Brewers-Rays World Series Game 1 Matchup By The Numbers

Image courtesy of Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

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When you are the ace, you get all the cool assignments. That includes starting Game 1 of the World Series.

As the Milwaukee Brewers embark on the franchise's second World Series in their 58-year history, they will send their 24-year-old flamethrower to the mound in Jacob Misiorowski. The probable NL Cy Young Award winner who is at the end of his first full MLB season—very full when you consider the postseason—will face the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 (7 p.m. CT, Fox). Misiorowski will join former Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels (2008) as the only players 24 or younger to start Game 1 of the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series in the same season.

The energetic right-hander has taken his game to a whole new level this season after bursting onto the scene just before last year's All-Star break. The Miz led MLB during the regular season with a 2.17 FIP, 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts, a 0.802 WHIP and an opponent batting average of .157, the lowest in MLB history. He became the first pitcher in MLB history to throw more than 1,000 pitches at 100 mph or better while his 37.9% strikeout rate was the second-best in MLB history for a qualified pitcher (Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees, 2019, 39.9%). Misiorowski also has 30 career pitches at 104 mph or better, trailing only 17-year veteran Aroldis Chapman (71, including postseason).

While Misiorowski has been sharp throughout the season, his postseason has been less so. In those two starts, he has gone a total of 8⅓ innings, striking out 11 and walking four while allowing three runs and nine hits. While he uncorked a postseason-record 104.8 mph offering on his very first pitch of these playoffs, he has been slightly more hittable. That is in part due to his fastball not having as much induced vertical break (down from 15.3 inches to 14), which has helped the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers foul off a combined 50 pitches. What that has meant is more work for Misiorowski and those teams getting to his off-speed stuff more often.

Misiorowski has faced the Rays just once in his young career. That came in his second start of this season, April 1 at American Family Field. On that day, the Miz struck out seven over six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings. One of the four hits was a two-run homer in the third inning by Yandy Diaz, the most tenured player on the Rays' roster. Diaz has been the Rays' top hitter throughout this postseason, putting up a .308/.341/.564 slash line (12-for-39) with seven runs scored, two homers and four RBIs. He hit a huge two-run homer in the clinching Game 6 of the AL Championship Series vs. the Cleveland Guardians.

Junior Caminero is another dangerous hitter. The 23-year-old third baseman has a postseason slash line of .273/.351/.455 (9-for-33) and hit his only homer of the playoffs also in Game 6 of the ALCS, a two-run shot that accounted for half of his RBI total. He has struck out 13 times. This after a regular season in which Caminero slashed .276/.360/.524, hitting 42 homers and driving in 101.

Jacob Misiorowski vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Current Batters Table
Rk	Player	B	PA	AB	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	HBP
1	Jonathan Aranda	L	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0
2	Junior Caminero	R	3	3	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0
3	Yandy Díaz	R	3	3	1	1	2	0	1	.333	.333	1.333	1.667	0
4	Nick Fortes	R	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0
5	Cedric Mullins	L	3	3	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0
6	Chandler Simpson	L	3	2	1	0	0	1	0	.500	.667	.500	1.167	0
7	Ben Williamson	R	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0
8	Liam Hicks	L	2	2	1	0	1	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0
9	Jorge Mateo	R	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0
10	Richie Palacios	L	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	1.000	.000	.000	1

Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 10/22/2026.

Starting for the Rays will be right-hander Nick Martinez, a bit of a surprising choice over ace right-hander Drew Rasmussen. Martinez, a 36-year-old journeyman who spent 2018-2021 in Japan, has been a full-time starter for the first time in his career and experienced a great deal of success. In 31 starts during his first season with the Rays, he won 15 games and logged 180 innings, all career highs that also led the Rays' staff. In a theme you will hear throughout the World Series, he doesn't walk very many. Martinez led MLB with a 3.6% walk rate. His two starts this postseason were the first of his career, while also having eight relief appearances.

In those two starts, he lasted just 3⅔ innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts in the Game 3 clincher against the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series. He bounced back with a stronger showing in the AL Championship Series. In Game 4, Martinez went 5⅓ innings, giving up just two hits and a run, while walking two and striking out three. During the regular season, he had a 3.96 FIP (3.10 ERA) with a strikeout rate of just 15.1%.

That poor strikeout rate could be a reason behind the success the Brewers have had against Martinez, who spent the last two years with the NL Central's Cincinnati Reds. William Contreras is 5-for-18 vs. Martinez with a pair of homers, while Christian Yelich is 5-for-19 with a homer. It goes deeper, though, as Garrett Mitchell is 4-for-12 with a pair of doubles and Sal Frelick 4-for-13 with a double and four RBIs, matching Contreras' team-best total. Brice Turang and Gary Sanchez have also homered off Martinez.

Martinez faced the Brewers in their early-season series. He made his Rays debut in the March 30 game in which he went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Turang went deep off Martinez in that game, the Rays' only victory of the three-game series. Martinez has been very good on the road this year, posting a 2.36 ERA in 16 starts and 94⅔ innings.

Nick Martinez vs. Milwaukee Brewers: Current Batters Table
Rk	Player	B	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	HBP	GIDP
1	Christian Yelich	L	20	19	5	1	1	2	1	5	.263	.300	.474	.774	0	0
2	William Contreras	R	18	18	5	1	2	4	0	2	.278	.278	.667	.944	0	1
3	Brice Turang	L	17	16	4	2	1	3	1	4	.250	.294	.563	.857	0	0
4	Sal Frelick	L	13	13	4	1	0	4	0	0	.308	.308	.385	.692	0	1
5	Jackson Chourio	R	12	12	2	1	0	0	0	2	.167	.167	.250	.417	0	0
6	Garrett Mitchell	L	12	12	4	2	0	1	0	4	.333	.333	.500	.833	0	0
7	Joey Ortiz	R	10	9	1	0	0	0	1	1	.111	.200	.111	.311	0	1
8	Gary Sánchez	R	9	7	3	1	1	3	1	1	.429	.556	1.000	1.556	1	0
9	Jake Bauers	L	5	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	.200	.200	.200	.400	0	0
10	David Hamilton	L	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
11	Brandon Lockridge	R	3	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	.667	1.333	0	0
12	Bo Naylor	L	3	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.667	1.000	0	0

Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 10/22/2026.

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Steve Drumwright grew up in Wisconsin and was forced out of youth baseball when he failed to make enough contact to play the sport he loves. He did make one memorable pitching appearance, summoned from right field in a blowout. Steve went on to a successful journalism career, beginning as a part-time high school sportswriter in small-town Wisconsin to becoming the No. 2 person in the newsroom in San Francisco. Steve enjoys telling the stories of other people and how sports is a terrific vehicle for telling those stories. He now lives in Southern California. Follow him on Bluesky.