WS1: Brewers 3, Rays 2

Rays    - 000 100 001 - 2  7  0
Brewers - 200 000 10x - 3  8  0

Milwaukee jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after only four batters in Game 1 of the 2026 World Series and added a needed insurance run in the seventh, closing the door on a Tampa Bay ninth inning rally that left the tying run at third base.

This is the only the third World Series in the last 126 years in which both teams are hoping to win their first championship. In 1980, the Phillies beat the Royals in six games, and in 1920, Cleveland beat the Brooklyn Robins five games to two. . . . After this series is decided, there will be only four major league teams without a World Series title, including the Padres, Mariners and Rockies.

Before the Brewers got on the board, however, the Rays singled twice off Jacob Misiorowski (5-4-1-1-3, 78) with one out in the top of the first. Junior Caminero, whose ostentatious and premeditated showboating during a home run "trot" in ALCS Game 6 had the ghosts of Sal Maglie and Bob Gibson begging to be brought back to life in order to lodge a fastball in his ear, lined into a 5-4 double play to end the inning. Sadly, Milwaukee third baseman David Hamilton did not mimic Caminero by yelling like a madman and repeatedly pounding his chest after the play.

Rays starter Nick Martinez (5-5-2-0-5, 73) had a good outing, but he had a rough first inning. Jackson Chourio banged his first pitch into right for a single. After getting an out, Martinez gave up a triple and a run when center fielder Jonny DeLuca dove for Christian Yelich's line drive in right center and came up empty. William Contreras then singled Yelich home. Martinez bounced back, allowing only two other baserunners in five innings.

Misiorowski retired the side in order in the second and third innings. He walked Jonathan Aranda to open the fourth and gave up a one-out double to Caminero that sailed over the head and glove of Garrett Mitchell in center. Liam Hicks grounded to first and a run scored.

In the top of the fifth, Victor Mesa singled and went to second on Ben Williamson's grounder to third (Hamilton grabbed the ball near the line and threw from foul territory; Jake Bauers made an excellent  play at first, crossing into the runner's pathway to make a backhanded pick of the one-hop throw). With two outs, Yandy Diaz had a 0-2 count when Mesa inexplicably tried to steal third. Contreras's throw was perfect, hitting Hamilton's mitt a few inches from the ground and directly in front of the bag (and Mesa's incoming foot).

In the home half of the fifth, Hamilton lined a ball into the right field corner with one out. He had triple  on his mind but he stumbled slightly after touching second base and he was thrown out 9-4-5 on a very close play.

Contreras threw out another Tampa Bay runner attempting to steal in the sixth. Aranda singled and was off on a full-count pitch from Abner Uribe to Chandler Simpson. The batter whiffed and Contreras made another perfect throw to nab Aranda at second.

Stephen Matz took over for Martinez and issued two two-out walks in the sixth but wriggled out of trouble. In the seventh, Matz walked Cooper Pratt, recorded two outs and was pulled. Kevin Kelly's first pitch to Chourio was lined off Aranda's glove at first and into right field. Pratt scored to give the Brewers a 3-1 lead. Bauers then singled on a ball that appeared to land on the foul side of the left field line. Umpire Dan Bellino was standing directly over the play and called it a single. A review of the play confirmed the call. (I was dumbfounded. The replay clearly showed a foul ball. However, as we have seen on pitch challenges, if the baseball even grazes the strike zone, it's ruled a strike. In this case, perhaps the falling baseball flicked a blade of grass that had a microscopic dab of white chalk on it, making it a fair ball even though 99.9999999% of the baseball landed in foul territory.) The call ended up being moot, as Yelich ended the inning by grounding out to first.

Aaron Ashby, who got the last two outs in the seventh, retired the bottom third of the Rays lineup in order in the eighth, fanning two.

The next two half innings featured double plays in which the batting team challenged both umpire calls, at second and at first. In the bottom of the eighth, Contreras singled off Kelly, who was replaced by Garrett Cleavinger, who was making his first appearance in this postseason. Indeed, he had not pitched in seven weeks, making this a most curious decision by Rays manager Kevin Cash. Trailing by two runs with only the top of the ninth to tie or take the lead, holding Milwaukee scoreless in this inning was essential. Why opt for the guy working on 49 days rest?

