The Milwaukee Brewers are back in the World Series for the first time since 1982 after knocking off the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They became the first team to sweep the Dodgers in a best-of-seven postseason series since the 1966 World Series, and now they wait to learn who will meet them in the Fall Classic.
That is why World Series odds are being searched now: Milwaukee has already secured its place, but the opponent is still unsettled. The Tampa Bay Rays took Games 4 and 5 in Cleveland after losing two of the first three games of the ALCS, grabbed a 3-2 lead back to St. Petersburg, and sent Freddy Peralta to Game 6 on Monday while the Guardians turned to Shawn Armstrong as an opener in an all-hands-on-deck approach.
On paper, the Brewers would likely be favored over the Rays in a seven-game series. Milwaukee was slashing.250/.343/.396 with 10 home runs and 32 runs batted in, while the Rays were at.232/.281/.344 with five home runs and 25 runs batted in. Jackson Chourio was hitting.171 with a.553 OPS, and Junior Caminero was at.233 with a.636 OPS and 13 strikeouts through eight postseason games. That gap gives Milwaukee the cleaner offensive case, even before you account for the fact that the World Series is a seven-game series in which depth can matter as much as one hot stretch.
The catch is that the Rays have a path built around starters who can provide more length, which is exactly the kind of edge that can make a favored team uncomfortable over seven games. Cleveland offered a different kind of test for Milwaukee in mid-June, when Robert Gasser and Chad Patrick earned the two Brewers wins and Parker Messick delivered a quality start in Cleveland’s lone win. The Guardians were built similarly to the Rays, with heavy emphasis on good starting pitching and a few quality bats delivering in big moments, but their offense had not performed well overall in the postseason.
That leaves Brandon Woodruff as the most immediate roster question for Milwaukee. He last pitched on July 4 before the Brewers shut him down with right shoulder inflammation, and while his name has been part of the discussion around a World Series roster, there is no clean answer yet on whether he will be added. If Cleveland forced a Game 7 on Tuesday, Gavin Williams could still enter the picture, but the bigger answer is already set: the Brewers are in the Fall Classic, and one of the Rays or Guardians will have to chase them there.
