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The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers are set to square off in what should be a blockbuster World Series, with both seeking their first title in franchise history. For fans of the other 28 teams, though, there’s a bit of a quandary: You want more chances to watch baseball before the long, cold winter (which is likely to be much colder and longer than usual) sets in, but you’re not sure who to throw your allegiance behind in order to get truly invested in the outcome.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Because no matter what team you root for normally, there’s a clear right and wrong answer when it comes to who you should be cheering on in this year’s Fall Classic — whether it’s divisional rivalry, shared history or just plain being a hater.
To those still salty about the 2011 NLDS, I understand — especially in light of the steroid allegations around Ryan Braun. But that was 15 years ago now, and I’m betting there are plenty of D-backs fans who have a lot of fondness for Pat Murphy from his stint as the head coach at Arizona State. Murphy made the College World Series four times over his 15 years in Tempe, including a runner-up finish in 1998. Plus, any team that sweeps the Dodgers has earned at least a little good will from the rest of the NL West.
The Rays were one of just five teams with a payroll below $100 million this season. One of the other four? The A’s, who are still waiting on a move to Vegas to hopefully shame John Fisher into spending. But a Tampa win would show a beleaguered fan base that hey, if you nail your next GM hire, there’s always hope no matter the budget.
The Braves called Milwaukee home from 1953 to 1965, until an ownership sale precipitated a move to Atlanta — one that engendered so much ill will that it spent more than a year tied up in court. The Brewers arrived just a few years later, but still, some atonement is in order here. Besides, you two share Henry Aaron, and that has to count for something.
As if this season weren’t bad enough in Baltimore, a Rays World Series win would put the O’s firmly at the bottom of the AL East hierarchy. Potentially getting fleeced in the Shane Baz trade would just be the cherry on top.
The entire AL East has been driven crazy by the Rays’ pesky brand of baseball and overall competence. The last thing we need is for them to finally win it all.
This is probably the single easiest entry on this entire list. I was tempted to try and come up with a contrarian case for rooting for Milwaukee, but this rivalry simply runs too deep, and the last thing Craig Counsell’s rep needs right now is the Brewers finally scaling the mountain. Brewers fans took over Wrigley at points this summer; the last thing Chicago needs is to spend all offseason hearing it from the many, many native Wisconsinites who call the city home.
Except, of course, if you live on the South Side, in which case the prospect of all of that probably sounds like a great time. The White Sox making it one round farther than the Cubs did this postseason is sweet enough, but watching them lose out on bragging rights to another hated rival? Sign us up.
Bad blood runs deeper in the NL Central than just about anywhere else; good luck trying to convince any of these teams to pull for the Brewers now. Plus, Cincy can pull for former Red Nick Martinez, who put together a dream season in Tampa’s rotation and should get at least one start in this series.
Well, technically there’s the Junior Caminero trade and the Yandy Diaz trade. The former is the headliner, given that Cleveland bailed on an MVP candidate in exchange for a reliever who didn’t even last a year with the franchise. But let’s also not forget that Diaz began his career with the Guards, only to be sent to Tampa as part of a three-team trade. The return for Cleveland? Jake Bauers, who is now at the heart of the order for the Brewers. OK, so it’s bad everywhere you turn, but watching Caminero and Diaz win it all would be particularly painful.
Hear me out here: The No. 1 order of business for the Rockies this winter should be trying to secure a haul in exchange for catcher Hunter Goodman. That becomes a lot easier if he’s the clear best catcher available, which is only possible if the Brewers decide to hold on to William Contreras entering his contract year. I can only see Milwaukee entertaining that idea if they fall short here and decide to make one more all-in push in 2027.
Losing Skubal would always have been painful; losing him to the Dodgers, though, was just twisting the knife. And it all could’ve been avoided had the Brewers, who by all accounts were heavily involved in talks for the lefty around the trade deadline, had been a bit more willing to pony up. For that, Detroit’s allegiance goes to the Rays.
We’re going to borrow some logic from the Rockies here. Houston will likely look to trade Pena as he enters his final season before free agency. One potential suitor? The Brewers, who have been looking for more punch on the left side of the infield for a while now. If Milwaukee loses here, maybe they’re more willing to part with some prospect capital?
