The Tampa Bay Rays, even though they won a robust 98 games during the regular season and bested the New York Yankees in the American League East race, are going to be underdogs in the World Series. That's because they're running up against the Milwaukee Brewers, who during the regular season won more games than the Rays and put up a much better run differential, all against a tougher schedule. 

"Underdog," however, does not mean "fated to lose," especially in a sport like baseball and just as especially when the Rays are such a strong team in their own rights. Any team is capable of beating any other in this sport, and in this instance, a Rays series win would be barely a mild upset. Now, it's hard to say the two teams are perfectly evenly matched, but they're not far from it, really. On that note, let's have a quick look at why the Rays may indeed be poised to win the World Series that lurks before us. 

1. They have a potential edge at the front of the rotation

Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta have been stellar in October

Yes, the Brewers have the one-two punch of Jacob Misiorowski, the NL Cy Young favorite, and rookie standout Logan Henderson, but the Rays boast Drew Rasmussen and deadline addition (and ALCS MVP) Freddy Peralta, the former Brewer stalwart. On paper, you'd lean Brewers on this front, but consider these rotation fronts have fared in the postseason thus far: 

By no means has the Milwaukee tandem been bad, at least on the run-prevention front, but Rasmussen and Peralta have been much better in these playoffs. Of particular concern is Misiorowski's and Henderson's struggles at the command-and-control level, as measured by K/BB ratio. 

Yes, this may be the small sample size at work, but it's also possible that the much younger Brewers rotation front is hitting a workload wall. Last season, Misiorowski – minors, majors, and playoffs combined – worked 141 ⅓ innings. In 2026, his regular-season and postseason innings tally is up to 183. That's a big jump, especially for a guy who's thrown, oh, almost 1,200 triple-digit fastballs on the year. He hasn't had a true ace-level start in more than a month. As for Henderson, he's also seen a sizable innings jump – from 103 innings, Triple-A and the majors combined, in 2025 to 131 ⅓ this season, Triple-A, majors, and postseason combined. None of these are irresponsible leaps forward or anything like that, but turning a six-month season into a seven-month season can be a challenge for any pitcher, especially a young one. 

On the other side, Rasmussen and Peralta are older and, especially in Peralta's case, familiar with high workloads and the stamina and durability those workloads require. If the series goes long enough, each of these one-two punches will make a total of four starts. As such, this potential edge for Tampa Bay could be a real difference-maker. On another level, the presence of Nick Martinez in the Rays rotation could be another possible edge once Game 3 rolls around. 

2. They're a different team since the trade deadline

The Rays have gone 40-20 (and 7-2 in the playoffs) since the trade deadline

The Rays made some key additions leading up to this year's trade deadline, and those additions raised the ceiling for this team. Peralta's recent merits are noted above, and after being acquired from the Mets, he made some adjustments and registered a 131 ERA+ in 10 stretch-drive starts. He's been even better than that lately. 

Acquiring Liam Hicks from the Marlins – a fairly bold maneuver, since contenders typically don't like to switch primary catchers in the middle of the season – also paid off. The underrated Hicks batted .288/.379/.440 for Tampa Bay after the trade and thus drastically upgraded the position. He was Kevin Cash's No. 3 hitter in the clincher over Cleveland. Elsewhere, right-handed reliever Tyler Wells has improved the Rays' setup depth – a pronounced need leading up to the deadline. 

In at least somewhat related matters, the Rays since the deadline are 40-20, counting the postseason to date. 

3. They have the best hitter in the series

Junior Caminero owns a series-altering bat

Sometimes in a postseason series, one player is capable of taking over, and Rays third baseman Junior Caminero is the leading threat to do just that. During the regular season, Caminero – in his age-22 campaign – played in every game, put up an OPS+ of 144, and smacked 42 homers. In 2025, he hit 45 homers. Backing it up is some of the best quality-of-contact indicators in all of baseball. He's an elite hitter, and no one in this series is more likely than he is to take over a game, and perhaps a series, with his bat-work.