SI's 2026 World Series Preview: Who Will Win Their First Ever Fall Classic?

Welcome to the Sports Illustrated World Series preview show.

I'm MLB editor Will Laws.

Alongside with me today are MLB writer Ryan Phillips and associate editor Nick Selby.

Today, we're gonna give a position by position breakdown between the Rays and the Brewers, give a World Series winner and MVP picks and more.

But let's start with initial thoughts on this matchup.

This is the first time since 1980 we'll have two teams that have never won before.

Before that, you have to go all the way back to 1920.

We have two small markets, small ball teams.

What does this say about where the sport is?

Is this a hint of where we're headed, or is this just an anomaly?

Yeah , I think it's just an anomaly, honestly, I mean, you know, if you look at past World Series, money has been a huge determining factor.

Uh, the other thing has been power, has been a huge determining factor, and these are two teams that don't hit home runs, uh, at the rate of most of Major League Base.

Baseball, it's also teams that don't pay as much as the rest of Major League Baseball for players.

I don't think we should get used to this.

Uh, also, you know, it's, this series in general is an anomaly.

Another reason why is two teams that have never won one before and like you said, yeah, or like we've said, it's, it's the last time, the first time since 1980 that that's happened, and I don't, unless the Mariners and Padres are in the World Series anytime in the future, it's never gonna, it's not gonna happen again.

So, Um, yeah, I, I think it's a very different, uh, look for baseball.

I think it's good for baseball, but I don't think it's something we should get used to.

No, I, I largely agree, excuse me, with, with Ryan.

I think that this is a fun anomaly.

This is something that we should be celebrating and, and welcoming, um, but, you know, power, money, those things play, and in, in the The pressure cooker that is the playoffs, like winning in this small ball style, it's a tough way to eke out a living, you know, these are not, this is not sitting at the poker table and hitting big on a big hand.

This is grinding out small margins time and time again.

It's stressful for, for some people, it's not the baseball they want to watch, but for a lot of us, myself included, I think this is a great little bit of variation for the postseason.

I think this is great that we have two teams that have never won before.

Um, and so I'm looking forward to the matchup.

Is this a sign of things to come?

I don't think so, but I think that the, the fun thing about it is these are teams that the Brewers and the Rays that have been at the forefront of what you could call the analytics moneyball movement in this century, and it shows how this, that is a cyclical movement, how You know, 20 years ago, walks were a novel concept and, you know, power has dominated the game.

These teams are, you know, as, as the rest of the league has valued power more, these teams have gone the other way.

These are two teams that are in the bottom 10 in home runs.

Uh, the, you know, the, the, the Brewers do not strike out.

the Rays do not strike out much at all.

And so they've found edges on guys who are undervalued, guys who put the ball in play, play defense, and so that's a, that's a model, I think for teams of this, that operate in this financial weight class to try to emulate and have postseason success in years to come.

All right.

I, I agree with what you guys are saying.

Let's, uh, let's jump into the nitty-gritty here and give a position by position breakdown of these two teams and declare which team has the advantage at each spot.

And we'll tally the points and see who comes up, comes out on top, see if that gets us, uh, any closer to predicting a winner here.

Uh, let's start with the catcher, William Contreras for the Brewers and Liam Hicks for the Rays, Nick.

Yeah, Liam Hicks was a, was a really, uh, a savvy pickup by the Rays at the deadline.

I think he produced really well down the stretch, has had a quiet October, um, but William Contreras is the, the clear pick for me or like I mentioned, these teams, neither of these teams live on the long ball, and so whatever source of, of power that exists in each lineup, that's a rare commodity, and Contreras is one of the few guys who can impact the game with one swing.

We saw it in the last series, we've seen it throughout the playoffs, really.

Um, he's quietly been the most productive hitting catcher in the last half decade, and he's getting hot at the right time, so I think Contreras is the easy advantage here.

All right, it's 1 point for the Brewers for first base.

