Inside the Athletic Training Staffs Taking the Field for the 2026 World Series

The Athletic Trainers Behind Baseball’s Last Two Standing

Baseball is a game of inches, and the margins that separate a dynasty from a disappointment are often invisible to the naked eye.

They live in the training room at 6 a.m., before the stadium fills and the cameras turn on. They live in the careful hands of a staff tracking a pitcher’s grip strength through a long summer, in the rehabilitation plan that brings a shortstop back three weeks ahead of schedule, in the quiet conversation between an athletic trainer and a player that keeps a nagging hamstring from becoming a season-long issue.

Athletic trainers in professional baseball do not get curtain calls. They do not appear on the lineup card. When a team hoists a trophy, you’ll see them in the background. But ask any player, any manager, any general manager who has been around the game long enough, and they will tell you the same thing: you do not get to October without them.

The 2026 season was 162 games of attrition, a six-month war of roster management, injury navigation, and physical preservation. Every club that started in April arrived at the final day of the regular season at least a little broken. The ones that made it through did so because someone in the training room figured out how to keep enough of the right people healthy enough, long enough.

Two staffs survived the summer and made it all the way to the World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays did not get here by accident. They got here with talent, yes — but also with the experienced, relentless, largely unheralded medical professionals who work in the shadows of the sport and make the whole thing possible.

Milwaukee Brewers: A New Voice Leading a Deep Staff

Brad Epstein is only in his second season as the Brewers’ Head Athletic Trainer, but his resume reads like someone who has been preparing for this moment for decades. A dual-credentialed athletic trainer and physical therapist, Epstein spent 13 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before joining Tampa Bay as MLB rehab coordinator — and then made the jump to Milwaukee to lead the show.

He holds a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Columbia University, served as head athletic trainer for Team Israel at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and spent two terms as president of the Professional Baseball Physical Therapy Society. He is, in short, one of the most credentialed minds in the profession.

The staff around him is just as formidable. Assistant Athletic Trainer Lee Meyer arrives with a stint as head AT for the Miami Marlins on his resume and World Series experience from his time with the Houston Astros. Nick Jensen, the Major League Assistant AT, came up through Milwaukee’s own minor league system and was part of the organization’s 2024 Minor League Athletic Training Staff of the Year. Bryn Hester brings dual credentials in athletic training and physical therapy, and David Yeager — now in his 22nd season in the Brewers organization — serves as a high performance consultant and institutional anchor, a living record of everything this organization has built on the medical side.

In addition, Roger Caplinger spent 33 seasons building the Brewers’ medical foundation — from minor league coordinator to head athletic trainer to Vice President of Medical Operations — and while he recently retired from his full-time role, his fingerprints are all over the organization that Brad Epstein now leads into the World Series.

Tampa Bay Rays: Nine Seasons of Playoff-Tested Leadership

Joe Benge has been here before. Entering his ninth season as the Rays’ head major league athletic trainer, Benge leads one of the most quietly respected medical staffs in the game. He came up through the Rays’ own minor league system, spent a decade with the Orioles organization before that, and just this past August completed a Doctorate in Athletic Training from Florida International University — adding another degree to a career built on continuous growth.

The staff Benge leads is built on institutional knowledge and versatility. First Assistant Mike Sandoval is in his 14th season with Tampa Bay and brings 25 years of prior experience with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Aaron Scott, entering his eighth year with the Rays, earned league AT of the year honors in both the South Atlantic League and Eastern League during his minor league tenure. And Shinichiro Fukuda — now in his 13th season with the organization — provides a genuinely unique skill set, combining certified athletic training with acupuncture in daily player care.

For Joe Benge and the Rays, this World Series appearance is the culmination of a culture built quietly and sustained over time. Tampa Bay has long operated as one of baseball’s most innovative organizations, and their approach to player health is no different. Nine seasons of steady leadership from Benge, surrounded by a staff that collectively spans decades of professional baseball experience across both leagues, has produced a nothing but fantastic results.

Two Staffs, One Stage

The World Series will be decided by what happens between the lines. But the depth, experience, and leadership that both the Brewers and Rays bring in their medical staffs are a reflection of organizations that take player health seriously.