For the first time in 44 years, Milwaukee is hosting the World Series, and it's home to one hotel that some MLB players refuse to stay in.

On Friday, the Milwaukee Brewers will face the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the World Series at American Family Field.

The Pfister Hotel, a four-star hotel, is a popular destination for celebrities, politicians and athletes staying overnight in the Cream City. But it also has a reputation for being haunted.

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The historic hotel, located in downtown Milwaukee, has been the subject of ghost stories for years, with some MLB players reporting frightening and unexplained experiences.

In 2009, Minnesota Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez told The Associated Press (AP) he heard voices and experienced strange electronic disturbances while staying at the hotel.

Gomez said his iPod began malfunctioning after he stepped out of the shower and played an "eerie static tone," prompting him to run to the lobby without shoes or pants.

When he stayed at the hotel again, he said he brought a Bible with him for protection.

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"Everything's scary," Gomez said.

"Everything in the hotel, the paintings and pictures, it's a lot of old, crazy stuff. No good, man. No good."

Gomez isn't the only one who was spooked.

Speaking to the AP, then-Brewers visiting clubhouse manager Phil Rozewicz also recalled an incident involving an unnamed rookie who reportedly refused to return to his room after experiencing unusual activity at the hotel.

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Rozewicz said the player woke up in the middle of the night to find his window and blinds open.

After closing the window and blinds, he reportedly woke the next morning to find them open again.

"[He] slept on the couch in the lobby the next night," Rozewicz said, according to the AP. 

"Refused to go to his room. Finally went to a Motel 6 or whatever up the street and just stayed there."

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But not everyone believes the hotel's alleged ghosts are malicious.

In 2009, Joe Kurth, then the hotel's general manager, told the AP that some believe the hotel is haunted by Charles Pfister, who helped establish the property with his father in 1893.

"The ghost is described as a portly gentleman with a smile," Kurth said. "[He's] here to make sure that his brand of hospitality still exists within the hotel today."

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The hotel's website says the Pfister Hotel was opened in 1893 by businessman Guido Pfister and his son, Charles, who sought to create a "welcoming and luxurious meeting place."

"This historic Milwaukee hotel was the most lavish hotel of its time, costing nearly $1 million," the website states. "It featured groundbreaking innovations such as fireproofing, electricity throughout the hotel and individual thermostat controls in every room."

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If the World Series goes to Game 7, the deciding matchup will be played in Milwaukee Halloween night.

Fox News Digital reached out to Pfister Hotel for comment.

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Fox News Digital's Deirdre Bardolf and The Associated Press contributed reporting.

It feels like just yesterday that I was betting on Paul Skenes to light up the Mets and keep them from scoring on Opening Day of the baseball season. I was dead wrong about that one because Skenes didn’t even last two innings in the game. Since then, it has been a pretty strong baseball season overall, but I’ve struggled a bit in the postseason. Game 1 of the World Series is tonight, and I’m looking forward to getting a win in this one.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been better at home than on the road this season, but in the playoffs they’ve gone 3-1. They were the best team in the American League and beat the Yankees, a divisional foe, in three games in the American League Division Series. It was a bit harder for them in the American League Championship Series as the Guardians took the Rays to six games. Ultimately, the Rays stopped the Cleveland offense, and that made the difference for the club in the series.

Tonight, they are sending out Nick Martinez to the hill. For the season, Martinez was 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He only has 109 strikeouts for the season; he isn’t really a power pitcher. He finds ways to get guys out, and that’s really what matters. In the postseason, he has allowed three earned runs over nine innings with just six strikeouts and three walks. He did not face the Brewers at all this season, but they are hitting .246 against him over 122 at-bats.

The Milwaukee Brewers were the best team in baseball this season, and they’ve looked like the best team in baseball in the postseason. The Brewers went 103-59 this season and were almost 30 games above .500 in Milwaukee. In the postseason, they’ve looked absolutely dominant, getting rid of the Padres in just four games. If you watched the Padres-Brewers series, you might have said the Padres could’ve won it. You’d be right. There were some odd games, but the Brewers never said die. That was the same result in the Dodgers series. Every time the Brewers went down, they came back and ultimately won the game.

