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The two best teams in baseball this season will meet in the 2026 World Series.
The Brewers, who went 103-59 and led Major League Baseball with a plus-214 run differential in the regular season, will face the Rays, who paced the American League with 98 wins.
There are plenty of similarities between these two clubs both on and off the field, but the betting market is giving a distinct edge to the Brewers.
Milwaukee, which began the season as a 20/1 outsider to win the championship, has -172 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook to lift the trophy at the end of this best-of-seven series.
Tampa Bay, which entered Opening Day priced around 50/1 to win it all, is +148 to win the Fall Classic.
Best bet to win the World Series: Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 games (+114, FanDuel)
Most folks believe the Brewers quietly went about their business in 2026, deploying small-ball tactics en route to their first-ever 100-win season.
There is some truth to that, but Milwaukee’s recipe for success is more complicated than just leaning on their elite pitching staff and manufacturing enough runs through craft and guile.
Pat Murphy’s Brewers are the most versatile team in baseball. Yes, they can hit to contact, press their advantage on the basepaths and wear out starting pitchers, but they also can adapt to their surroundings better than any team in the majors. The Dodgers found that out the hard way.
The NLCS was billed as a battle between opposites. The free-spending Dodgers were built on power and stardom, while the Brewers were trying to bring down Goliath with an ensemble cast taking a death-by-paper-cuts approach.
Turns out, the opposite happened.
Milwaukee embarrassed Los Angeles in a sweep by doing what the Dodgers do, but only better.
They weren’t the contact-happy Brewers everybody expected. Instead, Milwaukee mashed its way into the World Series with seven home runs and 11 extra-base hits in four games. The Dodgers only tallied six extra-base hits and one homer.
This may seem irrelevant because the Rays could hardly be a more different opponent from the Dodgers, but the point is that the Brewers have an exceptional ability to adapt to whatever is being asked of them at any given moment.
If Tampa Bay wants to turn the series into a chess match, the Brewers have the bullpen, defense and depth to match. If it’s going to come down to starting pitching, Milwaukee ticks that box, too.
The Rays beat the Yankees and Guardians by forcing them to play their game. To beat the Brewers, they’ll have to do it again. Easier said than done.
Milwaukee can win that way, too.
Best prop: Aaron Ashby to win World Series MVP (150/1, bet365)
The last relief pitcher to win World Series MVP was Mariano Rivera for the 1999 Yankees, but that drought could be in jeopardy if Aaron Ashby keeps up his fireman act.
The 28-year-old has turned into Pat Murphy’s most trusted high-leverage arm, appearing in six of Milwaukee’s eight postseason games, and holding the Padres and Dodgers scoreless across 12 1/3 innings while racking up 11 strikeouts.
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And Ashby isn’t just a lefty specialist.
Murphy often turns to him for multiple frames, including a pair of series-ending, three-inning saves, which should allow him to build enough of a case to contend for World Series MVP, should everything go to plan.
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.