One way or the other, baseball will have a first-time World Series champion this season. The Milwaukee Brewers (established in 1970) and Tampa Bay Rays (established in 1998) will meet in this year's Fall Classic, and one of them will win their first title. The Brewers have been to the World Series once before (1982).
This is the third pennant for the Rays (also 2008 and 2020). "2020 was as special as any season I've been a part of," Rays manager Kevin Cash said following Tampa's ALCS Game 6 win over the Cleveland Guardians. "But saying that, we didn't have 40,000 people behind us [during COVID].
Excited to see what those 40,000 people can bring on Games 3, 4 and 5, for sure." This year, the teams with the best record in each league will meet in the World Series. In baseball, though, the best team doesn't always win a short postseason series, and sometimes those short series can be decided on a fortunate bounce, a fortunate umpire's call, or a role player having the best week of his life. Randomness will always play its part.
Every edge, no matter how small it may seem, could swing a series as well, and this World Series is no different. The Brewers and Rays will be hailed as old-school teams given their contact-heavy approaches, but they are two of the most analytical-inclined clubs in the sport. They each have an army of brilliant folks looking for advantages on the margins.
Here now are three World Series X-factors that could decide a game, decide the series, or wind up not mattering in the slightest. If you like bunt hits, sacrifice bunts, and infield hits, this is the World Series matchup for you. The Brewers and Rays were baseball's two best teams at what we'll call small ball tactics during the regular season.
Rays speedster Chandler Simpson led baseball with 42 infield hits, 11 more than any other player. Only four players had at least 10 bunt hits during the regular season: Brewers infielder David Hamilton (15), Simpson (14), and fellow Rays Cedric Mullins (12) and Taylor Walls (11). There will be a great deal of "put the ball on the ground and run like crazy" in this World Series.
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