The mystery is over. A day after deliberating, the Tampa Bay Rays confirmed their World Series rotation: Nick Martinez will start tonight’s Game 1 against Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, ace Drew Rasmussen gets Game 2, and ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta takes Game 3 — against the Brewers, the club that gave him his big-league debut.
First pitch for the opener is 8:08 p.m. ET (5:08 p.m. PT) at American Family Field, on FOX. Game 2 goes Saturday night in Milwaukee with Rasmussen opposing Logan Henderson, and the series then shifts to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for Game 3 on Monday. Tampa Bay had kept its Game 1 choice under wraps until Thursday (as La Momentum reported).
Manager Kevin Cash explained the call to hold back his ace: “We prioritized Drew getting an extra day. He’s had a pretty thick workload here… we’re trying to get the full pitch allotment out of him.” On Martinez, Cash was blunt: “When Nick pitches, we win.”
The Game 1 matchup is a study in contrasts. Misiorowski, 24, went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts and is the presumed National League Cy Young winner. Martinez, a first-time All-Star in his debut Rays season, went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA.
Then comes the emotional one. Peralta rode his overpowering fastball to ALCS MVP honors — 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA against Cleveland — and now faces the franchise where he spent eight seasons before the Brewers traded him in January. “Milwaukee is going to be always in my heart,” Peralta said this week. “But this is a time to compete… and excited to go.”
It’s the first World Series since 1980 matching two franchises that have never won it all: the Rays fell short in 2008 and 2020, while the Brewers’ only previous trip to the Fall Classic was 1982.
Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Photo: Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Photo: David J. Phillip, AP
Source: ClutchPoints, October 22, 2026
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