We have Jake Bowers for the Brewers and Jonathan Aranda for the Rays.

What do you think there, Ryan?

I, I think it's pretty obvious it's Jake Bowers.

I mean, he won the NLCS MVP for a reason.

Uh, he has a 441 on base percentage in the playoffs after finishing as one of the top on-base percentage guys during the regular season.

Uh, again, it's kind of an out of nowhere.

He's a journeyman, uh, who finally found a home in Milwaukee and just had an outstanding season.

He had 26 home runs.

He's got power.

Uh, he plays good defense, and again, like, He's a guy that works at bats, and he's like the quintessential Brewers player this year, is even if he gets out, he'll work at, there, there are times he'll work a 1012 pitch at bat .

We saw it a couple times against the Dodgers, we saw it against the Padres.

The guy just is able to get up there and annoy the heck out of pitchers until they make a mistake, and whether it's walking him or giving up a hit.

Um, he's been great at that this year.

I think Jonathan Arondez had a, a good postseason, but Bowers is a clear winner here, and I think you have to give him the advantage.

And if he holds up, you know, we'll see if it holds up in the World Series, but to this point, his whole season and the playoffs have all lined up with a very consistent performer and a guy who gets on base.

Certainly led the Brewers on home runs this year as well.

Uh, second base, we have Bryce Furang, and then the platoon of Richie Palacios and Ben Williamson for the Rays.

Nick was Richie Palacio's big game 6 enough to tilt us in favor of the Rays.

You know, I can't say it was.

I, I do have to say I like this style of, of going, you know, position by position.

It feels like we're boxing judges here round by round assigning points.

So if only they, they determine the champion this way.

Uh, at second base, it's not a fair fight.

Bryce Turang is one of the most underrated players in the league.

It's kind of wild.

He's not been an All-Star yet.

I think he's gonna finish high on a lot of people's MVP ballots this year.

Uh, and he, you know, he's been a consistent two-way player, uh, whose last couple of years developed into some power, which has really unlocked his, his career, I think, and set him up for some real stardom here.

You know, the Rays, uh, platoon a lot, and, you know, Palacios and Ben Williamson, not, uh, don't move the needle much for me.

They do put the ball in play though, a very on-brand Ray hitters, so they can maybe grind some.

Annoying at bats and drive up some pitch counts.

I say this and one of them will have a huge game swinging 3 run home run in one of these games.

All right, that's 3-0 to the Brewers so far, Ryan.

We have shortstop Cooper Pratt, Cooper Pratt for the Brewers and Taylor Walls for the Rays.

Not exactly premier shortstops in the league here, but who do you see having the advantage?

I, I would love to flip this and, and, and stop the Rays sweep at the moment, but I'm not going to.

Walls has been pretty bad in the postseason.

He's hitting 148 with a 381 OPS, uh.

But he's, he's there for defense, let's be real.

And, and so is Pratt, quite frankly, but Pratt's hitting 310 in the postseason, but he's made 3 key errors.

It's, it's really hard to separate them, but I would say right now, Pratt has shown a pulse at the plate and Walls hasn't, so you kinda have to tilt it to him.

I don't think I would pick either if I was looking for an ideal situation at shortstop in the postseason, but that's what I'm gonna have to go with because he's been more alive in the postseason and Walls has really struggled.

It's possible he breaks out, but right now, you've gotta go with Cooper Brown.

Yeah, who would have seen Cooper Pratt starting in the World Series at the beginning of this season.

He was still in the minor leagues and hadn't gotten his extension yet.

So, uh, I don't know, but you were picking him as the advantage over Taylor Walls, which, uh, totally understandable.

Who thought we'd be here, honestly, who thought we'd be here?

Yeah.

Uh, third base, Nick, we have David Hamilton and Joey Ortiz platoon for the Brewers and Junior Camanro for the Rays.

I think we're finally gonna get the Rays on the board here, right?

Get, get Tampa a point.

Uh, this one's a no contest.

