BASEBALL JUST GUARANTEED A FIRST-TIME CHAMPION

The Brewers finished 103-59, the best record in baseball, then swept the two-time defending champion Dodgers to take the pennant. Last October, the Dodgers swept them. It is the first time in postseason history a team has swept the club that swept it the year before, which is the pettiest stat in sports, and Milwaukee earned every inch of it. Manager Pat Murphy's review of Los Angeles afterward: "They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we got a bunch of gamers." The Brewers have not been to a World Series since 1982, when they lost to the Cardinals. The franchise has been chasing a ring since it arrived as the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969 and immediately relocated. Tampa Bay went 98-64, best in the American League, and needed six games to finish off Cleveland. The Rays are 0-2 in the World Series and did not exist before 1998. Fun wrinkle: Milwaukee switched to the National League that same year specifically to make room for the Devil Rays. Twenty-eight years later, the expansion team they made space for is in their building trying to rob them. Game 1 is Friday at 8 p.m. ET at American Family Field on FOX. The Brewers took two of three from the Rays in the regular season. If it goes the distance, Game 7 is on Halloween.

Why you should give a shit: Five franchises have never won a World Series, two of them are in this one, and by Halloween either Milwaukee gets its first ring in 57 years of trying or a team that did not exist in 1997 wins before they do.