How the Brewers and Rays got to baseball's biggest stage with small budgets and small ball
A new World Series champion will be crowned this year, as two of Major League Baseball's most frugal franchises — the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays — battle for supremacy. Here's how they got there and what to expect.
Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, two of MLB's lowest-spending teams, have the chance to make history this season
Geoff Nixon · CBC News
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A new World Series champion will be crowned as two of Major League Baseball's most frugal franchises — the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays — battle for supremacy.
Neither franchise has won it all before, meaning it will be a history-making outcome no matter who wins the Fall Classic.
Ahead of the first game in the best-of-seven series on Friday, we're taking a look at how the Brew Crew and the D-Rays got here, the Canadian connections, their World Series records and what it means to see two teams with relatively small payrolls make it this far into the playoffs
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Freddy Peralta celebrates his team's Game 6 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in the ALCS. (David J. Phillip/The Associated Press)
Comparatively puny payrolls
Milwaukee and Tampa are in the bottom-half of MLB's 30 franchises when it comes to payroll spending.
The Brewers had an Opening Day roster payroll of just over $124 million US — 19th in the majors according to The Associated Press. The Rays' payroll was just $88.7 million US, ranked 26th at that time.
Compare that to Toronto's Opening Day payroll of nearly $269 million US, the fifth-highest in baseball. And yet, the Jays missed the playoffs.
The deep-pocketed Los Angeles Dodgers had a payroll of nearly $317 million US at the season's start. And while they made the playoffs, they got swept — by the Brewers.
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None of this is helping the argument of the MLB owners, who are pushing for a salary cap to be established in the league, arguing that baseball's richest teams are too dominant. It's all part of negotiations taking place as baseball's current five-year deal expires in December.
The Associated Press says this year's World Series marks the first time since 1991 that two teams with payrolls in the bottom half of the majors will compete for the title.
Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers hits a home run in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bauers led his team with 26 homers during the regular season. (Kiyoshi Mio/Imagn Images/Reuters)
Homer drought
The Brewers were tied for the second-lowest, regular-season home-run total, with just 154 round-trippers. Only the Blue Jays hit fewer home runs (152).
Despite this power outage, Milwaukee put together a 103-59 season — the best in the game.
Tampa's lineup slugged 169 homers prior to the playoffs, which put them at 22nd in the majors. The Rays wrapped their regular season with a 98-64 record.
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The strategy of small ball — getting runners on base and advancing them by stealing bases or putting the ball in play with sacrifice hits and bunts — was key for both Milwaukee and Tampa as they outplayed rivals in their respective leagues.
The Rays led the majors with 45 sacrifice bunts during the regular season. The Brewers had 37, the fifth-most overall.
The two teams also stole a ton of bases: The Rays swiped 164 bases prior to the playoffs, while Millwaukee claimed 162.
This year's World Series could be the first with a 104-mile-per-hour pitch, thanks to Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. The 24-year-old threw a record 1,115 pitches of 100 miles per hour or higher in his first full major league season. (Kayla Wolf/The Associated Press)
Triple-digit heat
The Brewers' ace starting pitcher, Jacob Misiorowski, is the most prolific, hard-throwing pitcher in the game.
He's thrown more than 1,100 pitches at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour this season.
Misiorowski has already set the record for the fastest pitch thrown in a playoff game (104.8 miles per hour) — at least, since tracking started in 2008. Amazingly, that's not the hardest pitch he's ever thrown.
He's slated to start Game 1 for the Brewers on Friday night.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta and catcher Liam Hicks celebrate after a strikeout in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians on Oct. 13. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Canadian catcher
Toronto-born ballplayer Liam Hicks joined the Rays at the trade deadline.
The 27-year-old catcher is in his second big-league season, joining Tampa in August, after first getting to the big leagues with the nearby Miami Marlins.
So far this post-season, Hicks has six hits, one run, three walks and four RBIs across nine games he's played with the Rays.
Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash has served as the team's skipper for 12 seasons — including in 2020, when the Rays played in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images/Reuters)
The ex-Jays catcher
Rays manager Kevin Cash was a player before he was a manager and started out his major-league career in Toronto.
Cash appeared in 101 games for the Jays from 2002-2004. He later played for the Rays, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros.
He's managed the Rays for 12 seasons, including in 2020 when Tampa lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A long wait for Brewers fans
Milwaukee last made it to the World Series in 1982 — back when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and years before any of the current Brewers players were born.
The Brewers lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hall of Famer Robin Yount was part of the Milwaukee team that lost to St. Louis, and he recently said he'll "never get over it until the Brewers win one."
On Tampa's side, the Rays have been to the World Series twice, losing both times: First in 2008 and again in 2020.
Brewer Robin Yount plays in Game 4 of the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which the Brewers went on to lose. (The Associated Press)
Where to watch
Canadian baseball fans can catch the World Series on Sportsnet.
Most games will air on the main Sportsnet channel — except for Games 2 and Game 7 (if necessary), which will run on Sportsnet One.
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