Uh, I will say Joe Joey Ortiz has been a, a, a favorite of mine, uh, for a couple of years.

He had a really good second half.

Great defensive player, but no, Junior Cabonaro, uh, is electric.

He is one of the best power hitters in baseball, and if some people thought last season, uh, Ray's playing at a smaller field, maybe boosted the home run numbers, and he put that to bed with another excellent season and a great postseason too.

Uh, I'm hoping for more slow, long home run trots, uh, that get people, you know, elicit some opinions, uh, get some, some, some conversation here and these, uh, two smaller market teams, but Junior Cameronnaro, definitely the, the easy call here.

All right, and then moving on to left field, we have Jackson Trio for the Brewers and Chandler Simpson for the Rays, two very different players here, Ryan.

Yeah, and I'm gonna have to go.

I, Curio hasn't been great in the playoffs.

He's got a 554 OPS so far, um, but he's had big moments.

He had that huge walk-off single off Mason Miller, which I think everybody's gonna remember as part of this, is, is a big part of this run for the Brewers, cause that really, I think that at bat flipped the series.

Um, he's also had 2 home runs, 7 RBIs despite not really being that consistent, but if you look at these two guys, you have to see that Shiro's gonna break out at some point.

He's gonna have another big moment cause he's, they've been isolated so far.

He has the highest ceiling quite possibly of any player in this series.

And so, you have to bank on the talent plus the ability to break out, and he's the kind of guy who can go from doing nothing to 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and a double or something like that.

And, and I think he's gonna break out and I think there's no better time for that to happen in the World Series.

He's a dark horse pick for potentially the World Series MVP just cause he can do so much for you and he, he does show up in big moments .

We'll see what happens, but I, I think this is an easy one.

You have to picture of him.

All right, we have a stand at 5-1 of the Brewers, and then center field, we have Garrett Mitchell for the Brewers and Johnny DeLuca for the Rays.

Where do you go, where do we go here , Nick?

Give another point to Milwaukee here.

Uh, Johnny DeLuca is a great Rays archetype player , excellent defensive player, good athlete, runs well, produced more with the bat than I think a lot of people expected this season.

But Garrett Mitchell has the upside.

He has the talent.

He's realizing that talent at the perfect time for Milwaukee.

He's shown flashes over the last 4 years and just hasn't been able to stay on the field as much as they would have liked, but a career high in plate appearances this year.

He hits the ball extremely hard, he strikes out a lot, but he can make plays in the outfield as we saw this postseason.

Um, he's, he had a great series of the dish against the Dodgers.

So if he can keep this up, that's a huge difference maker and, um, a guy who, you know, is gonna, could be in contention for a World Series MVP if things break Milwaukee's way.

All right.

And then right field, we have a pair of platoons with Sal Frelich and Louis Laura for the Brewers and Victor Mason Jr.

and Ryan Vallade for the Rays.

Ryan.

Hey, if we're going with the boxing analogy, I've got this as a 10-10 round and not because we're super impressed by both sides.

It's kind of a cop-out, but I have it as a push.

Uh, neither combo has been all that great in the postseason.

Vlade and Mesa have combined for 5 hits and 36 at bats.

Uh, Frelich and Laura have combined for 4 hits in.

25 at bats.

And defensively, it's pretty much a wash.

There's some decent defense out there, but not enough to really impact the game and, and change this, change of series.

So I've kinda got these guys as a wash.

Um, I, I do think we're gonna start to see things tilt towards the Rays as we move forward though a little bit.

All right, we'll go to DH.

We have a Christian Jelich, Andrew von Ptoon for the Brewers, and Andy Diaz for the Rays, Nick.

Yeah, the Brewers have really found ways to survive here at this spot, um, playing matchups.

Christian Jelich, obviously very important, means a lot to this team and this, this fan base, had a miserable season.

He's picked it up a little bit in the playoffs, um, to, you know, have some productive moments, but Yandi Diaz is, is the clear favorite here.

