When the MLB playoffs started, how many people had the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays playing in the World Series?

Milwaukee has been knocking on the door and finally broke through this season, taking down the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tampa Bay took down the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians to reach the World Series.

One team is going to win their first World Series championship this week, but truth be told, there is a lot that the Colorado Rockies and the President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta, and his staff could learn from both the Brewers and Rays.

What Can the Rockies Learn From the Brewers and Rays?

If there is one thing that the Rockies can take away from this World Series, it's about how much money you have; it's about how you spend it.

Easier said than done in Colorado, as they are not going to attract the big-name free agents, but neither are the Rays. The Brewers can, but again, it's about how you spend, not how much you spend. Just ask teams like the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and others who spend much more than Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.

For instance, last winter, DePodesta, his first in charge in Colorado, brought in some veteran free-agent pitchers. Michael Lorenzen was signed, and that turned into a bust. He was released in August. On the flip side, Tomoyuki Sugano turned into a great addition and was arguably the Rockies' best pitcher in 2026 for manager Warren Schaeffer.

Colorado turned a corner this season in some ways. They still lost 100 games for the fourth straight season, but positive steps were taken. Now, what the front office needs to figure out is who they are going to go forward with in terms of building around young players. Then it'll come down on who they target in free agency or a trade.

Luring free agents to play at Coors Field, especially pitchers, is going to be very hard to do. However, DePodesta has to start somewhere. Things are not going to flip overnight, and they are not going to, or be expected to, contend next summer with the Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the San Francisco Giants. The latter is a prime example of how to spend big, but not get the results they expected.

It's not about how much you spend, but how you spend it. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay are two prime examples of that. Now it's up to the rest of the league and teams like the Rockies to learn from it and apply it to their organization.