How the Brewers and Rays have fared in the World Series before as both vie for first title

The 2026 World Series will see the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays square off, much to the chagrin of people who love complaining about how it's just "the same teams every single year." People who love variety should be ecstatic with this matchup. Since we last had a first-time winner (the 2023 Texas Rangers), five MLB teams remain title-less: these same Brewers and Rays, plus the Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. We are guaranteed to knock the answer to that trivia question down to four after this Fall Classic.

There will be a first-time winner by Halloween. This is not, however, the first time these franchises have played in the World Series. Only the Mariners (who came tantalizingly close last year) have zero pennants.

Here's how the previous World Series appearances went for the two 2026 pennant winners. Though it's very possible the 2026 Brewers have at least one Hall of Famer, maybe multiple, it's a great bet they won't match the 1982 group, which had five: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Ted Simmons, Rollie Fingers and Don Sutton. "Harvey's Wallbangers" was the affectionate nickname for this group under manager Harvey Kuenn.

They won 95 games in the regular season before taking down the Angels (yes, the Brewers were in the American League at the time), three games to two in the ALCS. They then played in their first-ever World Series against a decorated franchise in the Cardinals, which at the time had 17 pennants and eight World Series titles. The Brewers announced their presence early and with authority.

Yount and Molitor combined to go 9 for 12 and Simmons homered as the Brewers took Game 1, 10-0, behind Mike Caldwell's shutout. The Cardinals won Games 2 and 3 before the Brewers evened things up in Game 4 with a monster comeback. They were down 5-1 heading into the seventh inning and put up six runs.

Yount and Gorman Thomas each had two-RBI singles in the big inning. The Brewers also took Game 5 behind Yount's 4 for 4 effort, which included a double and a home run. The Cardinals returned home for a blowout 13-1 win in Game 6 and then ripped out the Brewers' hearts in Game 7.