He's one of the best hitters in this series, one of the best hitters in the league in the last few years, very underrated, consistent at bats, just is a, is a nightmare to face.

He, he doesn't swing and miss, he's got power.

A lot of it's line drive power, but we've seen, we've seen plenty of examples that he can, he can tap into the home run ball when needed, and I think he'll, he'll be one of the biggest impact players in this series, no doubt.

All right, get the Rays a second point.

Right now, we're at Brewers 6.5 and Rays 2.5. Uh, we're gonna go rotation here for Ryan, the top 3 for each, we got Jacob Mirowski, Logan Henderson, Robert Gasper for the Brewers, and Drew Rasmussen, Freddie Peralta, and Nick Martinez for the Rays.

In my opinion, if boxing was the analogy again, this would be a 10-8 round to the Rays.

Uh.

Zarrowski and, and Henderson have not gone deep into games and haven't really shown the ability to take over a game and let the bullpen rest.

And so that's why, as I'm sure Nick will get into, the Brewers' bullpen has been maybe their star of this postseason because they've stepped up and uh, and, and, and pitched their way to series wins while the starters have struggled.

The Rays' top guys have performed.

Uh, their starters in the playoffs have a combined 1.98 ERA, which is the, the best in baseball.

The Brewers still good, but it's 2.97 and they're not going deep .

Um, Rasmussen, Freddie Peralta, and Nick Martinez have all looked dominant at different times.

Peralta looks incredible and maybe the best pitcher in this postseason.

I don't think anyone had that as a potential, uh, You know, as, as potentially happening back in August, but it has.

Uh, so I have to go to the Rays and buy a huge margin.

I think while we're doing all these one by one position things, this is the big equalizer in the series and brings the Rays back into contention is the starting pitching has been so good, and there's no reason to expect it to drop off.

All right, Rays a big win there.

For the bullpen here, we'll finish off.

The Brewers have the closer McGill and Ashby Uribe, Dale Hall.

Rays have Brian Baker, Cam Boozer, Griffin Jacks.

How do you see this going, Nick?

Yeah, this is like weirdly like the, the, the headline of the, of the title card for this, for this series of fights here, um, but I will say, well, you touched on this, uh, writing about the Rays in last round, you know, they, they were the, the poster child for Get the starter out of there, lean on these bullpen arms, play the matchup game, and this postseason, at least when Drew Rasmussen starts, they've eschewed that strategy and leaned on those, those impact starters.

Freddie Peralta as well, has gotten to pitch deep in the game.

So, in this matchup , I think both of these bullpens are loaded, and, uh, Ryan, you mentioned the Brewers' bullpen has been really their biggest advantage through the first two rounds.

They've played in so many, so many close games, so many come from behind wins because that bullpen.

Uh, it is great to hold deficits while the offense comes back or to hold leads to finish out games.

Uh, and Ashby is, I think, the, the biggest impact arm of this group for Milwaukee, and I think we're gonna see plenty of him.

So both of these units are, it's like the best in their, in the league, best at their craft, but I think the Brewers, uh, relief pitchers will have more opportunities to make big, a big impact in this series.

This week off has been huge for that bullpen, because they were using them a lot, and so they got a full week off.

I, I do wonder if that will catch up to them at all in this series and they'll need to start, start going deep, but the week off, I mean, without that, I would really struggle to tilt this towards them because of how much they've thrown.

I mean, yeah, the Brewers have yet to play in a series more than 4 games, so you're wondering best of 7 if once uh if the Rays see the Brewers bullpen arms more, maybe that advantage will tilt a little bit.

But we do have a final verdict here.

Brewers 7.5 points, Rays 3.5. Uh, do you guys agree that the series will play out as that position breakdown hints it might.

I mean, who do you guys think ends up winning this Fall Classic and in how many games?

Yeah, I got the Brewers in 6.

I, I think that they have played the same way all season.

They have been consistent.

I think people are, because they're on national TV every night, people are, you know, sort of waking up to how they play, but they haven't really had big peaks and valleys this year.

