MILWAUKEE - Christian Yelich had already lived through one Brewers run that ended a few outs short of the World Series. On Friday night, he helped make sure this one started the right way.
Yelich delivered an RBI triple in the first inning, Milwaukee never gave the lead back, and the Brewers opened the World Series with a 3-2 win over the Rays at American Family Field. The victory gave Milwaukee its first World Series win in 16,077 days and sent a packed crowd of 43,250 home holding its breath until the final out.
The finish was messy. Milwaukee thought it had ended the game, but the play didn’t close it out, and Trevor Megill had to record one more out while fireworks smoke still hung over the ballpark. He got it done, and the Brewers had the 1-0 lead.
Yelich’s triple came after Jackson Chourio singled on the first pitch from Rays starter Nick Martinez. The hit knocked free off the glove of center fielder Jonny DeLuca, turning what could have been a routine out into a jolt of early life for Milwaukee.
“We don’t care who does it,” he said, “as long as somebody does.”
That was the idea. But in the Brewers clubhouse, there was plenty of appreciation for the guy wearing the team captain’s label.
“And hitting him in the three-hole, too?” Sal Frelick said.
“The two guys in front of him like to get on base, so we were hoping he was in a situation like that early. I’m pumped.”
William Contreras kept the inning moving with an RBI single off the glove of shortstop Taylor Walls, and Chourio later added insurance with an RBI hit of his own. That was enough support for Jacob Misiorowski and relievers Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Megill to hold the Rays in check.
For Yelich, the night was about more than one big swing. It was also another stop in a run that has finally carried Milwaukee to the stage it chased for so long.
He was part of the club that came up just short in 2018, when the Brewers were eight innings from bringing the World Series to town before the Dodgers turned that game and that series. Since then came the other painful exits, including the 2019 loss to the Nationals, the 2021 loss to the Braves and the 2024 finish against Pete Alonso and the Mets.
Now the Brewers are here.
“It was like, all right, we’re off and running,” Yelich said. “We had a little bit of a layoff there and it was just nice to be back out on the field playing.”
The atmosphere matched the moment. Yelich said the crowd has made a difference all season, and Friday was no exception.
“People coming up to you saying they’ve waited their whole life for this, and for this Series and the team to be back at this point, it’s pretty cool,” Yelich said. “They’re a big impact on these games, how loud they’ve been. The atmosphere they’ve created, it’s definitely a difference-maker.”
The Brewers’ start also fit the numbers on their side. In the current 2-3-2 format, teams that win Game 1 at home have gone on to win the series 70 of 104 times, including Milwaukee’s 2026 NLCS sweep over the Dodgers.
Yelich has been central to this postseason run, too. After being named team captain during the final weekend of the regular season, he is hitting .286 in the postseason with four RBIs in nine games. That’s four more RBIs than he had over a stretch of 19 postseason games between his homer in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS and his RBI single in Game 3 of this year’s NLDS against the Padres.
Manager Pat Murphy said the captaincy has changed the way Yelich has carried himself.
“There’s no question, Christian has taken that ‘C’ on his chest to another level,” Murphy said. “He prepares, he’s a leader, and it’s helped us a bunch.”
Brandon Woodruff, the only other Brewers player still around from that near-miss in 2018, said the years between then and now have built this moment.
“We talked about it, seriously, me and ‘Yeli,’ for a little while,” Woodruff said. “All of the experiences we had over the last nine years, it’s laid the foundation for what it is today.
You know what I mean? We could never get over the hump.
“If you look at Sal and Brice [Turang] and them, they don’t know what not playing playoff baseball is like. That’s all they’ve known. It’s pretty cool.”
Woodruff also laughed at how different it all feels now.
“It seems so long ago,” he said. “I’ve seen some videos from back then, and it’s more grainy than it is now.
Now we’ve got drones that look like Star Wars out there. It’s crazy.
My, how things have changed.”
For Milwaukee, Friday was part payoff, part promise - the kind of night the franchise has spent decades trying to reach.
“Shoot, are you kidding me?” Woodruff said.
“They must have opened the gates a little early because the fans were piling in while we were taking BP, and they’re going nuts. It’s a good feeling.”
“It’s cool to be able to provide memories for people to be able to share with their kids, their grandparents or just friends who have been Brewers fans over the years, for decades,” Yelich said. “It’s been a really cool part of this run that we don’t take lightly.”
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Springsteen had been watching the Brewers and wanted to connect with Murphy, which made the exchange even more meaningful. Murphy described the conversation as easy, and he spoke about the impact Springsteens music has had on him and his teams over the years. It was a reminder that the Brewers postseason run has started to reach beyond the field, in ways that can surprise even the people closest to it. [Read more 🡒]