It won’t be an easy night with Martinez on the mound, but they have their own elite starter going. Jacob Misiorowski takes the ball and brings a great campaign with him. He went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. He is a power pitcher and could throw one at 110 mph with all the adrenaline that will be going in this game. I only somewhat joke about that. He was elite in Milwaukee this season, posting a 1.52 ERA. In the postseason, he has looked a bit shaky. He has made two starts, gone 8.1 innings, and allowed three earned runs. He has allowed nine hits and four walks as well, which gives me a bit of concern. He faced the Rays earlier in the year and allowed two earned runs on four hits over six innings while striking out seven hitters.

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The Rays are a team that struggles against power pitching. Something feels different about the Brewers this season, like they are destined to win this year. I actually think Martinez starting is a terrible look for the Rays. It feels a bit like they will lose to Misiorowski, and they know it. I'm going to take the Brewers on the run line at +129. Pitching advantage, home field, and this lineup has the edge in this one and I don't think it will be close.

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For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024

Chicks dig the ... small ball?

Bunting, situational hitting, and productive outs had seemed to become a lost art in today's baseball. But the two teams in this year's World Series brought it all back.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays were each the top seed in the National and American Leagues, respectively, and throughout this postseason, they've shown why.

Now, one of those franchises will be crowned World Series champions for the first time, and all the action will be on FOX.

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The Brewers had the second-lowest payroll in all of baseball, while the Rays had the eighth-smallest. Those payrolls have led to a heavy emphasis on analytics. But their analytics have zigged when the rest of the league's have zagged.

It is no secret, despite how much people want to deny it, that home runs win (more on that later). That has been the case in the regular season as well as the postseason since stickball. Yet the Brewers and Rays ranked 29th and 22nd in total home runs this season.

Their success, instead, has come at the hands of good old batting average - they both hit .258, good for the top two spots in the league. Both teams also had the highest batting averages with runners in scoring position (Rays were .284, Brewers were .276).

Tampa Bay also ranked first in sacrifice bunts with 45, and Milwaukee's 37 were the fifth-most. That's not to say that bunting means you will win - the Los Angeles Dodgers had 23 combined sac bunts in 2024 and 2025, both seasons that ended in titles.

But it works for the Rays and Brewers.

The Rays (49) and Brewers (32) also ranked first and second in bunt hits. They also were tied for second in infield hits, behind only the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In the days where exit velo has taken over (hitting the ball hard has always mattered, by the way), the Rays had the highest soft-hit percentage and second-worst hard-hit percentage. The Brewers ranked 12th and 18th in those categories and ranked sixth in medium-hit percentage.

Nobody pulls the ball less often than the Brewers, and nobody goes up the middle and oppo more than they do, as well. The Brewers even hit ground balls at a higher rate than anybody and fly balls at the lowest (the Rays are fifth in grounders and 25th in fly balls). All of that is a tremendous shy-away from modern-day data taking over.

Strikeouts have become more acceptable in baseball, but not in Florida. The Rays had the lowest strikeout percentage this season. Milwaukee, though, actually struck out at a higher percentage than most teams - they ranked 14th throughout the season, and they're actually striking out a ton this October.

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The Brewers have actually strayed away from their brand of baseball this October. In the National League Championship Series, they had the largest three-true-outcome percentage (home run, walk, strikeout) out of any LCS team since 1969. They were outhit in two games and struck out more than the Dodgers in each game. The walks shouldn't surprise anybody, as they had the highest walk rate in the regular season.

But they out-homered the Dodgers in each game (the Dodgers went homerless in three of the games), and all season long, Milwaukee hit home runs that hurt badly.

Despite hitting the second-fewest in the league, they actually had the ninth-most home runs with a runner on base and the highest percentage of multi-run homers in the league.

The Rays also used the long ball throughout their American League Division Series against the New York Yankees and to clinch the pennant against the Cleveland Guardians.

In all of this, the pitching cannot be dismissed. The Brewers have maybe the best pitcher in the sport in Jacob Misiorowski, and it feels like the Rays can pick up anyone reading this and turn them into a weapon on the bump.

Brewers pitchers own a 2.03 ERA this postseason, while the Rays' staff sits at 2.59. Opponents are hitting just .183 and .201 off them, respectively, and they are allowing fewer than one homer per game.

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Small ball and elite pitching undeniably got these small-market juggernauts to the big dance, but what they've proven this October is they can beat you in multiple ways - even by going the apparently dreaded "boom or bust." Now, all that is to be seen is which style while bring it home.

All the action begins Friday in Milwaukee at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.