2026 World Series Thread: News/Notes/Predictions/Miscellaneous. What's on your mind?

[long ball]

How are the nerves already kicking in this afternoon? We still have about 3 days to go!

[yfinn6]

Just now, long ball said:

How are the nerves already kicking in this afternoon? We still have about 3 days to go!

Yeah, it's been hard to focus at work and will be for about the next 10 days! 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

2 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

It's solely because it's baseball. 

I don't think people are really looking at Tampa and thinking that team is better, but... they don't need to be more talented, they just have to get to 4 wins first. On PAPER, I agree... but on the field... fluky stuff happens. 

It's baseball, it's baseball, it's baseball.

I keep thinking about the Badger hoops run in 2014 and 2015. They had that Duke game and then, because of a combination of getting a little tight, Greyson Allen becoming an All-American, and a legitimately tough whistle, it just didn't happen.

The good news is: a decade down the line, I don't really look at that team any different. They were awesome. They didn't win, but it doesn't make them any less good or any less fun to follow. I think I felt that way a month after the event, honestly. Winning will feel incredible in the moment. It will take time to adjust if it ends in a loss. But, ultimately, I'll feel the same way about this team with a champion or runner-up next to their name. They're awesome. They're already legends. I hope they take the final step, but it only feels anxious while the outcome is unknown. Once it's official, they'll go down as the greatest Brewers team of all time no matter the result, and that'll be worth celebrating.

[BrewerFan]

31 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

It's baseball, it's baseball, it's baseball.

I keep thinking about the Badger hoops run in 2014 and 2015. They had that Duke game and then, because of a combination of getting a little tight, Greyson Allen becoming an All-American, and a legitimately tough whistle, it just didn't happen.

The good news is: a decade down the line, I don't really look at that team any different. They were awesome. They didn't win, but it doesn't make them any less good or any less fun to follow. I think I felt that way a month after the event, honestly. Winning will feel incredible in the moment. It will take time to adjust if it ends in a loss. But, ultimately, I'll feel the same way about this team with a champion or runner-up next to their name. They're awesome. They're already legends. I hope they take the final step, but it only feels anxious while the outcome is unknown. Once it's official, they'll go down as the greatest Brewers team of all time no matter the result, and that'll be worth celebrating.

I can see how you get there with that Badgers team... but... I do not agree. 

I don't think you should ever judge a season on if you won a Chip or not save for this Dodgers team this year(just too many vets, too much money, too talented, it was Championship or bust). 

But at THIS point in the year? Losing? It'd be a huuuge gut punch and it'd just be brutal. We're the hottest team now, we beat the hottest team, we beat the loaded team, WE came out of the loaded NL. You HAVE to finish this. 

Yes, we remember the '82 team fondly... and yet my Dad still talks about that team and says, "but if they had Fingers..." 
It's not a WS winner, it's just the best we've done. So you probably have the healthier attitude, but we have to finish this off. 

I'll appreciate this season either way, but it's a massive gap between winning it and being upset by the Rays. 

But, this will be a legendary team either way. Lets just make sure we are the team that gets our first WS Title! 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Alright, let's get spicy. I don't think this is a good idea or something they should do, but for the sake of conversation:

Is there any world in which it makes sense to hold Mis for Game 2? Theoretically, Henderson and Rasmussen is pretty close, and you'd be getting Mis vs. Freddy in G2, which is a larger advantage on paper. You'd also be setting Mis up to throw on his full, 5-day rest in Game 6 (rather than a short-for-him four days in Game 5) and maybe let him throw an inning out of the bullpen on his side day in Game 3 or 4. It also really adds pressure to the Rays in Game 1.

It's probably too cute by half, but anyway. There's 2+ days until games start. We'll never do it, and we shouldn't do it, but it might not be that weird as a gamesmanship strategy in a crazy "like a fox" sort of way.

[Matt]

6 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Alright, let's get spicy. I don't think this is a good idea or something they should do, but for the sake of conversation:

Is there any world in which it makes sense to hold Mis for Game 2? Theoretically, Henderson and Rasmussen is pretty close, and you'd be getting Mis vs. Freddy in G2, which is a larger advantage on paper. You'd also be setting Mis up to throw on his full, 5-day rest in Game 6 (rather than a short-for-him four days in Game 5) and maybe let him throw an inning out of the bullpen on his side day in Game 3 or 4. It also really adds pressure to the Rays in Game 1.

