MLB insider floats Rays' World Series rotation shake-up for late-series advantage over Brewers

The upcoming World Series matchup between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays should make for excellent baseball theater. Besides the fact that they're two small-market teams playing for a title against the backdrop of a money-driven lockout, they were also the best regular-season teams in their respective leagues all year long. Whoever wins the Fall Classic will truly be the "best team" of 2026.

As such, expect both organizations to throw the kitchen sink at the wall in an attempt to win this thing. They might not be very familiar with each other -- they haven't played since the second series of the regular season in late March -- but both teams will be pulling out all the stops in order to throw their adversary off balance.

For example, just take a look at what the Rays are experimenting with in their rotation right now; according to Ken Rosenthal, they may start Nick Martinez in Game1, pushing back their best two starters (Drew Rasmussen and Freddy Peralta). The idea isn't totally without merit, either, since Martinez was an All-Star this year and Rasmussen tends to pitch better with more rest.

But for all the logic behind the plan, might this be a case of the Rays outsmarting themselves again?

Rays' rotation plan is proof they're gearing up for a long World Series against Brewers

As the Dodgers can tell you first hand, the Brewers aren't exactly keen on letting your best pitchers getting multiple starts in the same series. Their quartet of aces all got one chance to stump the Crew and failed, resulting in a four-game NLCS sweep.

Of course, if history repeats itself in that way, it won't matter who the Rays start or when. Whether Martinez throws their first pitch of Game 1 or their last one of Game 4, a sweep means that he'd only see the mound once as a starter.

But one has to expect that the Rays -- who were the American League's No. 1 seed in all throughout the regular season and have lost just two games en route to the Fall Classic -- will be able to put up more of a fight than the aging, crumbling dynasty from Los Angeles. They tied the Brewers with the best home record in baseball this year (55-26) and they've gone 3-1 on the road this October.

If Tampa can push this series to a six- or seven-game slog, their rotation strategy will start to make a lot more sense. That would enable them to pitch both Rasmussen and Peralta on regular rest in Games 6 and 7, which could give them a distinct advantage assuming Jacob Misiorowski will adhere to his usual schedule of handling Games 1 and 5. [It also means that, theoretically, Peralta would start Game 7 of the World Series on the road in American Family Field, which would be one of the most ridiculous postseason storylines in recent memory.]

Time will tell if Tampa's bold plan proves to be the right one, but if they do opt to go this route, it'll put immense pressure on the Brewers and Miz to get the World Series started with a victory.

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