The logic here is simple: A Brewers win would annoy Cardinals fans to no end, and Royals fans should be invested in whatever will annoy their rivals from the east. And hey, a little Midwestern solidarity never hurt anybody, right?
Milwaukee embarrassed Los Angeles in the NLCS, so much so that it hopefully took some attention away from how the other team in the metro area is doing right now. For that, the Brewers should have Angels fans’ eternal gratitude. And maybe if Stan Kroenke nails a hire or two, the Halos can take a page out of the Brewers’ book.
If the Brewers win, then at least the Dodgers can console themselves with the knowledge that they lost to the best team in baseball. But if Los Angeles gets swept, only to then watch Milwaukee turn around and lose to the Rays? Well, that’s not quite as good a look, and suddenly you start to ask even more questions about just how creaky this team is moving forward.
Admittedly, MLB tries a bit too hard to make the Rays-Marlins rivalry into A Thing; I don’t think either team would put the other at the top of its hate list. Still, Tampa and Miami generally don’t get along, and the Marlins have been able to lord their two World Series rings over the Rays for a long time now.
They may not share a league in baseball, but the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry runs deep elsewhere; their flagship universities play a football game for a giant axe every year, after all. Right now, the Twins have bragging rights by virtue of having won two World Series titles. If that changes, dealing with their neighbors to the east will suddenly get even more irritating.
This could cut both ways; if Freddy Peralta keeps on shoving in the World Series, that will generate an insufferable discourse all its own. But man: As if this season weren’t rough enough, imagine how loud the Stearns criticisms will get if his former team wins it all without him? It’ll be a referendum on his entire career to date, not that most Mets fans aren’t trying to have that conversation anyway.
You can try to make a transitive property argument here, but let’s be real: The Rays have been a massive pain in the Yankees’ side for years now, and New York wants nothing to do with another AL East team winning a title. They were willing to form a truce with the Blue Jays last year when the alternative was a Dodgers repeat, but that’s off the table now.
This is admittedly a bit of a reach; Phillies fans are largely neutral here. But Philly did snap its 28-year World Series drought at Tampa’s expense back in 2008. Surely they can allow the Rays to finally break through?
There’s no love lost between division rivals Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, which would be reason enough. But a Tampa win would also be a handy reminder to Bob Nutting and Ben Cherington that crying poor isn’t an excuse for not putting a more consistently competitive product on the field. All due respect to the Chris Archer heist, the Pirates should be all over the Rays here.
On the one hand, losing to the eventual champs allows you to claim at least some sort of moral victory. On the other, San Diego’s loss was so agonizingly close that it would probably just invite a whole offseason’s worth of what-ifs. Add in the bad blood from the whole Mason Miller tipping his pitches ordeal, and maybe there’s enough animosity to swing people to Tampa’s side.
Similarly to the Angels, the Giants should be motivated by whatever makes Dodgers fans maximally miserable in lieu of being competitive themselves. Milwaukee ended the three-peat bid, one that would have left San Francisco even further in the dust in this rivalry.
I realize that the Brewers came to Milwaukee from Seattle, so there’s some theft at play here. But the Pilots leaving allowed the Mariners to be born just a few years later, so we can let bygones be bygones. And at least Brewers fans have suffered almost as much as Mariners fans have over the years, two of the five MLB teams yet to win a World Series. Tampa is on that list too, but they’ve only been around since the late 90s, which hardly counts.
Yeah, there’s simply no way that St. Louis is rooting for Milwaukee to finally win it all. Especially not when the Cardinals foiled the Brewers’ last World Series appearance, a seven-game thriller in 1982.
Texas very much needs some help at catcher. If you want to maximize your chances of making a run at Contreras on the trade market, let the Brewers win it all so that they’ll be more comfortable doing long-term planning come the offseason.
Our final division rival! Plus, Milwaukee avenged Toronto’s heartbreaking World Series loss to the Dodgers last fall and made sure there would be no three-peat. Jays fans ride with you, Wisconsin.
OK, you got me; the Nationals were probably the single hardest team to parse on this list. But they did win the season series with Milwaukee, four games to two; hang the banner!
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