It's probably too cute by half, but anyway. There's 2+ days until games start. We'll never do it, and we shouldn't do it, but it might not be that weird as a gamesmanship strategy in a crazy "like a fox" sort of way.

I don't think Henderson vs Rasmussen is pretty close. Given the way Freddy has been pitching since he got to Tampa I don't think Freddy vs Henderson is close either. 

We need Miz to go game one if for no other reason that he could see more potential innings later in the series.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

41 minutes ago, Matt said:

I don't think Henderson vs Rasmussen is pretty close. Given the way Freddy has been pitching since he got to Tampa I don't think Freddy vs Henderson is close either. 

We need Miz to go game one if for no other reason that he could see more potential innings later in the series.

Henderson's thrown fewer innings. He's got a lower ERA and a lower WHIP. A lot of it comes down to how much people believe Henderson is a guy who can sustainably outpitch his FIP. He's half a run higher there than Rasmussen.

Independent of the crazy hypothetical, I think Henderson and Rasmussen is closer than it seems, depending on how much one thinks Henderson has been lucky this year.

No doubt Freddy's been pitching better than Henderson lately, but that matchup is a wash if you look at 2026 as a whole, and that's being generous to Peralta. 

I'd rather our 1-2 than theirs. Even though both are very good. 

[Matt]

17 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Henderson's thrown fewer innings. He's got a lower ERA and a lower WHIP. A lot of it comes down to how much people believe Henderson is a guy who can sustainably outpitch his FIP. He's half a run higher there than Rasmussen.

Independent of the crazy hypothetical, I think Henderson and Rasmussen is closer than it seems, depending on how much one thinks Henderson has been lucky this year.

No doubt Freddy's been pitching better than Henderson lately, but that matchup is a wash if you look at 2026 as a whole, and that's being generous to Peralta. 

I'd rather our 1-2 than theirs. Even though both are very good. 

Yea, to me it comes down to IP. Drew's averaging 7 IP over three postseason starts. Henderson's giving them 4.5 over two. It's obviously worked out for both teams, but when we're splitting hairs in terms of peripherals, I like guys who can go deeper. Their starters have the edge IMO, while we have the bullpen advantage.

In the end it's splitting hairs either way. Swing of the bat kind of thing. 

[BCF]

5 hours ago, Matt said:

Yea, to me it comes down to IP. Drew's averaging 7 IP over three postseason starts. Henderson's giving them 4.5 over two. It's obviously worked out for both teams, but when we're splitting hairs in terms of peripherals, I like guys who can go deeper. Their starters have the edge IMO, while we have the bullpen advantage.

In the end it's splitting hairs either way. Swing of the bat kind of thing. 

Two game sample size is insane also

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, BCF said:

Two game sample size is insane also

Against the Dodgers and Padres vs the Guardians and Yankees sans Judge. 

You watch the Rays relievers... it's also easier to yank a starter for the Brewers when they haven't got their A stuff or are tiring. 

It's the luxury of having JoJo, Senzetela, Ashby, Hall, Uribe, Megill as all really good relievers... depending on the situation. I like JoJo vs lefties, Senzetela vs RHHers when you need a GB. 

The Rays don't have that type of BP depth. Baker is their best and... it's really about hunting the Fastball on him. He seems like a Devin Williams. A good reliever, but not intimidating like Mason Miller. 


I think we can get to Rasmussen and Peralta... 

[MrTPlush]

14 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

It's baseball, it's baseball, it's baseball.

I keep thinking about the Badger hoops run in 2014 and 2015. They had that Duke game and then, because of a combination of getting a little tight, Greyson Allen becoming an All-American, and a legitimately tough whistle, it just didn't happen.

The good news is: a decade down the line, I don't really look at that team any different. They were awesome. They didn't win, but it doesn't make them any less good or any less fun to follow. I think I felt that way a month after the event, honestly. Winning will feel incredible in the moment. It will take time to adjust if it ends in a loss. But, ultimately, I'll feel the same way about this team with a champion or runner-up next to their name. They're awesome. They're already legends. I hope they take the final step, but it only feels anxious while the outcome is unknown. Once it's official, they'll go down as the greatest Brewers team of all time no matter the result, and that'll be worth celebrating.

