Brewers vs. Rays: World Series Odds and Prediction

Craig, I'll start with what we saw last night, which might, as a matter of fact, I think Caminero is still rounding the bases after that broken bat ball off the foul pole, which somehow he was admiring for almost 50 seconds. but Tampa gets it done and unfortunately for the Guardians a little too late there at the end so kudos to the Rays but they're still minus 160 is Milwaukee I believe here so they are a decent size underdog here if you think the Rays can get it done in seven yeah so you know putting a bow on Cleveland's season I was sort of really willing and hoping that we would have got a seventh game out of it but Boy, I felt like my analysis was just so wrong there after the third or fourth inning last night. It was very apparent that Cleveland, as you said last night, they were just out of steam. It really did appear that way. By the way, the pitching hung in there for a while. But as has been with Cleveland's offense all season long and all playoffs long, they're going to have games where they score one run. In fact, they're going to have a lot of these kind of games. And then inevitably, the Rays scored a few runs later in the game. But it was really never in doubt. You never felt, after there was 2-0, you never felt that Cleveland was going to come back. I mean, Daniel Lowe did have a hit that kind of made the game 3-1 at that point. So I was going back and forth with that awful football game and the baseball game. And then, yeah, once Kevin never hit the home run, then that was it. So putting a bow on Cleveland's season, Joe, just a good reminder, next year we'll probably be right back here again with Cleveland. And for people who bet Cleveland or are thinking about it, you should. Because in the end, Cleveland's a good organization. They're probably going to be in the playoffs next year, too. and probably going to disappoint some other teams when they go all the way and then get to six games against the best teams in the American League. So a really good season for them. Very rare to exit a season in sports, Joe, and feel like that was a good season. Usually it's like everybody feels upset. Cleveland should feel like they had a good season. They took Tampa Bay to six. They ended up coming back to beat the White Sox, too. So good for them. We put them now aside. Rays, you know, don't have the home field in this one. I definitely feel like that's why the odds are what they are because Milwaukee's just been so fantastic at home. And by Tampa Bay extinguishing Cleveland yesterday, Joe, it does give their rotation time to reset now here coming up for Friday. So that's definitely good news for them. I am a little surprised that Milwaukee's odds this morning went up a little bit. I did not anticipate that. I thought it would go down a little bit just because Tampa Bay now having some extra time to prepare. But very similar to this Cleveland series with the Rays, I feel like we're headed toward a long series also between Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. Now, Milwaukee is playing as good as any team in baseball. You never want to go against a hot team, so I'm not going to go against the Brewers in the World Series. But I suspect the Rays will get their home games. I just don't know, Joe, if they'll get all three. That's my concern here. The Brewers don't lose multiple games in a row, like ever. It's been so long. So I suspect a lot of folks will take the Brewers. I do think it's the right side. I was thinking seven, but now I don't know. I'm feeling like Milwaukee's going to win it sooner because I kind of thought this morning, Joe, What's the path to the Rays winning the World Series? There's no path if they lose the first two games to Milwaukee. There's none, I don't think, because Milwaukee then could just come back and win their final game. So I'll say we'll have a final opinion on Friday night. But as of right now, I'm thinking if you're looking for an exact number, I'm going to say Milwaukee in six. That would be my initial prediction.