The 2026 World Series Is Set, and Neither Team Has Ever Won One

Friday night in Milwaukee, a World Series will start that almost nobody predicted in March. The Tampa Bay Rays will walk into American Family Field to face the Milwaukee Brewers, and for the first time since 1980, both teams in the Fall Classic will be playing for their first championship. Somebody is going to lift a trophy they have never touched before. That has not happened in 46 years, and that alone makes this October special.

Think about what had to happen for us to get here. The Rays had to finish off the Cleveland Guardians, whose fan base now waits 78 years between titles. The Brewers had to sweep the two-time defending champion Dodgers out of the National League. Two small-market teams with a combined payroll that big-market clubs spend on three stars, and here they are, playing for everything. This is the throwback World Series, and it might be the best one in years.

How the Rays finished off Cleveland

Monday night at Tropicana Field, the Rays won the American League pennant with a 7-3 Game 6 win that was 18 years to the day since they captured the first AL pennant in franchise history. Richie Palacios opened the scoring in the second inning with a two-run double into the right-center gap, and then the two biggest swings of the night came from two players Cleveland once had and let go.

Junior Caminero launched a two-run homer in the seventh, the first postseason home run of his career. He celebrated by slapping his chest and then posing with his arms folded at home plate, a nod to former Rays slugger Randy Arozarena, who was sitting in the crowd. On TNT Sports after the game, Caminero screamed “Tampa, this is for you,” doing his best impression of LeBron James after the 2016 NBA Finals. Then Yandy Diaz, the man who guaranteed after Game 5 that “we’re going to win tomorrow,” hit a two-run homer in the eighth that put the game out of reach. “A lot of people didn’t believe me, but here are the results,” Diaz said.

Here is the detail that stings for Cleveland: both Caminero and Diaz were signed by the Guardians organization (Diaz out of Cuba in 2013, Caminero out of the Dominican Republic in 2019) and both were traded to Tampa Bay. Palacios also began his career with Cleveland. The Rays won the pennant with Cleveland’s castoffs doing the damage.

The eighth inning was not as easy as the final score suggests. Cleveland loaded the bases and trimmed the lead to 5-3 on a bases-loaded walk to Patrick Bailey and a hit-by-pitch to Angel Rodriguez. Kevin Kelly came on and struck out Brayan Rocchio on three pitches to end the threat, and Liam Hicks squeezed a foul pop off the bat of Chase DeLauter for the final out. The Trop, criticized for empty sections in the first two games of the ALCS, was packed and shaking by the end.

This is the Rays’ third trip to the World Series. They lost in five games to the Phillies in 2008 and in six games to the Dodgers in 2020. They finished this season 98-64, their fifth AL East title and the third-best record in franchise history. And they are doing it in a rebuilt Tropicana Field, a little more than two years after they lost their home stadium to a hurricane.

The Freddy Peralta story is why October is magic

If you need one storyline to carry into Friday, make it Freddy Peralta. He was named ALCS MVP after going 2-0 with one run allowed on nine hits in 12 innings across three appearances, striking out nine. In Game 6 he threw 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and walked off to a standing ovation.

Here is the part that should make Mets fans look away. In July, Peralta was posting a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts for New York and was dealt to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline for three prospects. His Rays debut was a disaster: seven runs on nine hits against the Rockies. The Rays’ coaching staff fixed something, and ever since, he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. Asked by Lauren Shehadi what he would have said in July if told he would be ALCS MVP, Peralta said, “You’d say, ‘You’re crazy.’”

“This is crazy and I am very happy to be here, to be part of this great group and this great organization,” Peralta said afterward. “This is not only mine. We all earned this. This is for the boys.” Through the Rays’ playoff run he has posted a 1.08 ERA. A 4.99 ERA castoff turned into the pitcher Milwaukee has to beat twice. You cannot write October.

Milwaukee swept a dynasty and has been waiting 44 years

The Brewers went 103-59 this season, the best record in baseball, and then they swept the Dodgers, the two-time defending champions, in the National League Championship Series. Let that sink in. The Dodgers were supposed to be the first NL three-peat ever. The Brewers swept them.

Milwaukee’s only previous World Series came in 1982, when they lost to the Cardinals in seven games. The franchise has never won a title since joining Major League Baseball in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots. The Brewers also have the most electric young arm in the sport: NL Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski and his 104 mph fastball. Tampa’s contact hitters have not seen anything like that all postseason.

The Brewers took two of three from the Rays when they met in the regular season, in a series played March 30 through April 1. That was a long time ago, and October rosters do not look much like April rosters, but Milwaukee has home-field advantage and will host the first two games. That matters.

What will decide this series

Misiorowski’s fastball against Tampa’s contact hitters. The Rays grind at-bats and string together hits. The Brewers have a 104 mph trump card. Somebody’s approach breaks first.
Peralta again, probably twice. Tampa will throw their ALCS MVP in Game 1 or Game 2. If he stays at a 1.08 ERA clip, Milwaukee’s plan changes completely.
Small-market October baseball. This is baserunning, timely hits, and full-pitching-staff chess. No team here is waiting around for a three-run homer from a $300 million slugger, which is exactly why it could be a classic.
The Trop factor is gone, the Milwaukee factor is real. Tampa played the ALCS at home. Now they start on the road in front of a Milwaukee crowd that has waited 44 years for this. Game 1 energy will be wild.

When to watch

Game 1 is Friday, October 23, at 8 p.m. ET at American Family Field in Milwaukee, with every game of the series starting at 8 p.m. ET. Demand is already through the roof: World Series Game 1 tickets have surged above $3,000, nearing Super Bowl levels.

For Tampa, this is the third World Series and only the second that will actually be played in their dome: they played two home games at the Trop in 2008 but had to play the entire 2020 series in the Texas Rangers’ stadium because of the pandemic. For Cleveland, the wait continues. The Guardians’ World Series drought is now 78 years.

If you want a pick, I will take Milwaukee in six. The Brewers have the best record, home-field advantage, and Misiorowski. But Tampa Bay has been the underdog story of October, they just won three straight to take the pennant, and their pitching staff is deeper. Nobody should be shocked if this goes seven games. And honestly, after everything both of these teams have survived to get here, whoever wins it will have earned it completely. First time since 1980 that we can say that about both teams on the same field. More October baseball US Sports coverage continues here.