To be fair, those games were the Badgers national championship. If you asked a Badgers fan before 2000 or now if they think the Badgers will ever win it all, they would say no. That very well may be the peak of Badgers basketball forever. The Brewers may be incredibly disadvantaged in baseball, but it is nowhere near the disadvantaged teams experience in college sports…especially now.

My bold prediction would be if this team loses it really won’t be thought of that fondly because I think a different Brewers team will get over the hump sooner rather than later quickly shadowing this run.

Now if 20 years from now we never see a World Series again, yah, I suppose it will. Largely because this is most of the fan bases 1982. The very large majority of fans weren’t alive or were way too young to really appreciate that run. So this run is really by far the best they have ever seen. But that’s just it, you only remember losing teams if that is all you have to hang your hat on. I’ve seen plenty of Kansas basketball national final losers and I don’t really look back at them fondly, but that’s also because they have actually won numerous times in that timeframe.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I am mentally prepared for us to drop Game 1 but still win the series. Just because. I have just been nonstop reminding myself this is a series and it's not over if we lose G1.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

If you thought the team's tickets were a kick to the balls, don't look at the secondary market. You got a steal if you bit the bullet at the team's offering.

[SeaBass]

I'm mostly just looking for signs of how they've already been performing in game 1 & 2. If the week long layoff results in stagnant offense this could go badly.

I'm not super worried about our pitching, if the Rays end up getting the better of our pitching it's going to be because their batters are on a hot streak. If you get a hot team against you it becomes near impossible to win.

I'd (obviously) much rather see our team continue to do what it's been doing offensively and getting similar pitching results, though it might be a lot to ask of the bullpen to only allow 1 ER for the series.

[Frisbee Slider]

I am surprised we have not mentioned the Timeless Ticket controversy. It is making national headlines.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/in-your-community/milwaukee-county/brewers-timeless-ticket-holders-say-the-team-isnt-fully-honoring-deal-for-world-series-seats

 

[MrTPlush]

8 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I am surprised we have not mentioned the Timeless Ticket controversy. It is making national headlines.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/in-your-community/milwaukee-county/brewers-timeless-ticket-holders-say-the-team-isnt-fully-honoring-deal-for-world-series-seats

 

Brewers were ill prepared for this. You are talking almost 10% of stadium capacity if they all submitted for Game 1.

I think the Brewers assumed people would be so happy they wouldn’t question the 400 level offer. Which 90%+ probably didn’t care. They should have been before any SSH presale and there shouldn’t have been unavailable tickets due to 2027 SSH reservations.

That being said these people get a free ticket, 3 more at what I believe was SSH face value..,plus get to do it AGAIN someday in the future now. So the Brewers made them whole, time to move on.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

4 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Brewers were ill prepared for this. You are talking almost 10% of stadium capacity if they all submitted for Game 1.

I think the Brewers assumed people would be so happy they wouldn’t question the 400 level offer. Which 90%+ probably didn’t care. They should have been before any SSH presale and there shouldn’t have been unavailable tickets due to 2027 SSH reservations.

That being said these people get a free ticket, 3 more at what I believe was SSH face value..,plus get to do it AGAIN someday in the future now. So the Brewers made them whole, time to move on.

I don't think that's making them whole though. These people got ripped off, they have a legitimate gripe. The entire purpose of this program is an interest-free loan to the Brewers made in good faith that you will get the best available seat. 

I keep seeing this issue get misrepresented on social media. The issue was not that the Brewers sold all the tickets. There WERE in fact better seats available than what was offered to these folks. People keep pointing to the "subject to availability" line. They were available. The Brewers simply didn't want to give away seats they were planning to sell for multiple thousands. Except they weren't giving it away, they were paid $1k for them 10 years ago. 

What they did to "fix" it doesn't come close to what these people bought in for. They spent $1k without ANY guarantee of a World Series game, ever, and waited patiently, then got slapped in the face at redemption. I think they deserve much more sympathy than what they've been given. The team should be bending over backwards to make this right. They can't now with the tickets sold out, but they can do better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the Brewers on this.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Anybody going to Tampa? Looking for any intel on Brewer Bars, shuttles etc….

$253 to park is not happening for our group. Looking for any info share to add to this amazing experience.

