After an agonizing extra-day delay, the Milwaukee Brewers finally had their chance to celebrate their first World Series championship on Wednesday night.
More than 50 years after the franchise arrived in Milwaukee, the Brewers were crowned MLB champions with a 4-1 series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Milwaukee’s title celebration was put on hold when Tampa Bay produced a stunning extra-inning comeback in Tuesday night’s Game 4. One night later, however, the Brewers left no doubt, completing the job with a commanding 4-1 victory in Game 5.
When closer Trevor Megill coaxed a soft ground ball for the final out in the bottom of the ninth, Tropicana Field erupted. The traveling Brewers supporters responded with deafening cheers as the long-awaited celebration began.
Milwaukee’s players raced up the dugout steps and poured onto the field, finally enjoying a moment that had been more than half a century in the making.
Playing in the smallest market in Major League Baseball, the Brewers established themselves as a resilient, hard-nosed club that found its best form at exactly the right time during the postseason.
The Milwaukee Brewers won their first-ever World Series title on Wednesday night
The Brewers sealed their triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-1 win in Game 5
Milwaukee Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio holds the Commissioner’s Trophy
That trademark determination was on full display again Wednesday, capping a postseason run that also included a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
The Brewers pieced together their decisive Game 5 victory with timely production, scoring on two singles, a sacrifice fly and a double.
Rookie Cooper Pratt, 22, set a World Series rookie record with six consecutive hits before delivering a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Jackson Chourio also made history, setting a five-game Series record with 11 hits.
Young ace Jacob Misiorowski kept Tampa Bay off the scoreboard for 5 2/3 innings, allowing only two hits before leaving with a right calf cramp. Brewers supporters, who had taken over the section behind Milwaukee’s dugout during the final three games, gave him a standing ovation as he departed.
Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP after batting .381 and driving in four runs. His sixth-inning double against Garrett Cleavinger brought home Christian Yelich and extended Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0.
Brewers fans had waited for this crowning achievement since 1970. The franchise began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before relocating to Milwaukee one year later, and thousands of supporters traveled from Wisconsin to Florida to witness the historic breakthrough.
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Many arrived in blue and gold jerseys, while others wore the region’s famous cheese-head hats associated with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. They stood out among Tampa Bay’s cowbell-ringing home crowd.
Their celebration had already been postponed once. On Tuesday, the Rays rallied in the 12th inning to earn a dramatic comeback victory in Game 4—their first win of the season—and force Milwaukee to wait another night.
Raucous traveling Milwaukee fans broke out into wild celebrations inside Tropicana Field
Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP after helping the Brewers to glory
The Brewers players rushed up the steps of the dugout and flooded onto the field
The Brewers are given the Commissioner’s Trophy as blue and gold confetti falls around them
Contreras is captured on the brink of tears as he emotionally celebrates the triumph
But with the Brewers heading into Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead, their historic World Series title had always seemed inevitable.
Of the 43 previous major league teams to fall behind 3-0 in any best-of-seven postseason series, only the 2004 Boston Red Sox rallied to win four straight games when they beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
There had been 25 teams that previously took a 3-0 lead in the World Series. Of those, 21 finished the sweep in Game 4, and the remaining four won the series in Game 5.
Ultimately, the Rays failed to join the same ranks as the 2004 Red Sox.
The Rays, an expansion team that debuted in 1998, dropped to 0-3 in the World Series after defeats in 2008 and 2020. They are reportedly only the third team to lose in their first three Series appearances, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers.
The championship-clinching game was the fitting end to the last Major League Baseball action fans may seen for an extended period.
The Brewers won the World Series at a time when owners are pushing for a salary cap from the players’ association because they maintain small-market teams can’t regularly succeed. A management lockout is likely to start December 2 and could threaten the 2027 season.
Ironically, this was the first Series since 1991 between teams in the bottom half of payrolls. The Brewers ranked 19th as of August 31 and Rays were 25th.