No later than Halloween night, baseball will have a new first-time World Series champion. The National League-best Milwaukee Brewers and American League-best Tampa Bay Rays will meet in this year's Fall Classic, where both will compete for their first World Series title. The Brewers have been to the World Series once previously (1982). This is Tampa's third pennant (also 2008 and 2020).

By way of preview, let's go through this year's two World Series participants and not just compare the Brewers and Rays position-by-position, but pick our favorites and build an All-World Series roster. We'll cobble together a starting lineup and select a preferred rotation and bullpen. Sound good? Good. Here now is our 2026 All-World Series roster.

Catcher: William Contreras

Liam Hicks does not have the Contreras name recognition, but he's a very good player. In fact, Hicks outhit Contreras during the regular season (126 OPS+ vs. 108 OPS+) and matched him in WAR (3.0 for both). Ultimately, Contreras is the pick here and, honestly, I don't think it's a difficult decision. He's a better defender and he's thoroughly outhit Hicks during the postseason, plus he's the undisputed starter. Hicks will occasionally sit against lefties in favor of Nick Fortes. When in doubt, pick the guy who doesn't get platooned. Contreras is my All-World Series team catcher.

First base: Jake Bauers

This may not be much of a secret anymore following his NLCS MVP performance, but did you know Bauers ranked 13th among qualified hitters with a 140 OPS+ during the regular season? He was just behind Elly De La Cruz and Shohei Ohtani. Bauers, a former Ray, has put together the two signature at-bats of the postseason. He had a 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of the NLCS, and an 11-pitch go-ahead homer against Blake Snell in Game 3. Jonathan Aranda is a very good player himself, though he's mostly been a singles guy in the postseason. Bauers is simply the better player at this point in time.

Second base: Brice Turang

With all due respect to Richie Palacios, who never seemed to make an out in the ALCS, second base is possibly the easiest call in this exercise. Turang is one of the best all-around players in the game. He'll get MVP votes this season, maybe even finish in the top five, and he overcame his past postseason demons with a 4 for 11 showing in the NLCS. Turang also had more walks (five) than strikeouts (four) in the series. There aren't many players I would take to start a team over Milwaukee's second baseman.

Shortstop: Taylor Walls

The numbers say Brewers rookie Cooper Pratt is the pick at shortstop. He outhit Walls (99 OPS+ vs. 71 OPS+) during the regular season and also out-WAR-ed him (1.7 vs. 0.8) despite not making his MLB debut until June 16. And heck, Pratt even went 5 for 14 during the NLCS. He's had some jittery moments in the field though, with three errors in eight postseason games and a few other misplays that weren't scored errors. Walls is a terrific defender who can make spectacular plays and also make the routine ones routine, the latter of which is an underappreciated defensive skill. We're picking between glove-first shortstops, so give me the more reliable Walls.

Third base: Junior Caminero

Second base was an easy call for Turang, and third base is an easy call for Caminero, who this year joined Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews as the only players in history with two 40-homer seasons through their age-22 seasons. The Brewers have leaned on gloveman Joey Ortiz and speedster David Hamilton at the hot corner and hey, those two went a combined 5 for 14 in the NLCS. They're not Caminero, though. Caminero is the pick here and he'll anchor our All-World Series Team lineup.

Left field: Jackson Chourio

Few players in the game are more entertaining than Chandler Simpson, but few players in the game are better than Chourio. Chourio already has three 20-20 seasons to his name and his knack for big moments has been on display this postseason. He was our hypothetical NLDS MVP thanks in large part to his two-run walk-off single against Mason Miller in Game 2. Simpson is a lot of fun. He's the master of the "put the ball in play and run like crazy" approach. Chourio can do that too, though, plus he has power and is better defensively.

Center field: Garrett Mitchell

Injuries, including left shoulder surgery, limited Mitchell to 113 of 486 possible regular-season games from 2023-25. He returned this year, stayed healthy, and gave the Brewers a 3.1 WAR season. In the NLCS, Mitchell hit two home runs off lefties in three at-bats spanning Games 3 and 4 after hitting two homers off lefties in his career up to that point. It was one of those unexpected things that teams need to win the World Series. The Rays have leaned on Jonny DeLuca, who is more of a platoon corner outfielder than an everyday center fielder, in center because Cedric Mullins had a poor season. Mitchell's a relatively easy pick at this position.

Right field: Victor Mesa Jr.

Acquired in a minor trade just before spring training, Mesa hit his way into everyday duty in the second half of the regular season. He slugged what proved to be the series-winning home run in Game 3 of the ALDS. The Brewers are platooning Sal Frelick and Luis Lara in right field, and they're a combined 4 for 25 in the postseason, which ain't great. Lara's defense is the single best tool among our right field options, though Mesa's a pretty good defender himself (he has an absolute rocket of an arm), and he's outhit Milwaukee's duo as well.

