MILWAUKEE -- The trade was completed with executives from one team boarding a Southwest Airlines flight and the top executive from another in a hospital bed. So maybe we should have known it would produce an unusual result.
Jake Bauers and Yandy Díaz will face each other in Game 1 of the 2026 World Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays at American Family Field. The matchup comes nearly eight years after a complex three-team trade in December 2018 involving the Rays, Cleveland, and Seattle that sent Bauers to Cleveland and Díaz to Tampa Bay.
Originally engineered around veteran contracts for Edwin Encarnación and Carlos Santana, the trade transformed the careers of both young hitters. Bauers won the 2026 NLCS MVP with Milwaukee after hitting 26 regular-season homers, while Díaz hit two home runs in the 2026 ALCS to lead Tampa Bay to the pennant.
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