Finally, the World Series ‘plays ball’

Who are you picking in baseball’s World Series – the Milwaukee Brewers or the Tampa Bay Rays?

 

It should be a barnburner, as Major League Baseball’s two best teams this year have survived the early playoff rounds.

The best-of-seven championship round started Oct. 23. If the series goes the distance, Game 7 is slated for Saturday, Oct. 31 – Halloween. That is barring any rainouts, of course. (FYI: The latest date that any World Series has ended was Nov. 5, 2022, when the Houston Astros topped the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.)

This a crazy time of year, with the end of Daylight Saving Time looming on Sunday, Nov. 1. All at the same time, we have professional sports going on in all four major sports – baseball, football, hockey and basketball.

Here’s what you need to know about the World Series.

 

In 2026, the Brewers, as National League champions, get the home field advantage to potentially host four games, because Milwaukee had the better record, 103-59, compared the 98-64 record posted by Tampa Bay in the American League.

 

The home park of the Milwaukee Brewers is American Family Field (formerly known as Miller Park) in Milwaukee. It has a seating capacity of 41,900.

Tampa Bay’s home park is Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, which can accommodate 31,042 spectators.

What makes this year’s World Series extra special is that neither the Brewers nor the Rays has ever won the World Series.

Founded in 1970, the Brewers have appeared in the World Series just once. 

In 1982, Milwaukee lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3.

In the beginning, the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly the Seattle Pilots) were placed in the American League. 

The team was switched to the National League, however, in 1998 to balance out the composition of the two leagues.

The move was prompted, in part, due to the expansion of Major League Baseball…and the decision to award a new franchise to Tampa Bay, also in 1998.

(This realignment is rare. In the modern era of MLB, only two franchises have switched leagues. The other team to do it was the Houston Astros, moving from the National League to the American League in 2013.)

For the first 10 seasons, Tampa Bay’s nickname was the Devil Rays. New ownership in 2008 brought a rebranding to just call ‘em the Rays, with the focus shifting to rays of sunshine (in the “Sunshine State”), while still keeping a small stingray image to honor the team’s history.

The Rays have played twice in the World Series, losing both times – in 2008 to the Philadelphia Phillies (4 games to 1) and in 2020 to the Los Angeles Dodgers (4 games to 2).

The only holdover from that 2020 Rays squad still on the team roster is Yandy Díaz; he is listed primarily as the designated hitter. 

Díaz is one of the team’s offensive leaders, along with Junior Caminero, the regular third baseman. 

On the mound, Drew Rasmussen is the ace of the Rays’ pitching corps.

The premier hitters on the 2026 Brewers’ team are Andrew Vaughn (shown above), the first baseman, and Jackson Chourio (shown below), who usually plays leftfield, but the team has a lot of firepower through the entire lineup. 

Milwaukee’s pitching rotation is anchored by Jacob Misiorowski.

 

Two players in the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., spent a portion of their careers in Tampa Bay. They are Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff.

Milwaukee’s long history as a “great baseball town” was rewarded in 1953, when the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves.

Playing in the National League, the Milwaukee club won the World Series in 1957, defeating the New York Yankees (4 games to 3). 

The two squads faced off again in the 1958 World Series, but the Yankees prevailed that year (4 games to 3).

Management accepted lucrative incentives to move the Braves franchise from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.

Five MLB Hall of Famers spent time with the Milwaukee Braves: They are Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, Red Schoendienst and Enos Slaughter.

 

Warren Spahn

Since professional baseball returned to Milwaukee, when the Brewers were established in 1970, nine players have been inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. They are: Hank Aaron (again), Rollie Fingers, Trevor Hoffman, Paul Molitor, Dave Parker, CC Sabathia, Ted Simmons, Don Sutton and Robin Yount (shown below).

 

So, the difference-maker in this year’s World Series, in my humble opinion, is going to be “the spirit of late and great Bob Uecker.” He was regarded by many as “Mr. Milwaukee.”

Uecker died in 2025 at age 90, after a “baseball career” that spanned more than seven decades, first as a professional player and then as a broadcaster.

 

Bob Uecker came up as a catcher, managing to land a contract with his hometown team, the Milwaukee Braves. He was called up from the minor leagues by the Braves in 1962 as the third-string catcher behind Joe Torre and Del Crandell.

 

In all, Uecker spent six years in the majors (from 1962-67), but it was his charisma, sense of humor and wit that led him into the radio broadcasting booth in 1971. He quickly became a beloved announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers. 

His career behind the microphone spanned 54 seasons, next to the longest all time (after Denny Matthews, broadcaster with the Kansas City Royals, who started in 1969 and is still active).

Uecker boasted about his .200 career batting average, putting him on par with the legendary Don Carter, who averaged 200 over a 10-year period. Carter was a bowler.

With the Atlanta Braves in 1967, Uecker was the personal catcher for knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro. “I was more like the personal chaser,” Uecker said. “I set a major league record for 27 passed balls in 1967.” (Niekro was responsible for 25 of them.)

Uecker joked that the only sure way to “catch” a Niekro knuckleball was “to just wait until it stopped rolling and pick it up.”

As a spokesperson for Milwaukee’s own Miller Lite beer. he was featured in tons of commercials in the 1970s and ’80s. In one commercial, Uecker was seen preparing to watch a baseball game when an usher informs him that he is in the wrong seat. Uecker pompously remarks, “I must be in the front row.”

Uecker’s seat was actually in the nosebleed section. Today, there is a section of $1 seating called the “Uecker seats” in Milwaukee’s ballpark, referencing where Uecker sat in the Miller Lite commercials. 

These seats in Section 422 have an “obstructed view” (in the upper grandstand above home plate). 

It is here where the Brewers decided in 2014 to put a statue of Uecker in the very last row.

 

Statue designer Brian Maughan…included an extra seat next to the seated Uecker. The idea was that fans who made a donation to the Brewers Community Foundation or the Make A Wish Foundation would get to take their picture made alongside the likeness of Uecker.”

 If you listen real closely, you can hear Uecker’s voice raining down on the home plate umpire: “He missed the tag! He missed the tag!”