Wisconsin & Milwaukee Brewers connections in the 2025 World Series

The 2025 World Series is set to begin Friday evening in Toronto as the Blue Jays take on the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are looking to defend their title after taking the 2024 edition. Among the players participating are a pair of former Brewers, a few former Brewer farmhands, three Wisconsin natives, and a few bonus names.

*Note: Not all of these players will be active during the World Series. All (with the exception of one) are on the team’s 40-man rosters at this time*

Let’s start with the former Brewers. Lauer, 30, was a first-round pick by the Padres back in 2016. He was then sent to the Brewers in November 2019 along with Luis Urias in exchange for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies. Across four seasons with the Brewers, Lauer accumulated 2.3 bWAR, with a 4.22 ERA, 4.80 FIP, and 329 strikeouts across 335 innings. He then walked in free agency, with minor league stints for Pittsburgh and Houston before catching on with Toronto this season.

Across 104 2/3 innings with the Jays this year, he pitched to a 3.18 ERA, 3.85 FIP, and 102 strikeouts, with 15 starts and 13 relief appearances. He’s made three postseason appearances, allowing three runs in an outing against the Yankees but working 2 2/3 scoreless frames over his last two appearances against New York and Seattle.

Ruiz, 26, played for the Brewers for less than half a season in 2022, but he’s probably more well-known for the role he played in two key trades for the franchise. An international signee in 2015, he then went to the Padres in a trade before being a key piece in the Josh Hader trade, joining Taylor Rogers, Dinelson Lamet, and Robert Gasser in the return to Milwaukee. He appeared in just three games for the Crew while spending most of his stint with Triple-A Nashville.

After the season, he was shipped to the Oakland A’s in a three-team trade that saw the Brewers get William Contreras, who quickly became a team cornerstone. Despite leading the majors with 67 steals over 132 games in 2023, Ruiz hasn’t exactly panned out over the last two seasons with the A’s and Dodgers. He appeared in just 19 games for L.A. this season, hitting .190/.261/.333 with a homer, two RBIs, and four steals. He has not appeared on any of the Dodgers’ postseason rosters.

Onto the Wisconsin natives. Varsho is the most prominent of these, as he grew up in Marshfield, Wisconsin, the same hometown as his dad, Gary, who also played in the majors between 1988 and 1995 before stints as a coach with the Phillies and Pirates. The younger Varsho was a second-round pick by the D-backs out of UW-Milwaukee back in 2017, playing three seasons with them before being traded to the Blue Jays for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno in the 2022-23 offseason.

While he dealt with injuries this year that limited him to just 71 games, he still hit .238/.284/.548 with 20 homers, 55 RBIs, 43 runs, and a pair of steals. The 28-year-old outfielder has also been great in the playoffs, hitting .273/.304/.500 with two homers, four doubles, eight RBIs, and eight runs scored.

Like Varsho, Rortvedt is a second-round pick out of Wisconsin. Unlike Varsho, he took a bit more time to develop. He was drafted out of Verona Area High School in 2016 by the Twins, and he spent several years there before being involved in a trade to the Yankees that also included Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela, Josh Donaldson, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He was then sent to the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2024 season, and he finally found his home with the Dodgers at this year’s trade deadline.

While he hasn’t had much major league success across his four seasons — .190/.279/.270 line with nine homers, 52 RBIs, and 50 runs across 227 games — he’s been a serviceable backup for Will Smith. In four postseason games, he’s 3-for-7 with a double, one RBI, and two runs scored.

While Call, 31, was born in Minnesota, he went to River Falls High School in Wisconsin before attending Ball State in Indiana. He was a third-round pick by the White Sox in 2016, breaking through to the majors in 2022 with the Guardians. After spending parts of the 2022-2025 seasons with the Nationals, he was traded to the Dodgers at this year’s deadline.

In 38 games with L.A. down the stretch, he hit .247/.333/.384 with two homers, five RBIs, and 13 runs. He’s appeared in four games during the postseason, going 3-for-4 with a pair of walks (.857 OBP) and two runs scored.

This is a bit of a cheat, as Roden is now in the Minnesota Twins organization. A graduate from Middleton High School just outside of Madison, he was drafted in the third round of the 2022 draft by the Blue Jays after attending Creighton University. He made his MLB debut with the Jays earlier this year, hitting .204/.283/.306 with a homer, eight RBIs, and 12 runs across 43 games, though he’s probably better remembered for this viral moment back in April.

Roden was later traded for Louis Varland (a bonus player named below) and Ty France at the trade deadline before spending the last 1 1/2 months on the IL with a left thumb injury.

Now the Brewers’ farmhands. Banda is the oldest of this group, as he was drafted out of a JUCO in the 10th round of the 2012 draft. Banda spent two years in Milwaukee’s system before being traded alongside Mitch Haniger for Gerardo Parra at the 2014 deadline. He’s bounced around multiple organizations since then, including MLB stints with the D-backs, Rays, Mets, Pirates, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Nationals, before settling in nicely with the Dodgers.

Across the last two years with the Dodgers, he’s made 119 regular-season appearances, with a 3.14 ERA, 4.15 FIP, and 111 strikeouts across 114 2/3 innings. He’s also been nails in both postseason runs, totaling 13 appearances with a 0.84 ERA (one earned run across 10 2/3 innings) and 14 strikeouts.

The only one of the four farmhands listed here to have not been drafted by Milwaukee, Heineman went in the eighth round of the 2012 draft to the Astros out of UCLA. After several years in Houston’s organization, he was traded to Milwaukee prior to the 2017 season. He spent 2017 and 2018 in the minor leagues for the Brewers before being granted free agency that winter. He then spent some time in the D-backs, Marlins, Giants, Cardinals, Phillies, Blue Jays, Pirates, Mets, and Red Sox organizations, including multiple MLB stints.

Heineman was then claimed off waivers by the Jays last September and appeared in a career-high 64 games with Toronto this season, hitting .289/.361/.416 with three homers, 20 RBIs, 25 runs, and two steals. He hasn’t had any at-bats this postseason, though he’s been included on both the ALDS and ALCS rosters.

Francis, 29, was a seventh-round pick by the Brewers out of a JUCO in 2017. He reached Triple-A with Milwaukee but was then traded, along with Trevor Richards, to Toronto for Rowdy Tellez in July 2021. Francis made his MLB debut in 2022 and has appeared in 62 games (27 starts) for them since then, totaling a 3.87 ERA and 182 strikeouts across 204 2/3 career innings. Unfortunately for him, he’s out for the season with a shoulder injury, meaning we won’t see him in the World Series.

Schultz, 27, was a 14th-round pick out of Utah Valley in 2019 by the Brewers. He was later traded to the Blue Jays in 2021, reaching Triple-A in 2023 and spending most of 2024 there. He made his MLB debut with Toronto this year, making 13 appearances (two starts) with a 4.38 ERA and 28 strikeouts across 24 2/3 innings. He hasn’t been part of the Jays’ postseason plans.

Varland makes it as a bonus pick here for two reasons. 1) He was part of the return for Wisconsin’s own Alan Roden (as mentioned above), and 2) His brother Gus Varland was a Brewer back in 2023 after being selected (from the Dodgers) in the Rule 5 Draft. Gus and Louis are also Minnesota natives, putting them that much closer to Wisconsin-adjacency.

Louis Varland has made 10 appearances this postseason for Toronto, pitching to a 3.27 ERA and striking out 13 across 11 innings.