Game 1 of the World Series starts at 8:08 p.m. ET Friday at American Family Field. Jacob Misiorowski pitches for Milwaukee, Nick Martinez for Tampa Bay.
Neither franchise has ever won a World Series.
How to watch
FOX has the national broadcast, streaming on FOX One. FOX Deportes carries it in Spanish, with Spanish-language radio on TUDN. ESPN Radio has national radio.
Game 2 is Saturday in Milwaukee, with Logan Henderson starting for the Brewers. Games 3, 4 and 5 are at Tropicana Field. Games 6 and 7 come back here.
Lineups
Brewers: Jackson Chourio LF, Jake Bauers 1B, Christian Yelich DH, William Contreras C, Brice Turang 2B, Garrett Mitchell CF, Cooper Pratt SS, Sal Frelick RF, David Hamilton 3B. Misiorowski RHP.
Rays: Yandy Díaz DH, Jonathan Aranda 1B, Chandler Simpson LF, Junior Caminero 3B, Liam Hicks C, Jonny DeLuca CF, Víctor Mesa Jr. RF, Ben Williamson 2B, Taylor Walls SS. Martinez RHP.
Brandon Woodruff is on Milwaukee’s World Series roster.
Since 2000, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to win the World Series 76.9 percent of the time.
It should be the first all-indoor World Series
Tropicana Field has a fixed roof. American Family Field’s retracts, but late October in Wisconsin means it will almost certainly stay closed.
It’s been close before. Every game in 2020 was at Globe Life Field in Texas and every game in 2023 was at retractable-roof parks in Texas and Arizona — but each of those years had three games played with the roof open. MLB has the ground rules for both roofs here.
The right fielder’s father won gold in Barcelona
Víctor Mesa Jr. starts in right field for Tampa Bay. He was born in Havana in 2001 and left Cuba with his father and brother in May 2018.
His father is Víctor Mesa — “El Loco” — one of the most decorated players in Cuban history. Nineteen seasons for Villa Clara in Serie Nacional, a .318 average, 273 home runs, and the stolen base title fourteen times.
He won gold with Cuba at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Games that awarded baseball’s first Olympic medals, and led that tournament with a .560 average and nine RBIs. He managed Cuba at the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.
Mesa Jr. signed with Miami for $1 million in 2018, debuted in May 2025 and came to Tampa Bay in a February trade. He hit .260 with 14 home runs this season. His older brother, Víctor Víctor, signed with the Marlins the same year for $5.25 million.
Yandy Díaz, hitting leadoff, was also born in Cuba.
The uncle got here first
Aaron Ashby threw three scoreless innings to close out the NLCS and send Milwaukee to its first World Series in 44 years. He hasn’t allowed a run in 12 1/3 innings this postseason.
He’s the nephew of Andy Ashby, a two-time All-Star who pitched 14 seasons for the Phillies, Rockies, Padres, Braves and Dodgers. The elder Ashby started Game 2 of the 1998 World Series for San Diego at Yankee Stadium — the only World Series game he pitched. The Padres were swept.
Aaron was five months old.
Four months ago, after Landry Shamet — his friend and fellow Park Hill High graduate from Kansas City — won an NBA title with the Knicks, Ashby said he wanted one of his own this year.
The rest of the international picture
Four Brewers won the World Baseball Classic with Venezuela in March: William Contreras, Jackson Chourio, Antonio Senzatela and Ángel Zerpa. Zerpa had season-ending Tommy John surgery and isn’t on the World Series roster, but he’d still get a ring. Only two players have ever won both in the same year — Alex Bregman and Luke Gregerson with Team USA and the Astros in 2017 — and these four would be the first Latino players to do it. Aaliyan Mohammed has the full story.
Caminero hit .350 with three home runs for the Dominican Republic at the Classic, tied for the tournament lead. Aranda played for Mexico, Brice Turang for the United States.
One more thing the Rays did this week
In the middle of an ALCS and a trip to Milwaukee, the Rays sent a clubhouse attendant to the Buccaneers’ facility to build Baker Mayfield a custom glove for his dislocated thumb. The full story is here.
The ballpark
American Family Field opened in 2001 as Miller Park. Friday is its first World Series game. The last time Milwaukee hosted one, in 1982, the Brewers played at County Stadium, in the American League, and lost to St. Louis in seven.
The Brewers finished 103-59, the best record in baseball, and are 7-1 this postseason. More on Milwaukee’s Friday here.