At last, Milwaukee has its title.
The Brewers wrapped up their first World Series championship in franchise history on Wednesday night, beating the Rays 4-1 at Tropicana Field to finish off the series in Game 5. In the organization’s 58th season, the long wait finally ended, and the Brewers did it by controlling the series almost every step of the way.
They set the tone early against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. In the second inning, Brice Turang doubled on a hanging changeup, then Sal Frelick was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat.
That brought up Cooper Pratt, who kept swinging a scorching bat and drove in Turang with an RBI single. Pratt got caught in a rundown between first and second, but the damage was done.
That knock was Pratt’s fifth hit in his last five at-bats, and it came after the go-ahead home run in extra innings in Game 4. He added another hit in the fifth inning and set the record for the most consecutive hits by a rookie in World Series history, with six.
Milwaukee’s pitching had the game under control for most of the night, too. Misiorowski gave the Rays almost nothing through the first three innings, and for a brief stretch he went without a strikeout for the first time in his career through the opening three frames of a start. Tampa Bay managed just one hit and one walk in that span.
The Rays came closest to breaking through in the fourth. Misiorowski hit Liam Hicks with a pitch, Chandler Simpson singled with two outs and advanced on a bobble by Sal Frelick in right, and suddenly Tampa Bay had runners on second and third.
But Misiorowski got Game 4 hero Ben Williamson to ground out to third. David Hamilton’s errant throw forced Jake Bauers to make a tough catch at first, and the inning ended without a run crossing.
Rasmussen, working on three days’ rest, was done after four innings and only 48 pitches. Milwaukee went to work on the bullpen right away. Kevin Kelly came in and immediately gave up consecutive singles to Pratt and Garrett Mitchell, then David Hamilton punched a ground ball through the infield to score Pratt and make it 2-0.
Garrett Cleavinger handled the fifth, getting out of a jam with a strikeout, but the Brewers kept pressing in the sixth. Christian Yelich was hit by a pitch to start the inning, William Contreras followed with a double off the left-field wall to bring him home, and Brice Turang then dropped a blooper into shallow left to put runners on the corners and chase Cleavinger after just eight pitches.
Tyler Wells took over, and Pratt came through again. He lifted a fly ball into foul territory in right field deep enough for Contreras to tag up and score from third, stretching the lead to 4-0.
Misiorowski’s night ended midway through the sixth after he pulled up awkwardly following a pitch to Hicks because of a cramp in his right leg. He finished with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out two. JoJo Romero came on and got two outs without allowing a baserunner, Abner Uribe added two more outs, and Trevor Megill took over in the eighth.
Tampa Bay made one last push in the ninth. Hicks opened the inning with a one-out double off Megill, benefiting from a favorable bounce off first base, and Chandler Simpson followed with an RBI single to right.
But that was as far as it went. Megill got Richie Palacios to ground out to second, and the Brewers had their championship.
The celebration started immediately on the field, while the Rays were left to watch from the dugout.
Milwaukee’s run through October ended at 11-2. The Brewers beat the Padres in four games in the division series, swept the reigning champion Dodgers in the NLCS, and then finished off the Rays in Game 5 to bring home the Commissioner’s Trophy in Tampa Bay. They outscored their opponents by 26 runs over the postseason.
In Other News...
Christian Yelich Put Milwaukees Long Wait Into Perfect Words
Christian Yelich helped the Brewers finish off a long-awaited championship run with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, and even without a hit in the game, he still found a way to leave his mark. He scored a run as Milwaukee closed out the World Series, capping a night that had been building for the city and its fans for a very long time.
Afterward, Yelich could only try to put the moment into words, and even then the emotion seemed to get the better of him. He said he was speechless and described the title as the best feeling ever, a reflection of just how much the wait had weighed on Milwaukee and the people who stuck with the team through it. [Read more 🡒]
Jacob Misiorowski Now Carries The Brewers' Biggest World Series Debate
The Brewers extra-inning loss in Game 4 left more than a bruised bullpen behind. With the staff stretched deep into the night, manager Pat Murphy did not turn to Jacob Misiorowski for the final outs, a choice that quickly became one of the sharper points of debate coming out of the game. For a club trying to manage every arm in October, it was the kind of decision that can linger long after the box score is filed away.
Now the attention shifts to Misiorowskis next assignment, with Game 5 offering a fresh stage for the young ace to reset the conversation. His start gives Milwaukee a chance to show the bullpen decisions were made with the bigger picture in mind, while also giving critics a reason to revisit what happened in the 12th inning if the night goes sideways. In a series this tight, one outing can go a long way toward settling a managerial argument. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Bullpen Just Earned Rare World Series Respect
Winning a World Series usually brings the parade, the champagne and the box score memories, but Milwaukees title run also left an opposing manager with something else to say about the clubs relief corps. After the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 to clinch the championship, Kevin Cash spent part of the postgame conversation praising the way Milwaukees bullpen handled the pressure and helped protect leads throughout the series.
The praise matters because it came from the other dugout, where every late-inning decision was being studied pitch by pitch. Milwaukee leaned on a deep, composed relief group all October, and the way it closed out this title run only reinforced how central that bullpen was to the championship formula, even if the individual names behind it are the kind of detail Brewers fans will remember for a long time. [Read more 🡒]