TAMPA, Fla. — The only time the Tampa Bay Rays have seen the Milwaukee Brewers in person this year was in the second series of the season, when Tampa Bay lost two of three over March 30-April 1 at American Family Field. But they’ve seen, heard and read enough reports from the team of six scouts — Max Cohen, Jason Cole, Bobby Heck, Brandon Hyde, Mike Langill, Tyler Stohr — they had covering the ...

Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers looks on against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 14, 2026, in Los Angeles.

Luke Hales/Getty Images North America/TNS

TAMPA, Fla. — The only time the Tampa Bay Rays have seen the Milwaukee Brewers in person this year was in the second series of the season, when Tampa Bay lost two of three over March 30-April 1 at American Family Field.

But they’ve seen, heard and read enough reports from the team of six scouts — Max Cohen, Jason Cole, Bobby Heck, Brandon Hyde, Mike Langill, Tyler Stohr — they had covering the National League Championship Series to know that they are in for a challenge when the World Series starts Friday night.

“Watching the Brewers from afar outside of that early series, it’s easy to see the reason for their success,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Wednesday.

“They have a powerful bullpen that has pitched well. Very athletic and very talented young players. (Manager) Pat Murphy and his staff do an impressive job at putting both pitchers and hitters in spots to succeed.”

The Brewers did that a lot, winning a majors-most 103 games during the regular season, then ousting the Padres in four games in the Division Series and sweeping the two-time defending champion Dodgers out of the NL Championship Series.

The NLCS ended Oct. 15, so the Brewers have had a week of workouts to try to stay sharp, similar to what the Rays faced after sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Plus both teams had a first-round bye.

The Brewers already have announced that hard-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, who was 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts over 174 2/3 innings, will pitch Friday’s opener.

The Rays are waiting until Thursday, when both teams will participate in media day activities, to announce their starter. The expectation is they will go with former Brewer Drew Rasmussen, who opened each of their first two series, pitched very well and is on full rest.

Misiorowski and Rasmussen matched up during the April 1 game in Milwaukee. Misiorowski worked six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, including a Yandy Diaz opposite-field homer, while striking out seven.

Rasmussen went five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits, including a Brice Turang homer, while striking out eight.

Working out

The Rays held a full workout on Wednesday at Tropicana Field before flying to Milwaukee.

Four currently rostered pitchers who haven’t gotten much work recently threw live batting practice — Brody Hopkins, starter Griffin Jax, Steven Matz and Cole Sulser. Also throwing to hitters were relievers Garrett Cleavinger, Casey Legumina and Manny Rodriguez.

The Rays can make changes to their roster for this round of postseason play, with the 26-man list due at 11 a.m. Friday.

Welcome break

Though the late decision to postpone ALCS Game 4 in Cleveland on Friday was frustrating for the Rays, it turned out to work in their favor.

Knowing they had hours to kill before a decision would be made on playing, Rays hitting coaches took time to work with each of their Big Three hitters — Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero and Diaz — who to that point had struggled.

Aranda was 0 for 10 in the first three games, Caminero 2 for 11 with seven strikeouts, and Diaz 3 for 13 with no RBIs.

“It gave us some times to slow some things down, talk about the way they’re getting pitched, taking pressure off them, reminding them to just be yourselves more than anything,” hitting coach Chad Mottola said.

“We wanted to play that game for sure, but I think it worked in our favor about getting some quality work in without the pressures of the game to slow some things down.”

Mottola said he felt it allowed the hitters to re-set.

“We had time on our hands, and the way things kind of get scrambled around during the playoffs, knowing who you’re playing, when you’re playing, things like that, it was just a nice time to slow down,” he said.

It seemed to work as over the last three games of the series, Aranda was 5 for 13, Caminero 4 for 12 with three RBIs and Diaz 6 for 14 with two homers.

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