The Milwaukee Brewers swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the NLCS, making the World Series as a small-market team with a smaller budget trying to win their first-ever title.
Not long after they clinched, the Tampa Bay Rays, another small-market, low-payroll team, clinched the ALCS over the Cleveland Guardians. It’s a fun World Series between two clubs that have never won a title before, which is great for the fans.
However, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale outlined, this is a “nightmare” for Major League Baseball and TV executives. The reason why? It’s thanks to a combination of likely lower ratings due to the smaller markets and what these low-payroll teams mean for a potential salary cap.
Why Brewers vs. Rays WS matchup is a ‘nightmare’ for MLB and TV execs
“It’s a nightmare World Series matchup for Major League Baseball, which has stressed to everyone who’d listen that a salary cap is desperately needed, even running advertisements into the postseason,” Nightengale writes.
Starting with the MLB side of things, Nightengale is pointing towards the league’s wish to impose a salary cap and salary floor, with the intention of trying to even the playing field for teams.
With clubs like the New York Mets, Dodgers, and New York Yankees spending way more on their clubs than the Rays and Brewers, it’s natural for fans of those lower-payroll teams to feel like their club doesn’t have a chance.
But since they both made the World Series and were clearly the best teams all season long, one of MLB’s top talking points for why a salary cap is needed has gone out the window. They can make other arguments for a cap, but this was a strong one for fans.
While MLB might still get their salary cap wish, this World Series matchup might give the MLBPA enough to fight a cap better, especially with fans of lower-payroll teams seeing a matchup between two such clubs, proving their team could do it too.
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But that’s not all. TV executives likely would’ve preferred a Dodgers vs. Yankees matchup, or at least one of the big-market teams to have made the World Series.
“It’s a nightmare for the TV executives with two small-markets — including one that failed to even sell out several games of the postseason — that could lead to the lowest ratings in World Series history,” Nightengale writes.
While the fans of the Brewers and Rays will tune into the World Series, there’s no denying both of these franchises come from smaller markets. Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles aren’t featured in this World Series.
Fans from those areas will watch, as it’s still the World Series. But it would hardly be a surprise if this 2026 World Series resulted in some very low ratings, at least compared to what they’d be if a bigger market were involved.
So, while TV executives are likely in for lower ratings, and MLB might not have as much ammunition to push for a salary cap, Nightingale’s point that the Brewers vs. Rays World Series is a “nightmare” for both does make sense.
But for Rays and Brewers fans, this is a dream come true. Both teams have a real chance of winning it all, and whichever club wins, it’ll be their first-ever title in franchise history. From a fan perspective, it doesn’t get better than that.
