Rays vs. Brewers. Who you got?

Plus: Caminero's already doing damage

Friday, October 23 View Online Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know around baseball, brought to you by David Adler. Today, we want you to make your World Series predictions.   Here we go. The World Series starts in just a few hours. Who you got?    It's Rays vs. Brewers for all the marbles. The No. 1 team in the American League vs. the No. 1 team in the National League, and one of them is going to be a first-time World Series champion.  World Series Game 1: Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on FOX/FOX Deportes/FOX One Our experts have already weighed in with their predictions. (They like the Brew Crew.) Now we want to know your pick.    Before you vote -- the poll's down below -- here's some stuff to consider:    Who has the edge at each position? Some of the battles are clear-cut -- the Brewers win at second base with Brice Turang, the Rays win at third with Junior Caminero. But what about Jonathan Aranda vs. Jake Bauers at first? Yandy Díaz vs. Christian Yelich at DH? The starting rotations? Here's our full position-by-position analysis.   The series could hinge on this strength vs. strength matchup. The Brewers are the hardest team to defend in baseball. When they're not hitting clutch home runs, they're spraying balls to all fields. But the Rays are the smartest defensive team in baseball. Their positioning is superb. So is their range. And they're the best at turning even hard-hit balls into outs. Mike Petriello breaks it down here.   We're going to see fire vs. fire. Speaking of strength vs. strength … how about Jacob Misiorowski vs. Junior Caminero? We get a true marquee matchup in Game 1. It's not just a Cy Young contender vs. an MVP contender -- it's baseball's fastest bat vs. baseball's fastest arm.    There's one X-factor you might not be thinking about. It's … the roofs! This World Series has the chance to be the first all-indoor Fall Classic in history. The Rays play in a dome, Tropicana Field, and the Brewers' American Family Field has a retractable roof. (The roof is closed for Game 1.) Those roofs have already impacted playoff games for both teams. The Brewers' roof took away a potential go-ahead ninth-inning home run from the Padres' Ty France in the NLDS, and The Trop's catwalks caused some chaos against the Yankees in the ALDS.   OK, that's enough. Time to make your prediction. TODAY'S POLL Who's going to win the 2026 World Series? BREWERS RAYS We'll have the results on Monday. EVERYTHING TO KNOW FOR GAME 1 It's been 44 years -- 16,077 days, but who's counting? -- since Milwaukee hosted a World Series game. Today's the big day. Here's everything you need to know for Game 1 of the Fall Classic.   Rays at Brewers  8 p.m. ET on FOX/FOX Deportes/FOX One Game 1 FAQ How they got here:    The 103-win Brewers had the best record in baseball this year, then beat the Padres 3-1 in the NLDS and punched their ticket to their first World Series since 1982 by sweeping the reigning World Series champion Dodgers in their NLCS rematch. The 98-win Rays were the best team in the AL, swept the rival Yankees in the ALDS and won a back-and-forth ALCS against the Guardians in six games to reach the Fall Classic on the 18th anniversary of their first pennant.   Tonight's pitching matchup: Nick Martinez (Rays) vs. Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers)    The Rays went with Martinez over ace Drew Rasmussen in Game 1, which will afford Rasmussen a little extra rest after a hard-fought ALCS. The Brewers have been waiting to unleash Misiorowski, who's still searching for his peak dominant form this postseason but might be the hardest-throwing pitcher we've ever seen in the World Series.    Key storylines to watch:   Can the Rays hit homers? Junior Caminero finally hit his first home run of the postseason in the ALCS clincher. Yandy Díaz hit one, too, to back up his guarantee of a victory. The Rays offense needs to carry that momentum into the World Series against a Brewers team that leads the postseason with 10 home runs.   Is the City of Milwaukee ready for this? After the Brewers' 44-year wait for a World Series game, it's going to be pandemonium at American Family Field tonight. Can the best Milwaukee team in a long time give the home crowd a reason to blow the roof off? BIG WOO IS ON THE ROSTER This is one of the best surprises of the postseason: Brandon Woodruff, the longest-tenured Brewer, is on Milwaukee's World Series roster.   Only two months ago, this seemed impossible. Woodruff was scheduled to have season-ending surgery, which would've forced him to miss a fourth straight Brewers playoff run and maybe even put his career in question.    Instead, something completely unexpected happened: Woodruff's shoulder started to heal on its own, which gave him the tiniest chance of pitching again this year … if the Brewers made the World Series.   Well, the Brewers made the World Series. And in the days leading up to Game 1 -- as Woodruff looked sharp throwing live at-bats at an empty American Family Field -- the door started to open.   Now it's a reality. Against all odds, Woodruff -- one of the most important players to the Brew Crew's run of success over the last decade -- will get the chance to pitch in the World Series. That's pretty cool. CAMINERO'S ALREADY DOING DAMAGE Watch out, Milwaukee -- Junior Caminero has arrived.    The Rays' superstar slugger sent a loud message to the Brewers before Game 1 of the World Series: Caminero blasted a monster home run in batting practice that knocked out part of the center-field videoboard at American Family Field.   Caminero sure looked like he was finding his stroke by the end of the ALCS. Tonight, he'll have a chance to follow up his BP moonshot by doing his damage for real. GODZILLA TAKES OVER IN TOKYO Former Yankees star slugger Hideki Matsui is now a manager -- of the "Yankees of Japan."    Matsui was just named the manager of the Yomiuri Giants, Nippon Professional Baseball's most iconic franchise.    Matsui was a two-time All-Star and the 2009 World Series MVP for the Bronx Bombers, but "Godzilla" first became a star with Yomiuri. Matsui played 10 years in Tokyo with the Giants -- where he won three Japan Series championships and three MVP Awards -- before he came to the Yankees in 2003.   The Yankees sent their congratulations to Matsui on his new managerial gig today. © 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Please review our Privacy Policy. You (geoffgould.gr8iphone@blogger.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com. Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe  or log in and manage your email subscriptions. Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.