The 2026 World Series is underway, and both teams in it are chasing history: neither the Milwaukee Brewers nor the Tampa Bay Rays has ever won a championship. The Brewers struck first, edging the Rays 3-2 in a nervy Friday night opener at American Family Field, taking their first World Series win since 1982 — the last time the franchise appeared in the Fall Classic. Milwaukee leads the best-of-seven series 1-0 heading into Saturday's Game 2.

Starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers' presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner, threw the fastest pitch in World Series history to open the game and was solid across five innings. An early Brewers offensive rally and a seventh-inning insurance run from Jackson Chourio proved crucial, as closer Trevor Megill surrendered a run in the ninth and briefly put the outcome in doubt. The Rays had opted to start Nick Martinez over ace Drew Rasmussen — a strategic choice that some read as conserving their best arm for the series. Rasmussen is set to pitch Game 2.

The matchup has already made history before a pitch: it is the first World Series since 1980 to feature two teams seeking their first championship, and the first ever to match two expansion franchises. Tampa Bay entered the postseason at 80-1 pre-season odds, a figure that, if the Rays were to complete the run, would tie the longest-shot World Series winner on record. The Brewers swept the defending-champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS; the Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians in six games in the ALCS.