The Brewers finally got the last word on Wednesday night, and it came from the two players who carried them all season.
Milwaukee closed out Tampa Bay 4-1 in Game 5 of the World Series to win the first championship in franchise history, ending a 56-year wait that stretched back to baseball’s arrival in Wisconsin in 1970. The Brewers did it without the kind of payroll punch or star-studded roster that usually defines a title team.
They didn’t live on the long ball, and they didn’t come with a lineup packed with household names. But when the biggest night in club history arrived, Jacob Misiorowski and William Contreras took over.
Misiorowski’s night ended with frustration, not fireworks. The 24-year-old, who is widely expected to win the NL Cy Young Award, left after 5 ⅔ innings because of a leg cramp.
Still, by the time he walked off the mound, Milwaukee already had everything it needed. He allowed just two hits and one walk, struck out two, and kept Tampa Bay off balance with fastballs that produced weak contact all night.
When he exited, the Brewers were up 2-0.
His final start was a fitting capstone to a season that began with a bang. On Opening Day, he worked five innings against the White Sox in a 14-2 win, giving up one run on two hits while striking out 11. On the season’s final day, he wasn’t overpowering in the same way, but he was just as effective.
Contreras made sure the cushion held. One inning after Misiorowski left, he sent an RBI double down the left-field line. Three batters later, he crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly and pounded the ground in celebration, stretching Milwaukee’s lead to 4-0.
By the end of the night, his World Series MVP hardware felt like a formality. Contreras was central to everything the Brewers did in October, and he only got stronger as the postseason went on.
He finished with an MLB-best 19 hits in the playoffs and hit .373/.448/.588, with three home runs and nine RBIs. He walked seven times and struck out seven times, good for an eye-popping 192 wRC+.
Behind the plate, he threw out five of 10 base stealers, won 21 of 32 ABS challenges and helped guide Milwaukee’s staff to a 1.98 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP.
After the game, reliever Aaron Ashby spelled out what Contreras meant to the team while speaking to Fox’s Kevin Burkhardt on the championship podium.
“He wants to compete every single day, he wants to die for everyone on this team. He would do anything for any one of the guys on this team. He’s our bulldog, and we love this dude,” he said.
Misiorowski, meanwhile, put together the best regular season of any pitcher in baseball. He led all qualified major league pitchers in ERA at 1.80, strikeouts with 251, WHIP at 0.80 and fWAR at 6.6. If he wins the Cy Young Award, he’ll become the first pitcher since Randy Johnson to claim that honor and a World Series title in the same season.
He also made sure to credit the group around him after Milwaukee bounced back from a brutal walk-off loss in Game 4.
“Last night, it sucked. Obviously there’s no words to describe it.
It wasn’t fun. To get walked off in that fashion, I mean, it happens.
It’s baseball,” he said. “But for these guys to turn around and have a game like this today, and understand what it meant to the city, it’s awesome.
It’s really cool to be a part of.”
And that’s really the story of this title run. Milwaukee got help from everywhere: a bullpen that posted a 1.38 ERA in October behind Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill; rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt and 22-year-old left fielder Jackson Chourio, who each had 17 hits in the postseason; Sal Frelick’s spark; Garrett Mitchell’s big home runs and game-saving catch; and David Hamilton’s speed and surprise power.
The Brewers needed all of it to get here. But when the finish line showed up, they leaned on their two best players. Misiorowski and Contreras delivered, and Milwaukee brought home its first title.
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Pratt has been part of the offense in more than one crucial spot, and his poise has stood out on a stage that can swallow inexperienced players whole. For a team with a title within reach, the emergence of a young hitter like Pratt adds another layer to a postseason run that keeps finding new heroes. [Read more 🡒]