Tampa Bay and Milwaukee meet in the 122nd Fall Classic, and one small-market fanbase is about to get the parade it has waited generations for.
The 122nd World Series is set, and it is not the blockbuster the big-market giants usually deliver. The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers are heading to the Fall Classic, which means one franchise will finally shed the "never won it all" label.
Nobody saw this coming. Preseason projections gave the Rays about a 1.1% shot at the title and the Brewers just 2.1%. Those are lottery-ticket numbers, and both clubs cashed in anyway. Baseball's payroll hierarchy took a beating all October.
That is what makes this matchup so compelling. For the Yankees and Dodgers, anything short of a championship feels like a failure. For Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, just reaching this stage already made the season a success. A title would be pure bonus, and it would likely mean more to their fans than another banner means to the sport's heavyweights.
Expect a series won on pitching depth, smart matchups and clutch at-bats rather than star power alone. Both teams built their runs on developing talent and squeezing value out of every roster spot, and now one of them gets to cap it with a trophy. Either way, baseball gets a first-time champion and a party that has been decades in the making.
