There are nervous executives at Fox and Major League Baseball, worried about the ratings for this year's World Series even before Friday's first pitch.
Two "small market" teams, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, two teams who have never won a World title before, will vie for the championship beginning Friday. For the Rays, it's their 3rd Series appearance in the last 13 years. For Milwaukee, it's even longer, 44 years, dating back to when the Brewers were in the American League, and took St. Louis, now a division rival, to 7 games before losing.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy has won NL Manager of The Year in his first two seasons as Brewers skipper, and hoping to make it three. The success of the Brew Crew has been building right up to this point. During this series, they'll see a former teammate in Freddy Peralta, who landed in Tampa at the trading deadline. Peralta won ALCS MVP honors after stifling Cleveland in 2 games.
Milwaukee, though, has a Cy Young candidate in Jacob Miszorowski, their 2nd year ace, and NLCS MVP Jake Bauers. They have a mix of vets and young stars like Christian Yelich & Jackson Chourio. They came from behind in every NLCS game vs. the Dodgers to knock the defending champions out.
Tampa Bay needed 6 games to vanquish the Guardians, after sweeping the Yankees out. By Friday, both teams will be well rested, Milwaukee more so than Tampa. That will make all the difference in the world.
Pick: Milwaukee in 7.
Of course, I could be wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment