Tampa Bay and Milwaukee open the World Series Friday night in Milwaukee, with Drew Rasmussen facing Jacob Misiorowski in a duel of 16-game winners.
By The Beat Writer — CelebnMusic247
Somebody is winning a first championship in this series. That is the cleanest way to frame Game 1 of the 2026 World Series on Friday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Brewers host the Tampa Bay Rays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, per FOX and NBC Sports. Milwaukee is back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982, after winning an MLB-best 103 games and sweeping the defending back-to-back champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Tampa Bay, which won 98 games for the most in the American League, returns for the first time since 2020 after beating the Cleveland Guardians in six games in the ALCS, closing it out 7-3 on Monday night. Neither franchise has ever won the World Series — Tampa Bay lost in 2008 and 2020, Milwaukee lost its only previous appearance in 1982.
The Game 1 pitching matchup is as even as the records suggest. Per Sports Illustrated, Tampa Bay starts Drew Rasmussen, who went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA in the regular season and has allowed just three earned runs in 21 playoff innings, with three quality starts, 23 strikeouts and only three walks. He starts on regular rest after starting Game 5 of the ALCS. Milwaukee counters with Jacob Misiorowski, also 16-5, with a 1.80 ERA in the regular season, per SI. The difference is October length: Misiorowski has yet to get out of the fifth inning in his two postseason starts, allowing three runs on nine hits in 8.1 innings, though Milwaukee won both games anyway. Whoever blinks first between those two lines probably decides the night.
Rest is the other storyline, and it cuts both ways. Per SI, the Brewers will have had a full week off since finishing their sweep in Los Angeles on Thursday the 15th, which let them set their rotation exactly how they wanted it. The Rays had only three days off after their six-game ALCS. A rested bullpen helps in a short series, but a week without live pitching can dull a lineup’s timing.
The head-to-head offers a small, early clue. Milwaukee took two of three from Tampa Bay at home in the regular-season series from March 30 to April 1, per FOX, and Rasmussen’s own April 1 start in Milwaukee — two runs, one earned, in five innings — was solid without being dominant. Misiorowski’s April 1 rubber-match start against the Rays was better: two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts. Game 1 markets reflect that edge, listing Milwaukee as a home favorite at around -162 on the moneyline with a total of just six runs, per SI via DraftKings — a number that tells you the books expect pitching, not a slugfest.
Keep an eye on Tampa Bay’s closer in the story, too: Yandy Diaz promised a series-clinching win after Game 5 of the ALCS and then delivered the two-run homer in the eighth inning of the 7-3 clincher, per DraftKings Network’s recap. Players who call their shot and cash it tend to carry that confidence into the next round.
The 247 Take — On paper this is Milwaukee’s series to lose: best record, home field, rested arms and the likely NL Cy Young favorite on the mound in Game 1. But Rasmussen has been the steadier October starter, and if Tampa Bay steals Game 1 on the road, the week of rest suddenly looks like a week of rust.
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Sources: Sports Illustrated, FOX, NBC Sports, DraftKings Network