 

Text Mike at 2625105190 with any valuable info :). Go Brewers
 

 

[dlk9s]

24 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

I am surprised we have not mentioned the Timeless Ticket controversy. It is making national headlines.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/in-your-community/milwaukee-county/brewers-timeless-ticket-holders-say-the-team-isnt-fully-honoring-deal-for-world-series-seats

 

Don't care.

[dlk9s]

14 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

No doubt Freddy's been pitching better than Henderson lately, but that matchup is a wash if you look at 2026 as a whole, and that's being generous to Peralta. 

Don't look at 2026 as a whole. Look at Freddy the Ray. He's clearly a different pitcher than he was on the Mets.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

2 minutes ago, dlk9s said:

Don't care.

I understand this reaction, just hope people stop and think that the Brewers made at least half a million dollars off this program in interest, and then proceeded to rip off their own fans.

[MrTPlush]

2 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I don't think that's making them whole though. These people got ripped off, they have a legitimate gripe. The entire purpose of this program is an interest-free loan to the Brewers made in good faith that you will get the best available seat. 

I keep seeing this issue get misrepresented on social media. The issue was not that the Brewers sold all the tickets. There WERE in fact better seats available than what was offered to these folks. People keep pointing to the "subject to availability" line. They were available. The Brewers simply didn't want to give away seats they were planning to sell for multiple thousands. Except they weren't giving it away, they were paid $1k for them 10 years ago. 

What they did to "fix" it doesn't come close to what these people bought in for. They spent $1k without ANY guarantee of a World Series game, ever, and waited patiently, then got slapped in the face at redemption. I think they deserve much more sympathy than what they've been given. The team should be bending over backwards to make this right. They can't now with the tickets sold out, but they can do better than this. I am pretty disappointed with the Brewers on this.

They also got 9 other games to use them for…regular season only. This wasn’t just spending $1k to wait for a World Series game. Dang near break even before even using the golden ticket game.

What was the actual ‘best available seat’ expectation? One of the people complaining expected within 10 rows of the field. That seems pretty unrealistic. First level? Second level?

These people are getting $12,000 of tickets for the price of about $2,500. The Brewers are going to still give them the same opportunity in the future again with the promise of better seats that time. So what? Another $20,000+ in value?
 

Yah, I don’t see feeling bad for these people. They were already getting a killer deal and now it is highway robbery value wise. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

5 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

They also got 9 other games to use them for…regular season only. This wasn’t just spending $1k to wait for a World Series game. Dang near break even before even using the golden ticket game.

What was the actual ‘best available seat’ expectation? One of the people complaining expected within 10 rows of the field. That seems pretty unrealistic. First level? Second level?

These people are getting $12,000 of tickets for the price of about $2,500. The Brewers are going to still give them the same opportunity in the future again with the promise of better seats that time. So what? Another $20,000+ in value?
 

Yah, I don’t see feeling bad for these people. They were already getting a killer deal and now it is highway robbery value wise. 

But that's kind of disingenuous. We can't use today's secondary market to determine the kind of value they're getting for something they bought 12 years ago without any certainty it would be worth that. I guarantee you that if you approached the Brewers in 2015 and said "So if we make the World Series I can submit this for a seat on the first level?" The team would have said absolutely, you can! They lied. No gray area to me. They have high public support right now because they are in the World Series and everyone is happy. They would be getting so much more flack for this in any other circumstance. The many comments acting like these people are spoiled for being ticked off about it is shocking to me. 

Brewers changed the rules when they saw how much they could make. This is like one of these people asking for $7500 refund in 2055 when they never get a WS game. And like I said, the Brewers conservatively made $500k (likely much more) by investing these funds for 12 years. That should have been their gain from this, not marking up prices this week to stiff them.

[Turning2]

What’s on my mind is how great it is to be the national media’s darling for a change. There is Brewers content galore to be consumed, and not just from “in house” or Brewers fan circles. They have forced the national talking heads to talk at length about a small market baseball team, pausing for a time, the love affair with all things LA. NY, west coast, east coast. Drink it in while you can. 

[Turning2]

6 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I understand this reaction, just hope people stop and think that the Brewers made at least half a million dollars off this program in interest, and then proceeded to rip off their own fans.

I agree they mishandled this, but half a million isn’t significant in MLB revenues.