This has been who they are and they've been so consistent.

They have everything you need to win from the pitching to the Assistent hitting.

Um, if they can frustrate Tampa's starters exactly like they did to the Padres, and exactly like they did to the Dodgers, it's their series to lose.

They are, I, I've said this before about them, but it almost feels like they annoy teams to death .

And, and that feels like, that's just what they do, that's, that's a feature, not a bug, and I think that they are certainly the team you have to point to, to potentially, uh, you know, claiming the series.

I've got it in 6, I could see it going in 5.

Yeah, we have, we have 7.5 to 3.5 in our, in our scorecard in favor of the Brewers, but I'm gonna go, I think this is much more of a coin toss.

I'm gonna say Brewers in 7.

We've made predictions every round as a, as a roundtable, and I've been woefully done.

Hopefully, poor job in every prediction except for the fact that I've had Brewers winning the World Series every single time.

I can't waiver now.

I think there's gonna be a lot of tight late inning situations which should make for a great viewing product for impartial fans.

Fans of these teams, I think will be, you know, uh, biting their finger fingernails off, but I do think that the Brewers' bullpen will ultimately be the determining factor here, uh, but I'm looking forward to what should be a really fun series.

Yeah, Nick, likewise, uh, my initial pick of Brewers over Red Sox didn't quite play out, uh, for the American League team, but Brewers have been my call the whole time.

I'm gonna stick with them too.

I have had them in 7.

Honestly, going position by position breakdown, this has made me rethink that a little bit.

Maybe the Brewers do have a bigger advantage than I realized they had, but I do think that once the Rays get to see the Brewers relievers, uh, more and more of the series go on, that's, that's going to be a little bit of an equalizer and, uh, maybe the Brewers pulled out the big Mizarrowski showing in game 7.

Uh, so out of all the guys we just went over, who do you like to be named the World Series MVP?

Uh, I touched on a couple of guys I like as potential to be real impact players.

I'm gonna go Garrett Mitchell, uh, slightly down menu as far as headline names for this team, but I just think he has, he plays a premier position, and he has the ability to make plays, no matter what, offensively or defensively.

Um, he does strike out a lot, but this is a guy who, you know, in the postseason, smaller sample size.

Uh, one at bat can, can be a huge swing, and this is a guy that the Brewers are counting on to like cash in in the big moments.

Um, so whether it's, you know, making plays in center field or key extra base hit in the late innings, I think Garrett Mitchell is a guy that the Brewers need to produce in this series, and I think that he'll be the one to, to get the honors in the end.

Yeah, I got William Contreras.

Uh, he's been the best hitter in the postseason, uh, not just best for a catcher, best period.

Uh, he's stepped up in big moments.

He's kind of the Brewers' guy right now.

He's the cornerstone, he's the rock, he's the guy that gives them energy, all of those things.

Uh, he's the guy that opponents hate, uh, which also helps.

But I would also say that other than Ben Rice, he's the only guy who's hit home runs in this postseason.

This has been a really depressed postseason for home runs.

He's consistently hit them.

Uh, I think that he's the guy that That, you know, really is the cornerstone for, for the Brewers right now.

I don't think necessarily long term or regular season, but right now he is, and I think that he's the guy, uh, I would pick.

I, I think Jake Bowers or Jackson Curio, certainly Mitchell, I could see also on that list, but also a, an under the radar guy would be Ashby out of the bullpen, and he may have a really good argument for having been the NLCS MVP but didn't get it.

So, I think it's William Pereras, that's the guy I lean towards.

I just think he, he's having, he's playing at his best this postseason.

All right, we're gonna do a little uh World Series MVP trivia before we wrap things up here.

Uh, last year, uh, Yoshinobu Yamamoto became one of 7 pitchers this century to win World Series MVP.

Can you guys back and forth name the other 6 pitchers who have gotten World Series MVP honors?

We can go one at a time here.

Maybe, uh, Ryan, you start us off here.

