The 2026 World Series begins on Friday, and the two teams fighting for a ring were perhaps the two most deserving ones this season.

The Milwaukee Brewers had the best record both in the National League and in baseball at 103-59. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays won 98 games and were squarely the best team in the American League for the majority of the season.

The way each team plays is distinct — they don't rely on one facet of their games. It's a lot of small ball, a lot of lights-out pitching, bullpen management, and star players coming up big in clutch moments.

As most fans do when their favorite teams' postseason runs end, they're left looking at what the last two teams have that theirs do not.

The Chicago Cubs played their division rival Brewers 13 times this season, with Milwaukee taking the season series nine games to four and winning the NL Central by a whopping 14 games. At one point, the Cubs did lead the division, but it was only for 19 days in May. They relinquished it for good before the season even reached its midpoint.

The Cubs played one series in Tampa, winning two of three games back in early April. Alas, the Cubs were eventually swept in the Wild Card series while the Rays went on to win the pennant.

Consistency is what separated the Brewers and Rays from the rest of the league. The Brewers never won more than five games in a row, but they also never lost more than six straight. Similarly, the Rays' longest losing streak was five.

For the Cubs, things were a lot more chaotic — and fans remember that well. Two separate 10-game winning streaks and a 10-game losing streak virtually defined the season.

Small Ball Wins Pennants

One thing that both the Brewers and Rays excel at is wreaking havoc on the basepaths. In the regular season, Tampa Bay stole 164 bases and Milwaukee stole 162. In the playoffs, the Rays lead the field with 11 stolen bases while the Brewers have stolen 10. No other playoff team logged more than six.

The Cubs, on the other hand, stole just 114 bases in the regular season. Pete Crow-Armstrong accounted for 41 of them. Nico Hoerner had the second-most with 23.

The Brewers love to take their walks — their 10.6% walk rate led the league in the regular season. They're also masters at putting the ball in play, leading MLB with a .316 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) during the regular season.

The Rays seldom struck out, posting an MLB-best 8.8% strikeout rate. Their .296 BABIP as a team also put them in the top third of baseball.

Roster Construction

It's also how both front offices put their teams together. MLB.com's Jim Callis published an article on Wednesday detailing how both Milwaukee and Tampa Bay constructed their pennant-winning rosters, and it's pretty remarkable.

Based on their projected World Series rosters, the Brewers have just one player who was a free-agent signing — backup catcher Gary Sanchez. The team acquired 15 players via trade, seven from the draft, and three via international signings.

For the Rays, it's pretty similar: 16 came via trade, five were free agents, three were homegrown, and then one each came from the Rule 5 draft and the international pool. Among the free-agent signings, only starting pitcher Nick Martinez, who signed a one-year, $13 million deal in the offseason, has played a significant role.

The international market has long been a place of weakness for the Cubs, but a place where both Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have thrived.

The Brewers signed superstar Jackson Chourio for just $1.8 million when he was 16 years old in 2021. He had been on Milwaukee's radar since he was 14. Milwaukee also signed star closer Abner Uribe for just $85,000 in 2018. The Rays signed their slugging first baseman Jonathan Aranda out of Mexico for $130,000 in 2015.

On the other side of the ball, pitching is king for both World Series teams — and that was the root of the Cubs' struggles in 2026.

Both the Brewers and Rays have pitching infrastructure that landed each of their staffs in the top 10 in MLB in the regular season. The Brewers have likely NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski, whom they drafted and developed into the ace he is. The Rays acquired their best pitcher, Drew Rasmussen, a 2018 draft pick of the Brewers, in a 2021 trade, and he's since become one of baseball's most consistent arms.

Both international scouting and pitching development are things that Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer vowed to improve during his end-of-season press conference.

The Cubs made the first step toward that new project when they poached one of the Rays' own, Steve Miller, to become their new international scouting director. If you can beat them, join them too — isn't that how the saying goes?