MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 The Miz will try to whiz his famous fastball by batters on baseball’s biggest stage, opening a new-look World Series between teams guaranteed to produce a first-time champion.<\/p>\n
Jacob Misiorowski brings his record-setting heat to the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night when he throws the first pitch of the best-of-seven championship against the Tampa Bay Rays, a matchup of modest-money marvels<\/a> who bumped off glamorous rivals with a throwback base-to-base style.<\/p>\n \u201cForrest Gump, everyone,\u201d Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Thursday, introducing his ace to the assembled media.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m still fresh to all of this and I have no idea what the hell is going on,\u201d Misiorowski said a few minutes later.<\/p>\n Few predicted this pairing of pennant winners when the season opened March 25. The first World Series with robot umpires<\/a> is the first since 1980 between teams seeking their first championship<\/a> and also could be the first with a 104 mph pitch \u2014 thanks to Misiorowski \u2014 and the first to be played totally indoors.<\/p>\n Milwaukee is in the Series for the second time after a 44-year absence \u2014 an appropriate number given that it was the jersey of the Cream City’s most famous baseball player, Hank Aaron, who became a star with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s and ended his career with the expansion Brewers in the 1970s.<\/p>\n Both teams fell short in previous Series trips, the Brewers losing to St. Louis in 1982 and the Rays to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. Not since the Phillies beat Kansas City in 1980 have two teams met seeking their first title. The time before that was in 1920.<\/p>\n Rays players are excited to display their brand of baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love watching those guys cause chaos,\u201d Tampa Bay pitcher Steven Matz said of his team’s bunters and speedsters. \u201cEvery time it\u2019s first and third and someone lays down a bunt, we are just dying laughing in the bullpen.\u201d<\/p>\n Misiorowski is likely to set a World Series velocity record<\/p>\n Misiorowski, a 24-year-old right-hander in his first full major league season, is a starting pitcher like no other. He threw 1,115 pitches of 100 mph or higher this year \u2014 shattering the old high of 673 since tracking began in 2008, by Jordan Hicks in 2018.<\/p>\n His fastest pitch was 105.5 mph to the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 27, and he appears likely to break the 101.1 mph record for a Series starter by the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard in 2015 and possibly the overall Series high of 103.2 mph by Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman to Cleveland’s Coco Crisp in Game 2 of 2016.<\/p>\n Misiorowski didn’t finish the fifth inning in either of his first two postseason starts this year. Batters have swung at 94 of his 182 postseason pitches and fouled off 51 \u2014 28% of pitches and 54% of swings.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hasn\u2019t been as crisp,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThey\u2019re obviously looking at an area. They\u2019re trying to exploit everything. He\u2019s exposed, like all these guys get at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinez a surprise starter for Rays<\/p>\n Nick Martinez will start for Tampa Bay, which gives extra rest to Drew Rasmussen ahead of Game 2 and Freddy Peralta before Game 3.<\/p>\n A 36-year-old right-hander with his fourth major league team, Martinez took the Rays to dinner Wednesday at Carnevor, a top Milwaukee steakhouse. He invites teammates, who have nicknamed him \u201cEl Presidente,\u201d to a restaurant in every road city.<\/p>\n \u201cTo when I first got to the league, I\u2019ve been around guys that knew how to control a clubhouse and for lack of a better term, knew how to throw a party,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cGetting the guys together is important. Creating that off-the-field chemistry translates to on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n Brewers and Rays have throwback offenses<\/p>\n In an age where power bats usually rule, Milwaukee scored a major league-low 32.1% of its runs on homers and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.<\/p>\n Brewers captain Christian Yelich says \u201cwe\u2019ve done a good job of being kind of chameleons.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s cool that you don’t have to be the team to hit 170 home runs a game or whatever,\u201d Misiorowski said. \u201cYou can win a baseball game so many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Rays batters had the fewest strikeouts among the 30 teams and Tampa Bay\u2019s 45 sacrifice bunts were the most among American League teams since 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had a club that was built with a bunch of boppers, we probably wouldn\u2019t be bunting and stealing bases,\u201d Rays manager Kevin Cash said. \u201cI think we already have made bunting cool.\u201d<\/p>\n After back-to-back Dodgers titles, MLB will have a small-payroll champion<\/p>\n This marks the first time since 1991 that both Series teams are in the bottom half of payrolls: the Brewers were 19th as of Aug. 31 and the Rays 25th. Milwaukee, MLB’s smallest market, could become the first small-market champion since Kansas City in 2015. The Rays rank 15th in market size.<\/p>\n To reach the Series, the Brewers swept the deep-pocketed, two-time champion Dodgers in the NL Championship Series<\/a> and the Rays swept the New York Yankees in an AL Division Series.<\/p>\n Yelich, the highest-paid player in the Series, was 44th overall in the majors on opening day. Yandy D\u00edaz, who earns most among the Rays, ranked 154th.<\/p>\n Robot umps are changing games<\/p>\n Batters have succeeded on 63% of challenges during the postseason in the first year of the Automated Ball-Strike System<\/a>, winning 40 of 63 appeals to the robot umps. That is up from 49% during the regular season<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catchers’ 58% success rate in the playoffs (58 of 99) is down a tick from 59% during the regular season and pitchers are 1 for 1 \u2014 Tampa Bay\u2019s Griffin Jax made the only challenge. The 60% overall rate is up from 54% in the regular season.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay’s batters have yet to make a postseason challenge. Milwaukee’s have won 4 of 7, including a perfect 2 for 2 by Jake Bauers.<\/p>\n Brewers catcher William Contreras has won 60% (12 of 20) and Rays catcher Liam Hicks 67% (8 of 12).<\/p>\n Rest vs. rust: Extra time off hasn’t been helpful in recent years<\/p>\n Milwaukee will have had seven days off going into the opener.<\/p>\n While teams with less rest are 15-15 in the Series since Wild Card Era started in 1995, they are 12-4 since 2009.<\/p>\n