Milwaukee Brewers Win World Series 4-1 as Contreras Takes MVP Honors

By
Harris
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Key Points

  • The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field to win the World Series four games to one.
  • It is the first championship in franchise history and Milwaukee’s first MLB title since the 1957 Braves.
  • Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings before a right calf cramp forced him out in the sixth.
  • Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP after going 8-for-21 with four RBI in the series.
  • The championship parade is Friday, Oct. 30, at 10 a.m. local time (CT) in downtown Milwaukee, ending with a rally at Henry Maier Festival Park.

Brewers win World Series. It took 57 seasons in Milwaukee to write those four words. On Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to close out the series four games to one and claim the first championship in franchise history.

The final out came at 11:13 p.m. ET (8:13 a.m. PKT Thursday), MLB.com reported. Back home, about 31,000 fans had packed American Family Field to watch the game on the scoreboard.

What happened

Milwaukee won it the way it won all season: with pitching and a steady stream of small hits, and no home runs.

Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt opened the scoring in the second inning with an RBI single to center off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, bringing home Brice Turang, who had doubled. In the fifth, Pratt singled again and scored on a single by David Hamilton off reliever Kevin Kelly for a 2-0 lead.

The sixth inning broke it open. Contreras doubled off Garrett Cleavinger to score Christian Yelich, and Pratt followed with a sacrifice fly that brought Contreras home for a 4-0 cushion, according to ESPN’s play-by-play.

Misiorowski’s last stand

Misiorowski allowed two hits and one walk, struck out two and threw 58 of his 86 pitches for strikes. NBC Sports reported that he tried a few warm-up pitches after the cramp but could not continue. The Associated Press said he finished the Series 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA.

The bullpen finished the job. JoJo Romero and Abner Uribe each got two outs, and closer Trevor Megill pitched the last two innings. Tampa Bay’s only run came with two outs in the ninth, when Chandler Simpson doubled home Liam Hicks. Megill then got Richie Palacios to ground out to second, and the celebration began on the mound.

Rasmussen, pitching on three days’ rest, allowed one run on two hits in four innings. A crowd of 40,489 was at Tropicana Field (ESPN box score), many of them Brewers fans.

Latest development

Contreras received the MVP trophy on the field. He hit .373 across 13 postseason games, NBC Sports reported, and is one of only two catchers to win World Series MVP since 2000, joining Salvador Perez.

NBC Sports said Contreras tried to pull reliever Aaron Ashby up to share the trophy after Ashby completed a scoreless postseason. Ashby declined and praised his catcher instead. “He’s our bulldog, and we love this dude,” Ashby said.

Pratt, 22, set a World Series rookie record with hits in six straight plate appearances. “This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” he said, per NBC Sports. “It doesn’t even feel real.” Jackson Chourio finished with 11 hits, a record for a five-game World Series, the AP reported.

“I can’t tell you how many people have told me, ‘I’ve waited my whole life for this,'” Yelich, the team captain, told MLB.com. “I think any time you win a World Series, it changes a place a little bit.”

“Milwaukee has waited 44 years, and Milwaukee, you have your world championship,” owner Mark Attanasio said from the postgame stage, according to the AP. Pat Murphy, the manager, added: “This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever.”

Confirmed vs. still unclear

Confirmed: the final score, the 4-1 series result, Contreras as MVP and the Friday parade date and route, announced by Attanasio after the game, WBAY reported.

Still unclear: the team has not given an update on Misiorowski’s calf. Rally ticket details could also change, so fans should check the Brewers’ official channels before heading downtown.

Why it matters

Before Wednesday, five current franchises had never won a World Series. Now four remain: the Mariners, Padres, Rays and Rockies, MLB.com noted.

The title rewrites a long story in Milwaukee. The franchise began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved the following year. Its only other World Series trip, in 1982, ended in a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The city’s only earlier MLB championship belonged to the 1957 Milwaukee Braves.

The Brewers won a franchise-record and MLB-best 103 regular-season games, then went 11-2 in the postseason, beating the Padres in the NL Division Series and sweeping the Dodgers in the NLCS. Against Tampa Bay, they won three of the first four games, including a 10-1 blowout in Game 3, then bounced back a day after the 12-inning Game 4 loss, when they had been three outs from the title.

It is also a small-market win. NBC Sports noted that the Brewers play in MLB’s smallest TV market and had the 19th-highest payroll this season. The AP reported that owners are pushing for a salary cap and that a lockout is likely to start Dec. 2.

For Tampa Bay, the loss drops the Rays to 0-3 in World Series appearances after 2008 and 2020, according to the AP.

What happens next

Milwaukee will celebrate on Friday, Oct. 30. The parade starts at 10 a.m. local time (CT), which is 11 a.m. ET and 8 p.m. PKT, at N. 4th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue, WISN and WBAY reported. It will wind through downtown and end at Henry Maier Festival Park with a fan rally.

  • Gates: Henry Maier Festival Park opens at 8 a.m., with free admission to the general grounds until capacity is reached.
  • Rally seats: tickets for seats at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater go on sale Thursday, with net proceeds benefiting the Brewers Community Foundation.
  • Getting there: streets on the route will be closed, and traffic delays are expected.

USA Today reported an anticipated crowd of at least 400,000.

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Sources