Bunting, situational hitting, and productive outs had seemed to become a lost art in today's baseball.But the two teams in this year's World Series brought it all back.The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays were each the top seed in the National and American Leagues, respectively, and throughout this postseason, they've shown why.This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated.This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.Now, one of those franchises will be crowned World Series champions for the first time, and all the action will be on FOX.CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGEJacob Misiorowski and Junior Caminero have led the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series.
(Getty Images)The Brewers had the second-lowest payroll in all of baseball, while the Rays had the eighth-smallest.Those payrolls have led to a heavy emphasis on analytics.
But their analytics have zigged when the rest of the league's have zagged.It is no secret, despite how much people want to deny it, that home runs win (more on that later).That has been the case in the regular season as well as the postseason since stickball.
Yet the Brewers and Rays ranked 29th and 22nd in total home runs this season.Their success, instead, has come at the hands of good old batting average - they both hit .258, good for the top two spots in the league.Both teams also had the highest batting averages with runners in scoring position (Rays were .284, Brewers were .276).Tampa Bay also ranked first in sacrifice bunts with 45, and Milwaukee's 37 were the fifth-most.
That's not to say that bunting means you will win - the Los Angeles Dodgers had 23 combined sac bunts in 2024 and 2025, both seasons that ended in titles.But it works for the Rays and Brewers.Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero celebrates a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning...