The Milwaukee Brewers are preparing to begin their first World Series since 1982. They took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers with ease in the National League Championship Series and will now face the Tampa Bay Rays.
It's been a long and hard year, but the Brewers managed to win 103 games, setting a franchise record before taking down the San Diego Padres and later the Dodgers. But now, it's time for them to prepare for the Rays. There are some key advantages they have in this series, but there also are some concerns. Here are their biggest advantages and concerns.
Working For: Starting at Home
By virtue of having the best record in Major League Baseball, the Brewers secured home field advantage through the World Series, so they will be starting at home in the first two games. This would seemingly give them the edge to start the series.
Crazier things have happened, but being able to start at home should make things a little easier for the Brew Crew. They'll have their crowd behind them as they look for their first ever World Series championship, while the Rays will be heading into a hostile environment.
Milwaukee will also be able to start Jacon Misiorowski in Game 1, and facing him on the road is going to be difficult for the Rays.
Working Against: Extra Rest
The one thing working against the Brewers is the fact that they will have had over a week off. Granted, that doesn't always spell trouble. It worked in favor of the Dodgers last year and the Washington Nationals in 2019. But there are plenty of examples in which extra rest can hurt and cause a team to lose its edge.
It happened to the Detroit Tigers in 2006 and 2012. It also hurt the Colorado Rockies in 2007 and the New York Mets in 2015. All four of those teams swept their LCS matchups and were eliminated quickly in the World Series, so that's one thing the Brewers need to be cognizant of.
Starting at home is an advantage, but the Rays took longer to complete their ALCS victory over the Cleveland Guardians, so they have less of a layoff.
It will be interesting to see how this impacts the Brewers. They may ultimately be fine, but there are plenty of cases in which extra rest has hurt the team that clinched the LCS early.
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