Rays announce Nick Martinez as Game 1 starter vs. Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Tampa Bay will start veteran Nick Martinez for Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night at American Family Field, the team announced as it finalized its rotation for the Fall Classic. Martinez will pitch opposite Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski, setting the matchup for the opening game of the series.

The Rays said the plan reflects how Tampa Bay’s schedule lines up after finishing the American League Championship Series in six games. With that extra flexibility, the club opted not to use ace Drew Rasmussen in the opener, choosing instead to shift his turn one start later in the hope of getting him an additional day of rest.

Under the same rotation plan, Rasmussen is expected to start Game 2 after Martinez’s Game 1 outing. That adjustment is intended to push Rasmussen’s start to align with five days of rest, a timing detail the Rays highlighted as part of their decision-making for the World Series.

The Rays also outlined the rest of their sequence, stating that former Brewer Freddy Peralta would be in line to start Game 3 at Tropicana Field on Monday. That sets up a three-game starter order of Martinez in Game 1, Rasmussen in Game 2, and Peralta returning to his previous organization’s offseason payroll environment for the series opener’s middle and end points.

In franchise postseason context, Tampa Bay noted that Martinez will join Scott Kazmir (2008) and Tyler Glasnow (2020) as the only World Series Game 1 starters in Rays history. The club presented that group as a key milestone for the 36-year-old right-hander, who is preparing to take the mound in the first game of his World Series slate.

The Rays’ announcement also included a statistical profile of Martinez’s 2026 regular season and postseason work. In the regular season, Tampa Bay reported that Martinez posted a 3.10 ERA across 180 innings over 31 starts and earned his first All-Star selection, describing him as one of the most effective American League starters during that span.

For the postseason, the Rays said Martinez has been equally productive in starts, allowing only three runs on seven hits and three walks over nine innings against the Yankees in ALDS Game 3 and the Guardians in ALCS Game 4. The club’s statement used those results to frame its confidence heading into the World Series opener.

Tampa Bay further tied its confidence to Martinez’s performance away from its home park. The organization said he recorded a 2.38 ERA in 16 road starts during the regular season, compared with a 3.90 mark at Tropicana Field, and noted that both of his postseason outings came on the road rather than in Tampa.

The Rays also provided early-season detail regarding Martinez’s 2026 transition. After a spring training described in the announcement as “bizarre,” in which he struggled to get outs, Tampa Bay reported that Martinez made his Rays debut at American Family Field on March 30, holding the Brewers to two runs over six innings in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 victory in that game at the same venue hosting Game 1.

As for Rasmussen, the club’s rotation decision is built around rest timing. The Rays said pushing Rasmussen back would allow him to pitch on five days’ rest, and it added that 23 of his regular-season starts came after more than four days of rest. The team also linked that pattern to the postseason, stating that each of his three postseason outings came on the same type of schedule thanks to the postponement of Game 4 in Cleveland.

Milwaukee’s opponent for Martinez, Jacob Misiorowski, is identified in the Rays’ announcement as the Brewers’ ace. With Misiorowski set for Game 1, the Rays’ starter order ensures Milwaukee will open the World Series against Martinez at American Family Field before the series moves through Rasmussen’s Game 2 turn and Peralta’s Game 3 start.

Finally, the Rays connected their pitching plan to the environments in which each starter has performed. The team said Peralta has been at his best at Tropicana Field, citing a 1.45 ERA in seven starts there since joining Tampa Bay at the Trade Deadline. In the same section, the Rays noted that Peralta’s “stuff” would presumably translate as well under a closed roof in Milwaukee, but it emphasized the home-park effectiveness as a deciding factor for the Game 3 assignment.

With the starters confirmed for Games 1 through 3—Martinez vs. Misiorowski in Milwaukee on Friday, Rasmussen next, and Peralta at Tropicana Field on Monday—the Rays’ announced rotation sets Tampa Bay’s immediate pathway into the opening rounds of its World Series matchup.

The Rays’ decision is aimed at pairing postseason-proven starting pitching with rest alignment across the first stretch of the series. By using Martinez for Game 1 and pushing Rasmussen into Game 2, Tampa Bay is seeking to maximize recovery windows while maintaining the same postseason rhythm described in its announcement for its starters’ workloads and schedule changes.