How Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers can win World Series - ESPN

The 2026 World Series is set and it will feature the Tampa Bay Rays taking on the Milwaukee Brewers.

After Milwaukee swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, Tampa Bay outlasted the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series.

What carried Milwaukee and Tampa Bay this far — and will it continue to work in a showdown of No. 1 seeds? Which stars will dominate the Fall Classic? And who else must come through? Our MLB experts provide your first look at this year's World Series matchup.

Note: Matchup odds come from Bradford Doolittle's formula using power ratings as the basis for 10,000 simulations to determine the most likely outcomes. Team temperatures are based on Bill James' formula for determining how «hot» or «cold» a team is at any given point; average is 72°.

This is a World Series between the best teams in their respective leagues all season. The Rays and Brewers are arguably the two best-run organizations in baseball. Neither has won a World Series. It's a great matchup.

The Brewers' bullpen has been the best of this year's playoff dozen, while the Rays' rotation has been the best in the field. However, the flip has been true as well: The Milwaukee starters have been very good, as has Tampa Bay's bullpen. Both have played good defense, with the Brewers leading all teams in playoff OPS allowed on balls in play, while the Rays rank fourth.

Thus, everything points to across-the-board elite run prevention and a bunch of low-scoring, close World Series games decided by who wins high-leverage moments. During the season, the Rays were baseball's best high-leverage pitching staff, while the Brewers topped the leaderboard in high-leverage