The 2026 World Series is being framed here as a meeting between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays, but the fun of the exercise is in how far off the rails it can go. Forget the routine stuff. The predictions lean into the kind of baseball chaos that can turn a title series into something you’d never believe until it happens.
Start with Jackson Chourio, who is being tabbed to do something only a handful of players in history have managed: hit a leadoff homer and a walk-off homer in the same game. Pete Crow-Armstrong pulled it off on Aug. 17, then Randy Arozarena matched it on Aug.
- The feat has happened just seven times overall, and only twice from 1958 through 2025 before those two recent examples.
The prediction here is that Chourio becomes the third player to do it in 2026, with the Brewers home in Games 1 and 2, and potentially Games 6 and 7 as well. If it’s going to happen, it has to happen in one of those nights.
Another bold call has the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen throwing a no-hitter, with the Brewers as the team on the wrong end of it. Rasmussen came close to history in Game 1 of the ALDS before Austin Wells prevented it, but this time the job gets finished.
The Brewers’ lineup, built to make contact and find ways on base, would be completely shut down. In World Series history, Don Larsen’s perfect game remains the only no-hitter if you don’t count the Astros’ 2022 group effort.
There’s also a prediction built on pure weirdness at American Family Field: Chourio ending the series by hitting a ball that hits the roof, drops into fair territory in left, and then skips under a diving Chandler Simpson’s glove for a walk-off hit. In that version of events, Milwaukee wins Game 6, 6-5, and takes the World Series.
The end of one game could come in a much more modern way, too. One prediction has an ABS challenge determining a game-ending strike three after review.
It’s not going all the way to saying the World Series ends that way, but one of the games between Milwaukee and Tampa Bay will, in this telling, be decided by the system. The point is clear: anything that speeds up the day when full ABS is used for balls and strikes is welcome.
And then there’s the bullpen twist. One reliever is projected to finish the series with the most wins, with Aaron Ashby singled out specifically.
He had 13 wins in the regular season and picked up another in the NLDS, and the idea is that he keeps piling them up late. The Brewers’ habit of coming from behind and the Rays’ playoff bullpen leakage help the case, especially with Ashby often logging multiple innings late.
That’s the charm of this kind of World Series forecasting: not the obvious star turns, but the bizarre, the sudden, and the unforgettable.
In Other News...
Brewers Are Betting Big On Jacob Misiorowski Fix In Game 1
Jacob Misiorowskis postseason has come with as much adjustment as adrenaline, and the Brewers used the off time before World Series Game 1 to address it. Pitching coach Chris Hook and coordinator Jim Henderson spent Misiorowskis 11-day reset working through the delivery issues that had started to chip away at the impact of his fastball, a pitch Milwaukee needs to be right if it wants him to look like the force it believes he can be.
Now the 23-year-old is lined up to take the ball in Game 1, which gives the Brewers a chance to start the series with one of their most electric arms on the mound. It also adds another layer to an already unusual postseason for Misiorowski, who is set to become the youngest pitcher to start three Game 1s in the same run, with Milwaukee clearly betting that the fixes will show up when the spotlight is brightest. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Woodruffs Brewers Return Suddenly Comes With One Big Catch
Brandon Woodruffs path back from an anterior shoulder capsule injury has started to look real again, with the right-hander back to throwing bullpens and recently getting through his first live outing. For a Brewers club that has spent the season waiting on his return, the progress is meaningful enough to keep his name in the conversation as the postseason picture sharpens, even as the final decisions around the roster draw closer.
Matt Arnold sounded encouraged by what he has seen from Woodruff, but there is still a complication hanging over the Brewers World Series roster plans. League rules can affect whether an injured player can be swapped in if the injury is viewed as recurring or pre-existing, and with Milwaukee expected to announce its 26-man roster soon, Woodruffs status remains one of the more intriguing questions left to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers World Series Menu Is Pure Wisconsin And Fans Will Love It
American Family Field is rolling out a championship menu that leans hard into Wisconsin comfort and ballpark indulgence, with new items like the Walk-Off Burger, Prime Rib, Beef Wellington and Brat Rangoons set to greet fans for the World Series. The spread was built to give the ballpark a distinctly local feel while offering plenty of choices for a big October crowd.
The details make the menu even more intriguing because the planning started long before the Brewers had any idea theyd be hosting this stage. There is also a special Klsch on tap at the stadium, adding another local touch to a setup that feels tailor-made for a postseason run, even if the full story of how it all came together is still waiting to be told. [Read more 🡒]