The 2026 World Series begins today, and instead of paying my final respect to the Cleveland Guardians on their well-fought ALCS battle against the Tampa Bay Rays, I'm choosing instead to focus on the pennant winners today because I am hoping that by this time next week, I will be congratulating the Milwaukee Brewers for clinching their first championship in franchise history.
My prediction—well, wish, rather—of a Brewers win seems bold, but when the teams with the best record in their respective leagues face off in the World Series, I tend to lean toward the one with the best overall record. What affirmed this was my own gut-wrenching and in-person experience of the 98-win Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the 93-win New York Yankees in 2025.
The time it happened before that was when the Rays and Dodgers were the two "best" teams of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and as a San Francisco Giants fan, there should be no doubt that I was all in on Tampa that year. And while I would not be upset if the Rays won this year, I am an avid beer enthusiast and thus am all in on the Brewers this time around.
I have a contingency plan for next week's post if this year's World Series happens to need six—or even the full seven—games for a winner to emerge, but until then, I am thrilled to finally have the opportunity to share photos of my first Vero Beach Devil Rays cap in my collection with you good folks for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post.
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| Vero Beach was known as Dodgertown from the time the Brooklyn Dodgers made it their spring home in 1948 until the Los Angeles iteration decided in 2009 to open the complex they currently call home in Glendale, Arizona. Much credit is due here for TOPPERZSTOREUSA releasing this citrus-tinged colorway over a "Dodger Blue" base in honor of that long-standing relationship. |
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| If you were a fan of minor league baseball in the 1980s like me, you will always remember the iconic Vero Beach Dodgers cap. I was not a full-fledged Giants fan when I first came across that objectively awesome logo but I could sense at an early age that Dodgers-related caps were not for me. Thankfully, an affiliation change to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made things right for me! |
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| Undervisors were grey when Tampa Bay set up shop in Vero Beach in 2006 but I truly don't care about historical accuracy in this case because I love the blue and green combination so much, as it reminds me of other classic teams from the 1980s like the Dallas Mavericks and Hartford Whalers. I even like the white sweatband, which I am sure will not take long to sully.COVID |
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| I looked back through previous posts to see if I have ever made mention of a cap being made in Laos and it does not appear that I have so this week's will be the first official time using the label. I also plan to look through previous posts and apply that tag retroactively. |
To read up more on World Series featuring teams with the best records in each league, I recommend checking out this comprehensive write up on the MLB site. Interestingly enough, it happened for the first time in 1969 which is notable as that was the year the League Championship Series was introduced in MLB.
Going backwards down the number line from now, though, you might notice the correlation between the first instance of the Wild Card and League Division Series occurring in 1995 and the best teams only matching up six times since then. While I do enjoy a month of bonus baseball, the days off between series make the postseason feel a bit drawn out to me.
I expect MLB will expand the playoffs even further upon the addition of the next two expansion teams, but hopefully they will tweak the formula so that the reward for the two best teams is something other than a bye week, as I have come to find that extra rest could reduce the adrenaline rush that feeds a team's momentum.
This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is not going on the Trading Block however please don't hesitate to reach out if you want any other cap from that list and you are willing to part with any of the hats on my Wish List.
As always, thanks for coming back to read about baseball hat geekery. If you'd like to discuss a trade or simply just chat about hats, please feel free to connect via the following social sites:
Instagram: @baseballmilquetoast
Twitter: @FittedFriday
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