Designated hitter: Yandy Díaz

The two World Series DHs are each team's longest-tenured player and either their actual captain (Christian Yelich) or unofficial captain (Díaz). Yelich is into his decline phase and has been bumped down in the lineup. Díaz remains one of the game's best hitters and he had an all-time called shot after Game 5 of the ALCS, saying the Rays would win the series in six. He then went out and hit a home run in Game 6 to lead Tampa to the win and the pennant. There are few players I would want at the plate in a big spot more than Díaz.

Now that we've selected our nine position players, let's put together a batting order, shall we? Here is the All-World Series Team lineup:

1. DH Yandy Díaz, RHB
2. 2B Brice Turang, LHB
3. 3B Junior Caminero, RHB
4. 1B Jake Bauers, LHB
5. C William Contreras, RHB
6. LF Jackson Chourio, RHB
7. RF Victor Mesa Jr., LHB
8. CF Garrett Mitchell, LHB
9. SS Taylor Walls, SHB

Mesa and Mitchell back-to-back create a lane for the opposing manager to go to his top lefty reliever, but I'm not too concerned about that. The rest of the lineup is good enough to make up for the occasional matchup headache. Otherwise, we have on-base ability at the top, power in the middle, and speed throughout. A well-crafted offense, that is.

Running that lineup through the Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis Tool with 2026 regular-season numbers tells us our All-World Series Team would have averaged 5.38 runs per game, or 872 runs per 162 games. That would have led baseball and been the most runs by any team since 2024.

Starting pitchers: Rays

The two World Series rotations have a very similar build. Each team has a clear-cut ace: Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers) and Drew Rasmussen (Rays). Each team has a clear-cut No. 2 starter: Logan Henderson (Brewers) and Freddy Peralta (Rays). Each team seems to have a preferred No. 3 starter as well: Robert Gasser (Brewers) and Nick Martinez (Rays). Those are the rotation cores.

Milwaukee essentially used a bullpen game as its No. 4 starter in the NLDS and NLCS, with trade deadline addition Dustin May soaking up three innings in each game. The Rays used Griffin Jax the only time they needed a No. 4 starter this postseason. The No. 4 starter won't decide this thing. Well, maybe it decides the World Series, but it won't decide our All-World Series team rotation.

To me, there is very little daylight between Misiorowski and Rasmussen. They are both terrific, and Rasmussen has thoroughly outpitched Misiorowski to date this postseason. There is also little daylight between Henderson and Peralta, the former Brewers ace. Peralta had a down year overall but has been much better of late, and better than Henderson this postseason.

There isn't much daylight between Gasser and Martinez either! Gasser pitched so well late in the regular season. Martinez pitched well basically all season, though he got dinged up a few times late in the year and again in the ALDS. Perhaps that had to do with him throwing a career-high 180 innings. The rotation call is a toss-up. It really is. These are two great rotations.

Misiorowski's iffy postseason (his fastball is not getting nearly as many swings and misses) and Peralta's star turn with the Rays are enough for me to go advantage Tampa here. You can talk me into Rasmussen and Peralta being the two best starters between the two teams right now, over the next 10 days or so, and that's all that matters. The next 4-7 games. The Rays are my pick.

Bullpen: Brewers

I can be convinced that the Brewers have the better rotation in the World Series. That's a really, really close call. You can't convince me the Rays have the better bullpen, though. This might be the single biggest advantage either team has this series. With Rays closer Bryan Baker missing velocity, the Brewers arguably have the four best relievers on either roster.

There is some wiggle room with those roles -- Ashby is more of a setup man than Uribe right now, and maybe even more of a closer than Megill given his extended outings -- but that is more or less how they line up. Hall has had a great postseason and was dominant the last seven weeks of the regular season. His 2 ⅓ shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLCS were a huge moment in that series.

I would expect Rays manager Kevin Cash to use Jax in relief in Game 1 (and/or 2?). Jax was a reliever from 2022 up until the Rays moved him into the rotation this April, and he's already made one relief appearance this postseason, throwing two innings in Game 3 of the ALDS. Jax can throw an inning or two out of the bullpen in Game 1 and still be available to start Game 4.

Bottom line, Brewers manager Pat Murphy has almost no bad options available to him in the bullpen. That doesn't guarantee the players will perform, but Milwaukee has a very deep and very good bullpen. Cash does not have that luxury. He's had to white-knuckle his way through the late innings to get the ball from his starter to Baker this postseason.