The first game of the 2026 World Series brings a matchup that looks straight out of left field: Milwaukee’s 24-year-old fireballer Jacob Misiorowski against Tampa Bay’s 36-year-old veteran Nick Martinez.
That pairing alone tells the story of this Fall Classic. One pitcher has spent the season blowing hitters away with pure velocity.
The other has leaned on experience, command and the kind of adjustments that tend to keep a long career going. And with the Brewers and Rays both chasing the first championship in franchise history, the opener already has a strange, memorable edge.
Milwaukee is rolling with the arm that defined its season. Misiorowski led Major League Baseball with a 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts and a 0.80 WHIP, and opponents managed just a .157 average against him in the regular season.
His power is on another level, too. In the National League Division Series against San Diego, he fired a 104.8-mph pitch, the fastest postseason offering ever recorded in the pitch-tracking era.
When he’s locating, Milwaukee gets a starter who can make the whole game feel tilted in its favor.
But Tampa Bay has a plan built around a different kind of pitcher.
Rays manager Kevin Cash could have turned to Drew Rasmussen for Friday’s opener. Rasmussen had already worked Game 1 earlier in the postseason and was available on regular rest, but Tampa Bay chose to give him an extra day before his next outing. That opened the door for Martinez, who went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA across 180 innings in the regular season and earned his first All-Star nod.
The Rays have already seen Martinez deliver in the postseason. In Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland, he gave up one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. Tampa Bay will be counting on that same calm and control to help slow Milwaukee’s lineup.
Martinez also brings something beyond the box score. He’s known for organizing team dinners on road trips, and teammates call him “El Presidente.” It fits a pitcher who has become a steady voice in the clubhouse as much as a useful arm on the mound.
The chess match doesn’t end there. Misiorowski has looked nearly untouchable at times, but there is at least one path Tampa Bay can try to press.
The Padres and Dodgers both ran up his pitch counts in his first two postseason starts by spoiling pitches and grinding out at-bats, even if they couldn’t do much damage. If the Rays can force that kind of workload again, they may be able to get Milwaukee into the bullpen earlier than the Brewers want.
That’s what makes this opener so unusual. It’s not just a World Series game between two franchises still seeking their first title.
It’s also a showcase for two very different pitchers, two very different careers, and two very different ways of getting outs. The Brewers last played in the World Series in 1982, while Tampa Bay reached it in 2008 and 2020.
On Friday, both teams will try to take the first step toward a championship with a matchup nobody would have guessed a few months ago.
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