Brewers Win the World Series: Milwaukee Beats the Rays 4-1 in Game 5 for the First Title in Franchise History
Milwaukee is a champion at last. The Brewers beat Tampa Bay 4-1 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field to close the World Series in five games - Jacob Misiorowski's scoreless start, Cooper Pratt's record rookie streak and William Contreras' MVP series delivering the first title in the franchise's 58 seasons.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time. Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field, closing the series four games to one and ending a wait that stretched back to the franchise's birth as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. The Brewers scored once in the second inning, once in the fifth and twice in the sixth, and Tampa Bay's only run came in the ninth, long after the outcome was in hand. Milwaukee outhit the Rays 8-4.
Second-year ace Jacob Misiorowski, who also started and won Game 1, took a shutout into the sixth. He worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball with a career-low two strikeouts - efficiency instead of strikeouts, as USA Today put it - and left with a 4-0 lead and a right calf cramp, to a standing ovation from the Milwaukee fans who had taken over the sections behind the dugout for the series' last three games. Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt drove in two more runs, extending his streak to six straight hits, a World Series rookie record, and Jackson Chourio finished with 11 hits, a record for a five-game Series.
Catcher William Contreras was named the Series' most valuable player. He hit .381 with four RBIs, his sixth-inning double off Garrett Cleavinger scored Christian Yelich to make it 3-0, and he threw out four runners in the first four games - the first catcher to do that in a World Series since Lance Parrish in 1984. Milwaukee finished October 11-2, its only losses in the Fall Classic run coming in games that included the Rays' 12-inning win in Game 4, which had halted an eight-game Brewers win streak.
The title lands 44 years after the franchise's only previous trip to the World Series, the 1982 loss to St. Louis in seven games. After the final out, Yelich dedicated the night to Bob Uecker, the Brewers' voice for 54 years, who died in January 2025 at 90. 'He's smiling, man,' Yelich said in a postgame interview on the Fox broadcast. 'I really wish he could have been here to see this.'
