The two clubs playing for the 2026 World Series are giving the Pirates a clear blueprint.
Milwaukee and Tampa Bay are both built around trades, and that approach has carried them to baseball’s biggest stage. The Brewers, Pittsburgh’s division rival, won their first pennant since 1982.
The Rays earned their third pennant since 2008. Neither team has ever won a World Series, but both have shown that a small-market club can get there anyway.
What stands out most is how much of each roster came from outside the organization. Milwaukee has 15 players acquired in trades on its World Series roster, while Tampa Bay has 17.
The Brewers have leaned heavily on trade additions in the bullpen and also have catcher William Contreras, first baseman Jake Bauers and designated hitter Christian Yelich among their acquired pieces. The Rays have brought in impact players across different stretches, including starter Freddy Peralta and catcher Liam Hicks at this trade deadline.
The best teams in this series were not built overnight. Their core pieces came in over the course of seven and eight seasons, a reminder that roster construction is a long game.
Tampa Bay landed Junior Caminero and Drew Rasmussen in 2021 and Yandy Díaz in 2018. Milwaukee acquired Contreras in 2022 and Yelich in 2018, then kept making sharp moves from there.
Peralta is one of the more interesting threads connecting the two clubs. The Brewers traded him to the New York Mets ahead of his final year before free agency, then the Mets had a rough season and dealt him at the deadline to the Rays. Tampa Bay got him back to what he does best, and he has been part of this run.
Bauers has his own winding path. The Rays traded him to the Cleveland Indians in 2018 in the same deal that brought them Díaz, and Bauers later spent time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees before landing with Milwaukee.
For the Pirates, the lesson is plain: the aggressive teams keep taking swings. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have been willing to make smart trades, absorb mistakes and go after real difference-makers when the moment calls for it. That kind of confidence has helped them maximize long stretches of competitiveness.
Pittsburgh has not had that same edge. The Pirates have struggled to make the bold moves needed to push them over the top and back into contention.
There were some improvements this past season. The Pirates added second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery from the Rays while sending right-handed starter Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros.
They also brought in two right-handed relievers, Luke Weaver from the Mets and Lake Bachar from the Miami Marlins, at the trade deadline. Ben Cherington’s deal with Tampa Bay worked in the Pirates’ favor, but it also showed how much easier it is to build on top of an already strong roster.
That is still the gap. Pittsburgh just finished its first winning season since 2018 and remains stuck outside the postseason for the second-longest drought in MLB, last getting there in 2015.
The bullpen was a big reason the season went sideways. The Pirates did not start with a strong group there, and when some of their better arms regressed, they were forced into damage control. The fix did not come until the deadline.
Milwaukee and Tampa Bay took the opposite route. Their bullpens have been among the best in baseball, and both have leaned on that strength in October.
The Brewers have Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick and DL Hall as key bullpen pieces. The Rays can count on Kevin Kelly, Bryan Baker and Cam Booser.
In the postseason, Milwaukee has posted a 1.33 ERA out of the bullpen, while Tampa Bay has put up a 3.60 mark.
Pittsburgh now has a clearer idea of what it needs to chase for 2027. Weaver can fit as the setup man, Montgomery has the look of a shutdown closer, and Bachar, Yohan Ramírez and Carmen Mlodzinski give the Pirates more middle relief options. But the bigger ask is still ahead: add high-leverage arms through free agency and trades, and do it with enough urgency to avoid repeating last offseason’s mistakes.
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