Tampa Bay Rays ace Drew Rasmussen is on top of his game, and now manager Kevin Cash turns to the right-hander to help get them on the board in Game 2 of the 2026 World Series.

Before Rasmussen takes the hill against the Milwaukee Brewers for Game 2, here are five things to know about the 31-year-old right-hander's compelling career path to the 2026 World Series:

Peter denied Jesus three times, whereas Rasmussen denied two MLB teams — which is of far less historical significance but notable, nonetheless.

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Rasmussen out of high school in the 39th round of the 2014 MLB Draft, but he instead chose to attend Oregon State. The right-hander went on to pitch well with the Beavers, highlighted by throwing a perfect game in his 2015 freshman season, but two Tommy John surgeries may have stopped Rasmussen from being a future top-five draft pick.

Still, the Rays selected Rasmussen with the No. 31 pick in the 2017 MLB Draft out of Oregon State, only for the right-hander to opt to stay on the West Coast. He then suffered the second of two elbow injuries that required Tommy John surgery but was still selected, ironically, by the Brewers in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

After missing 2018 altogether and throwing across three levels of minor-league ball in 2019, Rasmussen reached the big leagues in 2020 and immediately entered the Brewers' bullpen.

With that said, Rasmussen got off to a slow start, posting a 5.87 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP across 15 ⅓ innings pitched in 2020 and owning a 4.24 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP across his first 15 appearances of 2021.

Why were there only 15 appearances with the Brewers in 2021?

On May 21, 2021, the Brewers and Rays made a trade:

Brewers Receive: SS Willy Adames and RHP Trevor Richards
Rays Receive: RHP Drew Rasmussen and RHP J.P. Feyereisen

Roughly six weeks after acquiring Richards from the Rays, the Brewers traded both Richards and fellow right-hander Bowden Francis to the Toronto Blue Jays for first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who provided Milwaukee with a considerable power threat from the left side of the plate through 2023, most notably hitting 35 home runs in 2022. That said, Tellez signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2023-24 MLB offseason.

Meanwhile, Adames quickly came into his own as one of the best all-around shortstops in the sport with the Brewers. Possessing an impact swing from the right side, Adames posted career highs in home runs (32) and RBIs (112) in 2024, but the Brewers lost him to the San Francisco Giants in free agency the following offseason.

Drew Rasmussen has pitched for both the Rays and Brewers. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Regarding Tampa Bay's side of the trade, Feyereisen provided a reliable arm to the team's bullpen, followed by him not surrendering an earned run across 24 ⅓ innings pitched in 2022. At the same time, Feyereisen only pitched 24 ⅓ innings in 2022 because he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in June of that year, which later kept him off an MLB mound in 2023. As he was recovering from eventual shoulder surgery, Feyereisen was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2022-23 offseason.

Of course, there's one member of the aforementioned trade we haven't discussed yet: the Rays' starting pitcher for Game 2 of the 2026 World Series.

Rasmussen originally joined the Rays' bullpen in 2021, but he was then inserted into Cash's starting rotation down the stretch of the regular season and would ultimately become a permanent fixture there.

In his first full season as a starting pitcher (2022), Rasmussen was spectacular. Over 28 starts, he recorded a 2.84 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, 3.1 wins above replacement and a 129 ERA+ in 146.0 innings pitched. Unfortunately for Rasmussen, an elbow injury limited him to eight starts in 2023 and 16 appearances/four starts in 2024, but the right-hander got off the mat in emphatic fashion in 2025.

In short: Rasmussen has become one of the best pitchers in the sport.

Rasmussen is highly effective with a consistent, four-pitch arsenal (cutter, four-seamer, sinker and changeup), seldom puts runners on the basepath and induces a great deal of weak contact. Over the last two seasons (2025-26), Rasmussen has averaged a 2.71 ERA, 4.5 wins above replacement and a 155 ERA+ per year. Moreover, he led the American League with an 0.91 WHIP in the 2026 regular season and earned an All-Star nod in both seasons.

Rasmussen has been electric this postseason. In Game 1 of Tampa Bay's AL Division Series matchup against the New York Yankees, he was four outs away from a no-hitter. Rasmussen followed that Game 1 outing for the Tampa Bay storybooks by surrendering just two runs over six innings against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series. Granted, both of those runs were solo home runs and came in a Cleveland win.

The right-hander got Tampa Bay back in the win column against the Guardians in Game 5, though, giving up just one run over seven innings in Cleveland.

The next chapter of Rasmussen's career comes on Saturday night from American Family Field in Milwaukee.