Rays and Brewers Open World Series on Friday, Guaranteeing a First-Time Champion
Game 1 is Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on FOX at American Family Field, where Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski starts against a Tampa Bay club that has yet to announce its pitching plans. One of the two title-less franchises will win its first championship.
The World Series begins on Friday night in Milwaukee, where the Brewers host the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, opening a best-of-seven series that will crown a first-time champion. The Rays, who won the American League pennant in 2008 and 2020, and the Brewers, whose only pennant came in 1982, have never won the Fall Classic.
Misiorowski gets the ball for Milwaukee
The Brewers confirmed on Tuesday that 24-year-old Jacob Misiorowski will start Game 1. The flame-throwing right-hander led Major League Baseball with a 1.80 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP, 252 strikeouts and a 232 ERA+ this season, according to Fox Sports, and he started Game 1 of both the National League Division Series against San Diego and the National League Championship Series against Los Angeles.
In the postseason, Misiorowski has a 3.24 ERA with an 11-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 8 1/3 innings, Sports Illustrated reported. Milwaukee needed just eight playoff games to reach the World Series: a first-round bye, a four-game win over the Padres, and a sweep of the Dodgers in which the Brewers’ pitching staff held Los Angeles to 11 runs in the series.
Tampa Bay keeps its Game 1 plan quiet
The Rays had still not revealed their pitching plans as of Thursday morning. Drew Rasmussen started Game 1 of both the ALDS and the ALCS, and then pitched Game 5 on Oct. 18, and he has been Tampa Bay’s workhorse: a 1.29 ERA with a 23-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 21 postseason innings, according to Sports Illustrated.
But MLB Trade Rumors reported Thursday that Tampa Bay officials were still deliberating. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal theorized that the Rays could hold Rasmussen back until Game 2 to give him extra rest, with Nick Martinez getting the ball in Game 1 and Freddy Peralta lined up for Game 3. The Rays won an American League-best 98 games this season, according to Fox Sports.
What to watch on Friday
The World Series should line up well for Christian Yelich, the Brewers’ newly named captain. Yelich did not play at all in Game 1 of the NLCS, when the Dodgers started lefty Tarik Skubal, and he also sat Game 3 against Blake Snell, so manager Pat Murphy will have him available against a Tampa Bay rotation that MLB Trade Rumors notes is entirely right-handed.
For the Rays, star hitter Junior Caminero closed the ALCS hitting cleanup after opening the series in his typical No. 3 spot and hitting third in all three ALDS games. Against Milwaukee’s righty-heavy rotation, he likely moves back up to third in the order on Friday.
Murphy has said the sweep of the Dodgers surprised even him, and he pointed to how his team kept coming back. “Got behind in every game and still came back and responded, and that’s what this whole thing is about,” he said on Fox Sports’ “The Herd” this week. “The most gratifying part is that these guys hung in there and said, ‘We’re not going to be denied.'”
Reporting based on coverage by Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated and MLB Trade Rumors.
