Phelps/MLB Photos/Getty Images

密尔沃基的滑稽香肠是如何成为棒球界最受欢迎的奇观之一的？

你很可能会看到有人用触击短打上垒。光芒队在常规赛中完成了49次触击短打，不仅是本赛季联盟最高，也是自2008年以来所有球队中最多的。酿酒人队本赛季的触击短打次数排名联盟第二。如果光芒队的速度型球员钱德勒·辛普森（Chandler Simpson）接住未飞出内野的球上到一垒，你很可能很快就会看到他盗垒成功。辛普森在常规赛中完成了46次盗垒，领跑美联。他还没有在大联盟击出过本垒打。

这种风格的比赛往往比分接近，比分偏低。所以可能没有太多精彩刺激的场面，但绝对充满戏剧性。

你很可能在本届世界大赛中还会看到什么？秋季经典赛历史上最快的投球和最慢的本垒打跑垒。

毫无疑问，速度纪录将由酿酒人队24岁的神童投手雅各布·米西奥罗夫斯基（Jacob Misiorowski）贡献，他极有可能获得赛扬奖。要想创造新的速度纪录，他需要超越阿罗迪斯·查普曼（Aroldis Chapman）在2016年创下的103.2英里/小时的纪录。

他会做到吗？当然会。他今年在酿酒人队季后赛的第一球就投出了104.8英里/小时的球速。米兹简直是投球机制、力量和人类极限的完美结合。

投手投球速度比以往任何时候都快。这是一个问题。

“他可以说是大联盟历史上最优秀的投手之一，”对方光芒队的投手教练凯尔·斯奈德告诉CNN体育频道。“我的意思是，多么精彩的一个赛季，多么令人难以置信的天赋。”

如果光芒队的三垒手小卡米内罗击出本垒打，他将在垒间悠闲地独自庆祝，与这种稍纵即逝的精彩场面形成鲜明对比。

他会赢吗？他和其他任何一位本系列赛的击球手一样，都有机会。

过去两个赛季，卡米内罗的本垒打数在棒球界排名第二。他年仅23岁，这是他第一次参加季后赛，他无比珍惜每一秒。在美联冠军系列赛第六场对阵克利夫兰卫士队的决胜局中，卡米内罗击出一记本垒打，随后他精心策划了一场庆祝动作，绕垒一周耗时38.66秒。

这是自 MLB Statcast 于 2015 年开始测量以来最慢的季后赛主场不间断慢跑——也是有史以来第二慢的，仅次于本赛季 9 月份卡米内罗的另一次慢跑。

米兹和朱尼尔现在还不是家喻户晓的人物。但这次世界大赛或许会改变这一切。