There’s a Lot of Overlap in This Year’s World Series Matchup

The 2026 World Series matchup is set, with the Milwaukee Brewers representing the NL and the Tampa Bay Rays representing the AL. The series features two teams that have a lot in common on the field.

Both teams were above-to-well-above average at the plate on offense during the regular season. The Rays were tied for 12th in MLB at 4.51 runs per game, while the Brewers finished second in all of baseball at 5.09 runs per game, behind only their division-rival Cubs.

Both teams also had excellent pitching staffs this season. The Rays were seventh in MLB with a 3.70 team ERA, while the Brewers were again second at 3.51. Drilling down a level, Tampa’s rotation outdueled Milwaukee’s in ERA 3.51 to 3.61, but the Brewer bullpen held the advantage 3.40 to 3.99.

Speed? Both teams have it. Each squad was a top-five unit in baseball in stolen bases, with the Rays just barely holding the edge with their 164 steals compared to the Brewers’ 162.

The similarities between the teams go beyond the on-field stats. Both teams are in the bottom half of the league in payroll, Milwaukee at 19 and Tampa at 28, per FanGraphs. Both led their respective leagues in wins. And both, as most know by now, are in search of their respective franchises’ first-ever World Series title.

At times, it feels like you could hold a mirror up to one team and wind up seeing the other. Heck, you could almost picture what it would look like for certain players to wear both jerseys.

The Overlap in This Year’s World Series Matchup Permeates Both Rosters

The Brewers and Rays are plenty familiar with each other’s rosters. In addition to one team signing a player who previously played for the other team’s organization, the two teams have also connected on eight trades since 2020 alone.

It should come as no surprise, then, that there are players set to appear on the Tampa Bay roster who were once a member of the Milwaukee roster and vice versa. In fact, both MVPs from the Championship Series round fall right into that bucket.

Jake Bauers, the Brewers first baseman who put together two epic, 10-plus-pitch at-bats against the Dodgers, among his other heroics, won the NLCS MVP Award last round. He began his MLB career with the Rays, playing 96 games for them in his debut 2018 season.

Meanwhile, Rays starter Freddy Peralta gave up just one run over 12 innings en route to being awarded the ALCS MVP. The Brewers acquired him from the Mariners via trade in 2015, and he also debuted in 2018, spending the first eight years of his MLB career in Milwaukee.

And he isn’t even the only Tampa starter to originate with the Brewers. Starter Drew Rasmussen was drafted and developed by Milwaukee and pitched in 27 games there before being traded to, you guessed it, the Rays back in 2021.

Why stop at the rosters themselves? If you jump over to the Brewers front office, you’ll find the man who was the very architect of a large portion of Milwaukee’s current roster and farm system.

Matt Arnold was hired by the Brewers in 2015 as vice president and assistant general manager to David Stearns. When Stearns moved on to the Mets in 2022, Arnold was promoted, and he now serves as general manager and president of baseball operations. His employer before Milwaukee: the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now, what would really be something is if there were a player on one team’s roster who was a member of the other team’s roster earlier this year. Sadly, that isn’t the case, but there is one player not currently on either roster who did play for both teams in 2026.

That player is Jake Woodford. He made the Brewers’ Opening Day roster and pitched 23.1 innings for them in the first half of the season. After a quick stop with the Chicago Cubs, he’d wind up with the Rays and throw 1.1 innings for them in September. Tampa would eventually designate him for assignment, and he is currently a free agent.

All of this is to say that the biggest thing the Rays and Brewers have in common is that they are two very talented, very well-deserving teams. Baseball fans are likely in for quite the entertaining 2026 World Series.

However, this also means that there is about to be one staggering difference between the two franchises. Only one of them will soon be able to refer to themselves as MLB champions.