World Series Game 4 is the night the Milwaukee Brewers can finish a season for the ages — and the night the Tampa Bay Rays must save theirs. First pitch is at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, with Milwaukee leading the best-of-seven series 3-0 and one victory away from the first World Series championship in franchise history. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, faces elimination at home: win, and the series continues; lose, and the Brewers sweep their way to a title neither club has ever won.
Milwaukee arrived in Florida with a 2-0 series lead and left no doubt on Monday night. The Brewers routed the Rays 10-1 in Game 3 at Tropicana Field, scoring eight runs in the fifth inning — all with two outs, a World Series first — and collecting 16 hits against Tampa Bay starter Freddy Peralta and five relievers. Jackson Chourio went 4 for 5 with a double and a stolen base, William Contreras went 3 for 5, and Brice Turang opened the decisive rally with a two-run single that shortstop Taylor Walls could not handle.
The game turned on a replay review. Chourio had singled to start the fifth, stolen second with two outs, and watched Christian Yelich walk and Contreras reach on an infield single to load the bases. Peralta left, and third baseman Junior Caminero fielded Contreras's grounder and threw to second for what looked like the final out — until the call was overturned. Cam Booser entered, Turang lined a two-run single off Walls's glove, Garrett Mitchell added an RBI single, Cooper Pratt drove in two with a double down the left-field line and Sal Frelick doubled home another run. By the time the inning ended, an 8-0 lead was on the board.
On the mound, rookie left-hander Robert Gasser was just as commanding. He allowed a line-drive single to Yandy Díaz to open the bottom of the first, then retired 14 straight batters before Victor Mesa Jr. walked to begin the sixth. Helped by a caught stealing and a double play, Gasser became the first starter to face the minimum 18 batters through six innings of a World Series game since Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001 — and the first left-hander to do it since Sandy Koufax for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965. He finished with one run allowed in 15 innings across three postseason starts, all on the road.
The first two games had been far tighter. Milwaukee won Game 1, 3-2, on October 23, when Yelich delivered an RBI triple in his first career World Series at-bat and Contreras followed with a run-scoring single. Game 2, on October 24, saw Tampa Bay jump ahead 4-0 in the first inning before Milwaukee rallied, with Frelick hitting a tying home run and rookie shortstop Pratt delivering the go-ahead single in the seventh for a 5-4 win. That pattern — Tampa Bay striking early, Milwaukee answering late — is the story of the series so far, and Game 3 showed what happens when the answer becomes an avalanche.
Whichever team wins this World Series will make history, because neither has ever won one. The Brewers began life as the Seattle Pilots for one season in 1969, moved to Milwaukee and were renamed in 1970, and reached the World Series only once before, as an American League team, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1982. The Rays, who joined the league in 1998, have reached the Fall Classic twice before — losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in 2020 — and have never lifted the Commissioner's Trophy in 29 seasons.
Both clubs earned their place the hard way. Milwaukee led the majors with a franchise-record 103 wins in the regular season, beat the San Diego Padres in four games in the Division Series and swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Championship Series. Tampa Bay led the American League with 98 wins, swept the New York Yankees in three games in the Division Series and beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games in the Championship Series, with Peralta — the ALCS most valuable player against Cleveland — throwing 5 1/3 innings in the clincher. This is the first Fall Classic since 1980 to pit two teams both chasing a first title, and the first ever between two expansion franchises.
The odds, historically, are brutal for Tampa Bay. Of the 43 previous major-league teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Red Sox rallied to win four straight, against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. In the World Series itself, of the 25 previous teams to take a 3-0 lead, 21 swept and four won in five games. Milwaukee has also won eight straight postseason games and four in a row on the road, and its pitching has limited Tampa Bay's rallies while its offence has found different ways to produce in every game.
There is a quirk to this series that only adds to the occasion. Tampa Bay is playing at Tropicana Field, the quirky, cavernous domed ballpark whose roof was shredded by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 and needed major renovations. The Rays wore their white Devil Rays throwback uniforms for Game 3, and a sellout crowd of 40,388 — cowbells ringing, towels waving — could not lift them past the surging Brewers. Many Brewers fans also made the trip and cheered from behind the visitors' dugout on Monday, a point Gasser noted afterwards with evident delight.
The first question on Tuesday is the pitching matchup. Griffin Jax is scheduled to start Game 4 for Tampa Bay, according to NBC Sports' Game 3 report, after last starting Game 3 against Cleveland in the Championship Series, when he allowed three runs over four innings in what turned out to be a 3-2 loss. It would be his first career World Series appearance. Milwaukee, by contrast, had not announced a starter at the time of writing, and MLB's official probable-pitcher listing still showed both Game 4 starters as to be determined — so readers should check the game-day listing for the final matchup, and treat any earlier assignment as provisional.
For Tampa Bay, the formula is simple to state and hard to execute: get ahead early, make routine plays, and do not let one inning decide the game. The Rays showed their scoring potential with a four-run first inning in Game 2, but they have made uncharacteristic mistakes on the bases and on defence in the first two games and completely unravelled at home in Game 3. An early run on Tuesday would not erase the series deficit, but it could settle the dugout, energise a home crowd that has waited since 2008 for a World Series game at the Trop, and force Milwaukee to work through a more competitive game.
