The Milwaukee Brewers finished the job in emphatic fashion, beating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to capture the first World Series title in franchise history. William Contreras earned World Series MVP honors after Milwaukee wrapped up the Fall Classic and turned a long-awaited breakthrough into a historic October run.
This was only the Brewers’ second trip to the World Series, and their first since 1982, back when the club was still in the American League. The group that arrived this time didn’t sneak through the bracket. It bulldozed it, going 11-2 across the postseason and setting down one powerhouse after another on the way to the trophy.
Milwaukee’s path through the World Series wasn’t always clean, but it was mostly under control. The Brewers rarely found themselves behind against Tampa Bay, even if Game 2 forced them to dig out of a four-run hole. In Game 1, they also survived a late push from the Rays and kept their home-field edge intact for the third straight playoff series.
Game 3 was the moment that looked like the knockout blow. Milwaukee exploded for eight runs with two outs in the top of the fifth inning and rolled to a 10-1 win. From there, the Brewers closed it out in Game 5 at Tropicana Field, finishing the series with a 4-1 victory.
Their postseason dominance stretched well beyond the World Series. The Brewers swept the back-to-back defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and came within reach of making a little more history, nearly becoming the first team in MLB history to sweep both the LCS and the World Series since both rounds moved to a best-of-seven format. The last club to do it was the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, and that came when the National League Championship Series was still best-of-five.
Milwaukee’s only early stumble came in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. After that, the Brewers kept charging, and they almost finished the Rays off in Game 4. Cooper Pratt delivered a go-ahead home run in the 12th inning on Tuesday, but Tampa Bay answered with a walk-off win to extend the series.
Even in defeat, Pratt put his name in the record book. According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, he became the first rookie in MLB postseason history with four hits in a potential clinch game, and the first rookie to homer in extra innings of a World Series game.
The Brewers also made the most of playing at home. They went 6-0 at American Family Field during the playoffs, a spotless run that matched the way they handled the rest of October. Milwaukee finished the regular season with an MLB-best 103 wins, then carried that form straight into the postseason.
By the time the Brewers got to the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series, they had already built a reputation for wiping away deficits and wearing teams down. They had to come from behind in all four games against Los Angeles, but they still controlled the matchup. Kiké Hernández noticed.
“They’re playing unbelievable right now. Congrats to them.
I hope they end up winning it all. They’re almost playing perfect baseball,” Hernández said after the Brewers eliminated the Dodgers.
“That’s a team that’s incredibly hungry and incredibly talented. Their pitching was lights out, their offense was almost suffocating.
We might’ve had one shutdown inning all four games. It’s a tough recipe to win like that.
At the end of the day we got beat. They played better than us, we didn’t hit, we pitched well but they just didn’t give us a chance.
Congrats to them.”
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