ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Different approaches to World Series workout day were on display as the best-of-seven shifted south Sunday.
The Milwaukee Brewers, up 2-0, got some activity in at Tropicana Field, while the Tampa Bay Rays did some recovery and bounced.
This deep into the post-season, with a maximum of five games and one workout day remaining, individual player need drives all as the physical toll of the regular season gets compounded by the pressures of October baseball.
That’s why Rays manager Kevin Cash said his players “are good” with a quick in-and-out, having spoken to them about the plan before Game 1 of the series.
“Knowing that we have an off-day, let's appreciate the off-day for what it is, come in and get your treatment, do that, and keep it simple,” he explained. “That's normally how you would run things during the regular season. It's pretty unique to get on a flight at 12:30 (p.m.) today flying out of Milwaukee, to come in and work out after that. Talking to our guys, they were comfortable with taking the day off.”
The Brewers, meanwhile, spent the evening re-acclimating to a ballpark they last visited in May 2025 in preparation for Monday night’s Game 3 (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT), when starter Robert Gasser will try to push them to the brink of a championship against former teammate Freddy Peralta, who’s looking to help pull the Rays back into Fall Classic.
As part of a full slate of activity, infielders and outfielders chased balls fired up toward the white canvas roof, coaches at times aiming right at the rings that hang over the field, with loud cheers when one was finally struck.
Both elements can be tricky and create chaos during games, so being ready for them is “what we're going to work on,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
“It's very much a different place. It seems like a great place, and you have to make adjustments to it," he said.
Underlining the point, Brice Turang’s only experience at the Trop came during that 2025 visit, when the Rays took two of three, although “I don't really remember much about it,” he said. Lefty reliever Aaron Ashby, meanwhile, recalled only seeing “two games played here in person in ’22” and vaguely remembered “one of those weird games,” in which Rowdy Tellez went deep twice, the second one off the C-Ring catwalk.
“Other than it being turf, I don't know that I have any other strong opinions about it,” Ashby added, “but excited to see what it feels like.”
Pretty much everything has felt good for the Brewers during what’s been a 9-1 October, extending that now against a Rays team that was rolling until Milwaukee. They fell behind 4-0 in the first inning Saturday night, but just like they did after falling behind 4-0 in the second inning of NLCS Game 4 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they chipped away and eventually rallied back, a staple of their post-season.
The Brewers have scored first only three times in their 10 games and have trailed in eight of them. Yet to this point, only the San Diego Padres, after blowing a 2-0 lead, managed to beat them, forced to survive two late rallies in a 4-3 win.
“No one ever loses belief,” said Ashby. “It's kind of a crazy thing. We never feel like we're out of it. Of all the teams I've been a part of, this team is the strongest. We may go down, we may go down big early, and (Christian Yelich) is the first one to say we're going to come back, and we're going to wear these guys down, and we're going to win. Just plain and simple as that. His belief trickles down through everyone and you start grinding out at-bats. This offence is unbelievable. The bullpen's job is to hold the line and then just start taking care of business.”
The Rays carry similar belief, but they are still left with some heavy lifting after failing to lock down their early Game 2 lead.
Though charged with only one error, they were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field during the first two games, not making plays they usually make and paying for it with runs against. At the same time, they’re also a combined 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position, a bad combination against a team as relentless as the Brewers.
Broadcast cameras caught star third baseman Junior Caminero yelling in the dugout after the sixth inning when Milwaukee tied the game, something he did, Cash said, “trying to fire the guys up, fire the dugout up. Knew we weren't playing our best baseball. That happens quite frequently throughout the season. It's magnified at this stage of the World Series.
“Cammy cares a lot. The players care a lot and we want to play good behind our pitchers without a doubt. He was trying to get the dugout going to have some good at-bats and get some runs.”
Infielder Richie Palacios said that before the playoffs, Caminero “told us a little message that was meaningful to us and helped us so far” and Saturday night, “he was just encouraging us to just lock in and not worry about what's behind us but to worry about what's ahead of us. …
“We all took it as a positive,” he continued. “There are times throughout the game where we might lose a little bit of energy and we need somebody on our team to pretty much pick us up and tell us, look, we're not ending here. We're not giving up. We're going to go out there and continue to compete and that's what he was able to do.
“I know the effect that's going to have on us for these next couple games.”
After a difficult start to the World Series against an even more difficult opponent, the Rays need it to be a good one, and fast.
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