For Milwaukee, the task is the opposite: stay disciplined with a championship within reach. The Brewers have won close games and blowouts, come from behind and built big leads, and received contributions from throughout the roster rather than depending on one hitter. Chourio has eight hits in three World Series games and, with four hits and a stolen base in Game 3, became the second-youngest player with that line in a World Series game behind Ty Cobb in 1908. If the Brewers keep the game close into the late innings, their bullpen and their habit of two-out rallies make them a difficult team to beat — and a sweep would put them alongside the 1976 Reds as the only team to sweep both a Championship Series and a World Series.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy, 67, was full of praise for Chourio after Game 3. "He was tremendous. Locked in. Gives us a big lift," Murphy said of the young outfielder, whom he has previously compared to basketball great Kobe Bryant. Chourio himself, speaking through a translator, kept it simple: "I think that you could say this is one of my better games. Really I was just taking every at-bat like it could be my last and trying to find any way I could to get on base. Because I know, as long as I get on base, there's guys behind me who could score."
Gasser, meanwhile, described the surreal feeling of watching the eight-run fifth from the dugout. "I was sitting in the dugout getting ready to go. There was two outs, and next thing you know, 40 minutes later, I have to go out on the field," he said. "It was special. I had a smile on my face the whole time. It's just surreal when something like that happens." He also thanked the travelling Brewers support: "It is really cool when you go on the road in such an intense atmosphere to have that support. Normally it's 35,000 against nine, but tonight we had 20,000 people behind us."
On the Tampa Bay side, manager Kevin Cash struck a defiant note. "It's kind of that chip and a chair mentality," Cash said. "We've got a seat at the table. We've got to do something with the chip. Obviously the only thing we can do is win tomorrow." He was candid about the fifth inning, too: "It's definitely deflating. How could it not be?" Shortstop Taylor Walls, whose glove could not hold Turang's liner, called the play a "knife to the chest" — a line that captured a night when almost everything that could go wrong for Tampa Bay did.
Chourio had the last word on Monday, and it was a warning. "We've been preparing for this day a lot," he said. "We have one more to lock in for tomorrow to complete the mission." For the Rays, the mission on Tuesday is the same one every team facing elimination sets itself: win the next inning, win the next game, and worry about the rest later.
This is more than one game. A Brewers victory on Tuesday would end a championship drought stretching back to the franchise's founding in 1969 and crown a team that won more games than anyone else in baseball this season — a fitting end to a 103-win campaign. It would also confirm a small-market model that the rest of the sport watches closely: Milwaukee sits 19th in payroll, Tampa Bay 28th, and whoever wins will carry the lowest payroll of any champion since the 1994-95 work stoppage. In an era of mega-contracts, that matters to every club trying to compete without outspending everyone else.
For Tampa Bay, survival on Tuesday would keep alive a season that has already defied expectations. The Rays rebuilt almost their entire roster after their last pennant run — Yandy Díaz is the only name left from the 2020 team — and still topped the American League. A Game 4 win would send the series back towards Milwaukee for a potential Game 5 on Wednesday, and while the climb from 3-0 remains one of sport's steepest, the 2004 Red Sox proved it is not impossible. At the very least, a win would give a proud home crowd one more night at the Trop and deny Milwaukee a celebration on Tampa Bay's field.
Game 4 begins at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) on Tuesday, October 27, at Tropicana Field, with national coverage on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One, and local coverage all day on FOX6 in the Milwaukee market, where first pitch is listed as 7 p.m. CT. If Milwaukee wins, the Brewers are World Series champions and the celebrations begin in St. Petersburg and back home in Wisconsin. If Tampa Bay wins, the series continues with Game 5 on Wednesday, October 28, also at Tropicana Field, with Games 6 and 7 — if needed — scheduled for Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, back in Milwaukee.
Either way, the pitching announcement before first pitch is worth watching: with Milwaukee's starter unconfirmed and Tampa Bay's assignment reported but not yet locked into MLB's official listing, the final matchup could still change. Once play begins, the details that have decided this series — two-out hitting, routine defence, bullpen efficiency and the first run of the game — will decide it again.
World Series Game 4 is on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Game 4 is televised nationally on FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX One. In the Milwaukee market, FOX6 carries the game, with all-day coverage on FOX LOCAL and two hours of post-game reaction.
The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 after winning Game 1, 3-2, Game 2, 5-4, and Game 3, 10-1.
Griffin Jax is scheduled to start Game 4 for Tampa Bay, according to NBC Sports, though MLB's official listing had both starters as to be determined — check the game-day listing for the final announcement.
Yes — once. The 2004 Boston Red Sox rallied from 3-0 down to beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. No team has ever done it in the World Series.
For the full story of how Milwaukee took command, read our Game 3 report: Brewers rout Rays 10-1 to move one win from the title, and for more from a remarkable postseason, see our Monday night sports round-up.
Leave a Comment
| Today's Date:
