It’s the World Series baseball didn’t want. Two small revenue teams slayed the big revenue teams to make it. 

The tiny Milwaukee Brewers knocked off the colossal Los Angeles Dodgers to get there. The tiny Tampa Bay Rays knocked off the colossal New York Yankees to get there. And just like that, Major League Baseball’s main talking point for the upcoming lockout just had its legs kicked out from underneath them. Small market teams cannot compete. Small market teams have no chance.

And you will probably hear a million times in the coming weeks that this will be a poorly rated World Series. Only six people live in Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay has about four fans. 

But who cares about that? First of all, it’s a meeting of the best teams in each league. Milwaukee won 103 games to pace the National League; Tampa Bay won an American League-best 98 games.

They did this by playing a better brand of baseball called baseball. Instead of swinging for the fences on every pitch, they slap the ball through the gaps. They bunt. They move runners over. They manufacture runs. And occasionally, when the pitcher groves one, they’ll put it over the fence. But hitting it out is not their goal. Just think of Jake Burger. It’s the opposite of that.

It’s old school baseball. And it’s been thrilling to watch. The best thing about this upcoming Rays-Brewers World Series is that baseball is a copycat sport. General managers will always do what the other guy’s doing successfully.

So, maybe, just maybe, this gets more GMs to value contact over launch angle. To value batting average over home runs. To value on-base percentage. And to stop making striking out acceptable. 

It won’t be the most highly rated World Series. It won’t be the World Series baseball wanted in their draconian effort to shove a salary cap down the players’ throats. But it will be a most enjoyable World Series.

Savor the beauty of baseball played the way it’s supposed to be played. It starts Friday.

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