Cleavinger walked Bruce Turang on five pitches. Cameras showed Cash going to the bullpen phone!! Why? He's your guy and he's got to face two more batters! Cash then had Mitchell try to bunt (again, why?) and he tapped a soft little pop-up to third. Pratt grounded into what was called a 5-4-3 double play. Tampa Bay challenged both calls. Pratt was clearly safe at first (good work, Nic Lentz!) and the force at second was upheld. Cash went to his bullpen and brought in another odd choice, Cole Sulser (who faced five batters in ALCS G1 and allowed three runs for a 40.50 ERA). But Sulser got another force at second to end the inning.

Then it was Trevor Megill versus the top of the Tampa order in the ninth. Diaz grounded out to third. Aranda singled to left-center and Simpson whacked an 0-2 pitch up the middle onto center. Jorge Mateo pinch-ran for Aranda at second. With Caminero batting, Mateo and Simpson pulled a double steal without a throw. Megill was ahead 1-2, but Caminero checked his swing on ball 2 and both balls 3 and 4 were in the dirt. Bases loaded for the Rays. Hicks swung at the first pitch and grounded into what was called a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. The Brewers let off some fireworks in celebration -- as the Rays asked for a review of both calls.

The replay showed the batter was out at first, but the force at second was much closer. The question was whether Pratt, in moving over the bag while taking the throw from Turang and about to throw to first, kept his right foot on the bag when he had possession of the ball. A super slo-mo showed that his foot was a small fraction of an inch off the bag and so the call was overturned. It was simply a 463 groundout, Mateo scored and the Rays had runners at second and third with two outs.

Two thoughts on the reversed call at second. I've seen plenty of calls upheld when the replay was as close as this, too close to warrant reversing the call. Also, for decades, middle infielders benefited from what was called "the neighbourhood play", where as long as the shortstop or second baseman was within maybe five feet (!!) of the bag, he would get the out call on attempted double plays. It was ridiculous, having this special "out zone", or an aura of outness, surrounding this one base and not the others?

With fireworks smoke acting as light fog over the field, Megill struck out DeLuca on a 2-2 pitch low and away, and the Brewers' celebration started up again, this time for real.

I cannot adequately express the wonderfulness of watching a postseason game without the hectoring tone of John Smoltz's voice. The international announcers are Dave Flemming (play-by-play) and Ryan Spilborghs (analyst). I missed identifying Spilborghs at the start of the game and I could not readily find his name online, so the first four innings were spent wondering who was this guy? Unlike Smoltz, this announcer seemed like a regular guy and was clearly enjoying himself. I don't think Smoltz has ever sounded like he's having fun. I detected small clues during the game as to who this guy was, maybe one per inning. He was an outfielder, he played in a World Series, he was a teammate of Troy Tulowitzki. I figured I'd have to replay the pre-game to get his name, but I did finally find his name online.

Compared to the main Fox guys, Flemming and Spilborghs were a relaxing breath of unassuming fresh air. Still, I did make some notes, which are never positive. Regarding Misiorowski's game plan, Spilborghs opined "so far, so good" after a mere four pitches. The graphics for the lineups showed the flags of the players' birth places, which is useless information, but also, who thinks US viewers could recognize any non-US flag?!?

There is never a need for a third booth guy. I felt bad for Jeff Francoeur during the xLCS (not looking it up) when they'd show the booth and there he was, between the other two guys, his legs pressed together, wedged in like the middle seat passenger on a long flight.

Nick Martinez was the oldest pitcher to make his WS debut starting Game 1 (36 yrs, 79 days) since the late Tim Wakefield in 2004!!! Wake was 38 yrs, 82 days. His opponent in that game, Woody Williams (38 yrs, 65 days), was the second-oldest all-time.

Yelich was the first player to triple to his first WS at-bat since Lynn Jones of the Royals in 1985. (Lynn Jones: first-base coach of the 2004 Red Sox!!) Flemming remarked that "there was a lot of triples in that World Series", which matched the Royals and Cardinals, two speedy teams who both played on some unforgiving mixture of turf and cement. 

The Royals won that series in seven games. There were three triples hit in those seven games: two by the Royals (Jones (G1), Willie Wilson (G5)), and one by the Cardinals (Terry Pendleton (G4)). Three triples, out of 108 hits. Not "a lot", in my opinion.