Brewers capture first World Series in franchise history

The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers playing in the smallest market in the majors are World Series champions for the first time.

Young ace Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, rookie Cooper Pratt had two more hits and two RBIs, and Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to set off a long-awaited celebration among thousands of Brewers fans in attendance at Tropicana Field.

“It’s the best feeling ever. All of our fans are here. I know the city’s waited a long, long time for this,” said captain Christian Yelich, who got hugs from franchise icon Robin Yount on the field when it was over. 

World Series MVP William Contreras hit an RBI double and Misiorowski allowed just two hits before leaving the game because of a right calf cramp. He got a standing ovation from the Brew-Crew fans, who took over the section behind Milwaukee’s dugout for the last three games.

The 22-year-old Pratt set a Series rookie record with six straight hits before his sacrifice fly in the sixth. Jackson Chourio set a five-game Series record with 11 hits.

The championship comes in the 58th season for a franchise that began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee the following year. The Brewers’ only previous trip to the World Series in 1982 ended in heartbreak when they blew a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 and lost 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee’s only other MLB championship was won in 1957 by the Braves, who moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season.

But this team displayed the toughness and resilience of 67-year-old manager Pat Murphy, who survived a heart attack in 2020 and was the NL Manager of the Year in his first two full seasons at the helm in 2024 and 2025.

“This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever — and they deserve that because they were a team,” Murphy said. “They’re not worried about their own stats. No one cares about that. They care about coming together and winning tonight.”

With their flame-throwing, 24-year-old two-time All-Star on the mound, the Brewers rebounded from a heartbreaking, 4-3 extra-inning loss in Game 4 when they were three outs from a sweep in the 12th before a stellar bullpen finally faltered.

Pitching on four days’ rest for only the fifth time in 34 starts this year, The Miz had his longest outing since throwing 6 1/3 innings against the Cubs on Sept. 8. Leg cramps also forced him out of two outings earlier in the season.

Misiorowski, who broke the World Series velocity record with a 103.5 mph fastball on the first pitch last Friday, opened with 12 straight four-seamers between 100.9-103 mph. 

The NL Cy Young Award favorite allowed one run over five innings to get his first postseason win as a starter in a 3-2 victory in the opener. He was 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in the best-of-seven Series.

The teams combined for just four home runs in the Series, three by Milwaukee. The Brewers scored a major league-low 32.1% of their runs on homers this season and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins in the regular season and went 11-2 in the postseason, including seven comeback wins and a sweep of the mighty Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

This was the first Series since 1991 between teams in the bottom half of payrolls. The Brewers ranked 19th as of Aug. 31, and the Rays were 25th.



(AP Photo Ashley Landis)