Brewers Win First World Series Title in Franchise History, Beating the Rays in Five Games

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Florida, to take the series and complete an 11-2 run through the playoffs.

The finale never seemed to belong to Tampa Bay. The Rays' pitching was stretched thin after they had to use Nick Martinez in Game 4. Their offense faced Jacob Misiorowski and a Brewers bullpen full of strong arms. Junior Caminero was playing compromised, and Yandy Díaz was set to join him. Milwaukee responded to its Game 4 loss with ace-level work from Misiorowski and run-scoring rallies in three of the first six innings. Those rallies came without home runs, built instead on singles, doubles and sacrifice flies.

The championship followed a shaky start. The Brewers had a six-game losing streak and later a four-game losing streak in April, and a loss on May 4 dropped them to 18-16. From there they went 85-43 the rest of the regular season, a 103-win year, then added the 11 playoff wins. Counting the postseason, they were 96-45 from May 4 on, and 26-5 after Sept. 6.

This was not a team without stars. Christian Yelich, a former MVP, contributed in the playoffs even past his prime. Misiorowski is expected to win the National League Cy Young. Jackson Chourio is an emerging superstar, William Contreras is an All-Star catcher, and Brice Turang is arguably the best second baseman in baseball.

The title also leaned on contributions from up and down the roster. Cooper Pratt, who is signed through 2033, had four hits in Game 4, including a game-tying double in the fourth and a home run in the top of the 12th in a Brewers loss. He also had the go-ahead hit in Game 2 and two hits and two RBI in Game 5. David Hamilton hit a game-tying homer in Game 4 and an RBI single in Game 5. Robert Gasser, who began the year in the minors, faced the minimum over six scoreless, one-hit innings against former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in Game 3. Sal Frelick, who hit only four regular-season homers, hit a game-tying shot in Game 2.

The bullpen was dominant, with Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, DL Hall and JoJo Romero standing out and Antonio Senzatela adding big outs. Garrett Mitchell hit the go-ahead homer in Game 4 of the NLCS as Milwaukee swept the Dodgers, and Jake Bauers, who had been ready to retire before deciding his family needed to stay on the insurance, was named NLCS MVP. In Game 3 of the World Series, the Brewers scored eight runs with two outs.

Injuries tested the roster. Yelich and Chourio missed time, Quinn Priester was lost for the season in spring training, and Brandon Woodruff missed most of the year before making the World Series roster. With those absences and the trade of Peralta, players such as Shane Drohan, Gasser and Logan Henderson got their chances. The front office has long traded veterans before free agency and replaced them with inexperienced players or experienced fill-ins, a next-man-up approach that paid off.

Milwaukee came from behind to win six of its 11 playoff games. Across the postseason, teams that scored first were 27-13, and the Brewers accounted for six of those losses. Strong starting pitching, bullpen work, defense and clutch hitting carried them to the title.