Brewers-Rays 2026 World Series Preview | Narratives, Positional Advantages, Pitching Matchups | Baseball America

Positional rankings have kicked off over at Baseball America, as Lead Fantasy Analyst James Anderson released his Top 40 Catchers for 2027 Dynasty Baseball. Hosts James Anderson and Geoff Pontes breakdown some key discussion points and tier breaks throughout the rankings. They dive into some players to avoid as well as some sleeper names to know.  (1:00) Drake Baldwin not a traditional No. 1 of a positional group. (8:00) Rainiel Rodriguez: Future No. 1 catcher? (13:00) Carter Jensen: Is there any downside? (18:00) Samuel Basallo and Joe Mack: Potential breakouts at the position? (24:00) Cal Raleigh: Is it time to buy or sell?  (29:00) Buy or sell? Hunter Goodman, William Contreras and Dillon Dingler (38:00) What is a fully healthy Kyle Teel season like? (44:00) Leo Bernal's expectations for 2027 and beyond. (50:00) Detroit's Mystery Man See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baseball America delivers the most comprehensive preview of the 2026 World Series on the market. BA's staff covers every detail, narrative, X-factor and more ahead of this year's Fall Classic between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Prospect Podcast, JJ Cooper, Geoff Pontes, Josh Norris and Ian Cundall look back at our pre-season 2026 rankings to see where we missed, as well as some reports we nailed. (00:00) Intro (01:35) Prospect Miss: Moises Ballesteros (08:15) Prospect Hit: Arjun Nimmala (12:15) Prospect Miss: Carson Williams (20:50) Prospect Hit: Kevin McGonigle (28:30) Prospect Miss: Spencer Jones (34:00) Prospect Hit: Caden Bodine (41:30) Prospect Miss: Marek Houston (50:20) Prospect Hit: Enddy Azocar SEAT GEEK Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Hot Sheet Show, Jacob Rudner, J.J. Cooper and Geoff Pontes welcome a pair of promising prospects—one from each of the teams in this year's World Series—in the Brewers' Jett Williams and the Rays' Nathan Flewelling. The Hot Sheet Show airs live on the BA YouTube channel every Tuesday at 3 p.m. Give us a sub, and we'll see you then! Time Stamps (0:00) Introduction (0:45) Brewers shortstop prospect Jett Williams joins the show (16:00) World Series: AL's Best vs. NL's Best (17:15) How the Rays built their WS roster (21:20) Rays catcher prospect Nathan Flewelling joins the show Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of our next big rankings update for the 2027 draft class, JJ, Carlos and Jacob try to make the case for three of the favorites to be the first overall pick. Unlike a year ago with Roch Cholowsky, there’s not a slam dunk 1-1 favorite—but which player has the most compelling, iron-clad case to be the first pick? And whose minds are changed after the cases are made? — Time stamps: (0:00) What our next draft update is capturing (7:00) Explaining our case for 1-1 exercise (10:00) The case for Dylan Seward (25:00) The case for Tomas Valincius (38:00) The case for Brendan Lawson (50:00) The Dax Whitney factor Ready to save time and win more jobs? For a limited time only, our listeners get 50% OFF their first 3 months at HousecallPro.com/FOUL #adSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the recent release of James Anderson’s Dynasty Top 500 Prospects list on Baseball America, we kick off the 2027 rankings season in style. On this week's show hosts James Anderson and Geoff Pontes talk through the updated 500 rankings with an eye on the youth at the top, the clear pitching tiers, 2026 rookies to buy in on and some undervalued players to target in dynasty this offseason.    (2:00) Young Stars Ascending (5:00) Konnor Griffin (8:00) Jackson Merrill (11:00) Top Pitchers (16:00) 2026 Rookie Battle: Sal Stewart vs. McGonigle (21:00) Victor Mesa Jr. (27:00) Jackson Jobe for 2027 (31:00) Bulk-Reliever-To-Starter Pipeline (33:00) Grant Taylor (35:00) Didier Fuentes (37:00) Hagen Smith (39:00) Gage Wood  (42:00) Curtis Mead—Breakout Hitter To Target? (48:00) Isaac Paredes (54:00) Cam Cannarella  (59:00) Kane Kepley (62:00) Bryan Rincon Ready to save time and win more jobs? For a limited time only, our listeners get 50% OFF their first 3 months at HousecallPro.com/FOUL #adSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Prospect Podcast, Geoff Pontes, Ian Cundall and JJ Cooper discuss the pitching prospects with the best fastballs and breaking balls as measured by Baseball America's Stuff+. (00:00) Explaining Our Stuff+ model (02:00) Why It's Useful (05:45) Reinold Navarro's fastball (10:00) What Makes A Good And A Bad Fastball? (16:15) Brody Hopkins' fastball (19:00) Jacob Kuhn's fastball (20:45) Tanner Franklin's fastball (24:30) What Makes A Good Cutter?(27:30) Tanner Franklin's Cutter (31:15) Brody Hopkins' Cutter (33:30) What Is A Slider, And What's A Good One? (37:15) Luke Gabrysh's Slider (39:40) Sandro Santana's Slider (43:00) What Makes A Good Curveball? (46:00) Pierce George's Curveball (47:45) Gage Wood's Curveball (50:00) Josh Knoth's Curveball Best Fastballs: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/best-minor-league-fastballs-per-stuff-in-2026/ Best Breaking Balls: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/best-minor-league-breaking-balls-per-stuff-in-2026/  Best Offspeed: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/best-minor-league-changeups-splitters-per-stuff-in-2026/HOUSECALL Ready to save time and win more jobs? For a limited time only, our listeners get 50% OFF their first 3 months at HousecallPro.com/FOUL #adSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's Baseball America Hot Sheet show, Jacob Rudner, JJ Cooper, and Geoff Pontes dive in to the top 10 rising MLB prospects on the National League side. We talk about what makes the Brewers consistently successful and Cardinals outfield prospect Tai Peete joins the show. Find out how you can invest in the future of athletes as they rise to the top. Learn more at https://Agentiqsports.com. This episode includes an advertisement relating to an offering of securities of one or more designated series of Agentiq Sports 1 Series LLC under Tier 2 of Regulation A. Before investing, read the most recent offering circular and documents found in the SEC's EDGAR filing database. The SEC's qualification of the offering statement does not constitute approval of the securities or the offering terms. Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JJ and Carlos dive into the 2026 Draft Report Card series. Which teams have classes that stand out more today than they did on draft day, and why is that the case? Who are the players who have already impressed us in pro ball? Who are the players who are showing they might be better than we thought? That, plus non-obvious picks to move quickly and highlighting a few of the late-draft (or undrafted) sleepers we are most excited about.  See our complete Draft Report Card series here: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-mlb-draft-report-cards-for-all-30-teams/ — Time stamps: (0:00) Intro (3:30) Why we don’t grade drafts (6:00) More under-the-radar Brewers high schoolers (13:11) A ton of strong performers with the Yankees (19:08) Uncertainty with the Rays (21:45) Non-obvious players who could move quickly (28:40) A handful of late-pick names to know See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Baseball America Fantasy Podcast host James Anderson is joined by Ian Cundall to discuss the recently released Top 350 rankings for 2027 redraft leagues. They go through each positional group, discussing tiers as well as names to know. (2:00) Liam Hicks (5:00) Leo Bernal (7:00) Who's No. 1 At First Base (9:00) Rafael Devers (12:00) Who's No. 1 at Second Base (16:00) Bryson Stott (17:00) Javier Sanoja (18:00) Who's No. 1 at Third Base Rankings (22:00) Who's No. 1 at Shortstop (27:00) Who's No. 1 in the Outfield (37:00) Who's No. 1 Among Starting Pitchers See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.