The end of the World Series always brings me down a little, knowing there will be no baseball to watch until spring training in February.

This year’s end was doubly tough, realizing there might not be a spring training because of the impending owners lockout, which could also eat into the 2027 season.

But at least it was a fun season to follow baseball, whether you’re a fan of the champion Milwaukee Brewers, a playoff team that ran out of gas like the White Sox or one whose offense failed to show up in the wild-card series like the Cubs.

Both Chicago teams learned lessons, and they should be back in the hunt next year … if there is one.

But whether the Sox or Cubs will make the necessary adjustments to dethrone the Brewers is another question altogether. Without a farm system like the Brewers’, it’s up to Sox general manager Chris Getz and Cubs President Jed Hoyer to fix what went wrong.

Some takeaways from the end of the season.

Trolling 101

Brewers closer Trevor Megill had a message for Wisconsin on Wednesday night after winning the World Series.

“Have fun talking (s−−−) to Chicago next year,” Megill said. “We have a ring.”

Megill is best remembered by Cubs fans for bringing an “L” flag to the team photo after the Brewers beat the Cubs in the 2025 National League Division Series. The “L” flag is the evil twin of the “W” flag Cubs fans wave after wins.

Megill appears to enjoy trolling Cubs fans, and you can’t really blame him. The Cubs waived him after he posted an 8.37 ERA as a rookie in 2021 but found success in Milwaukee and had a 1.65 ERA in 16 postseason appearances.

The Cubs could use a few more guys like Megill in the bullpen.

Hop on Fox

Fox Sports didn’t exactly distinguish itself during the World Series, failing to show the Sausage Race in Milwaukee and foisting lame pregame shows on viewers in which David Ortiz, aka “Big Papi,” spent most of the time laughing at his comments. Only Derek Jeter had something noteworthy to say and only when Ortiz would shut up, which was rare.

Like the other networks televising baseball in 2026 — NBC/Peacock, ESPN and TBS — Fox mostly ignored the Brewers during the regular season and then tried to overcompensate by telling viewers this Brewers team was really solid despite having no big names. They had the best record in baseball with 103 wins, so anyone paying attention already knew that.

Maybe the networks can schedule a few more Brewers telecasts in 2027 instead of showcasing every Red Sox-Yankees series? Don’t hold your breath.

The lead-in promos for Fox featuring celebrities such as Dwyane Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Bill Hader were especially cringeworthy. None of them had any connection with either team, and the scripts were so generic they could’ve just added the words “Rays” and “Brewers” after the taping was completed. Who decided every game had to have a pregame narration from an actor promoting a movie or TV show?

The World Series commercials also were repetitive and mostly inane, such as the actress promoting a sports betting site in her underwear and the two clueless race car drivers who think a “self-driving” network is coming to take their jobs. But particularly galling was Fox’s decision to air a political attack ad calling liberals “the new racists,” which was basically a dog whistle for white supremacists.

Would Fox air a political ad calling conservatives the “old racists?”

We all know the answer to that question.

Counsell’s Brewers legacy

Kudos to Cubs manager Craig Counsell, who helped the Brewers win a World Series without getting any credit. It was Counsell who hired manager Pat Murphy as his bench coach in Milwaukee in 2015, decades after playing under him at Notre Dame. Murphy was 42-54 as interim manager of the San Diego Padres in ’15 and at age 56 was unlikely to get another chance at managing in the majors.

Counsell had what looked like a lifetime job in Milwaukee, so Murphy would’ve probably played out his career as Counsell’s trusty bench coach. But Counsell’s departure to the Cubs opened the door for Murphy, and now at 67 he’s being lauded as one of the game’s greatest motivators.

Probably quite a few other 50-something baseball lifers would succeed as managers if given a chance. Unfortunately the new breed of baseball executives with their MBAs and analytics advisers aren’t looking for middle-aged men who’ve spent their lives teaching others about the game. They’d rather have someone they can control.

Oh, well, at least Counsell knew enough to bring Murphy to Milwaukee, where he finally ended the drought. Maybe Brewers fans will remember that the next time they’re booing Counsell? No chance.

Blame it on the bosses

The end of John Schriffen’s stint as White Sox broadcaster brought much joy to fans who didn’t care for his over-the-top style and penchant for catchphrases like “South Side, stand up!” and “Show me the Mune.” That’s fine, though Schriffen did improve enough in his three years to catch on elsewhere.

Schriffen did himself no favors early on by picking fights with WSCR-AM 670 and FM 104.3 “The Score” and Sox fans who weren’t totally on board with the rebuild during the 121-loss season in 2024. Getting off social media was the best move he made.

But it also should be noted that the Sox wanted Schriffen to be super enthusiastic and uber-positive, so he was doing only what Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and marketing guru Brooks Boyer asked him to do. What the higher-ups don’t understand is that most Sox fans don’t want someone in the booth wearing rose-colored glasses but an announcer willing to call out players — or the manager or GM — when they make glaring mistakes.

I’m not sure the Sox will find someone willing to be honest, unless they put Ozzie Guillen or A.J. Pierzynski in the booth with Steve Stone and make it like a “Manningcast.”

Now that would be must-see TV.