Well, Bumgarner, I know was the big one.

Bumgarner in 2014 with the Giants , uh.

We got, we got Randy Johnson.

Mhm, yep, yep, back to you, Ryan.

That's a 2001, the Diamondbacks there.

Yeah, uh, San Diego native Cole Hammels, I believe, was one.

Yes, 2008, the Phillies, yes, all right, we have, uh, three more here.

Curt Schilling shared with Randy Johnson.

That's a cop out.

You already got that.

Well, I didn't know whether to say it at the same time or if we were doing this strictly names, but, uh, I There are 2 more.

Uh, one of them was fairly recent.

The other one was toward the turn of the century.

Oh, Stephen Strasburg.

Yes, yes.

Nick, can you get the, uh, the last one here near the turn of the century here.

Was this, uh, is this pitcher or starting pitcher?

Starting pitcher, starting pitcher, hm.

Near the turn of the century.

God, it makes it seem so long ago.

I know we are, we aren't getting old, right?

Slightly more, slightly more recent than the, uh, 2001 D-backs.

OK, I should be able to know this.

Oh, I know it.

Hm, Ryan, I'm phoning a friend, Josh Beckett, right?

Yeah, he threw a shutout, right, for the Marlins.

Yeah, yep, Josh Beckett with the Marlins.

All right, Ryan, uh wins that little trivia showdown, but that was, uh, that was good, you guys.

Josh Beckett, that 2003 Marlins, that's a tough World Series to remember back, uh, 23 years ago at this point, even for Marlins fans .

23 years ago.

Good lord.

Seriously.

All right, to uh wrap up the show, let's leave the viewers with one big overarching takeaway.

Uh, complete this sentence.

The 2026 World Series will be remembered for blank.

Being unique, uh, I think there's so much about this that makes it unique.

The payroll nature of the teams, the lack of power.

Um, I think the Royals were the last team that had this few home runs and won a World Series, and that was a very long time ago, uh, in baseball terms.

And I, I said it's a start, and, and, you know, if, if the Rays win, Until the Padres and Mariners do the Vetter Cup in the World Series, uh, they, they're not going to, we're not gonna see two teams that haven't won a championship play in, in the World Series, uh, for a very long time, and it may never happen again because you're reducing the number of teams that have done this before, that, that have been in this position before, so.

Uh, I think it's gonna be very unique and different.

I think it's a, it's gonna be a standalone kind of thing.

I don't think that it's a trend that's gonna start as we opened with, um, but I think it will be fascinating to watch because it's a different brand of baseball and it's different types of teams.

I'll say I think this will be remembered for excellence.

Um, I think so much of the talk is gonna be about the looming lockout and salary cap this and the Dodgers breaking baseball and all that stuff, and I'm hopeful that when the games start between these two teams who both the 1 seeds in their respective leagues, they both play a brand of baseball that is very adverse to making mistakes.

They play clean baseball.

I think a lot of people are, are, are brought in on that.

I think these are gonna be great games, and if, if we are correct in our predictions, which is a huge caveat because as we've made clear, we're not very good at making predictions.

But if the Brewers win, this is gonna be one of the best teams in recent memory.

They have 103 wins, best in the regular season so far, they're 7 and 1 in the postseason.

They have the best run differential in the league.

When you stack.

it up if they do end up finishing the job here, I think this team should, can and should be held up as one of the best we've seen in, in some time and as the first title-winning team for that franchise deserves to be celebrated.

So I hope that all the talk around the economics of baseball and the business side of things doesn't drown out what I think is a really worthy World Series matchup, and I think it's gonna be a really exciting, entertaining one.

We can only hope it plays out that way.

Nice entertaining World Series, uh before we are unsure if we will be getting baseball for a little while after uh this lockout.

But for Nick Selby and Ryan Phillips, I am Will Loss.

It's been the Sports Illustrated World Series preview show.

Uh, thanks for, uh, talking along with us and uh have fun watching the World Series.