The Milwaukee Brewers captured their first World Series crown on Wednesday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 to complete a four-games-to-one victory and end more than half a century of waiting for baseball's biggest prize.
Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt drove in two runs and Jacob Misiorowski pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings as Milwaukee put the finishing touches on a charmed season that began in spring training with championship ambitions and ended with the first title in the franchise's 58th year.
Trevor Megill was mobbed by his teammates on the mound after Richie Palacios grounded to second baseman Brice Turang, who threw to Jake Bauers for the final out before a sold-out crowd of 40,489 at Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field.
"It's the best feeling ever. All of our fans are here. I know the city's waited a long, long time for this and we're so happy to bring it home to them," said Christian Yelich, the 2018 National League MVP and the Brewers' longest-tenured position player. "Can't wait to get back there and celebrate."
William Contreras was named Most Valuable Player of the series after batting .381/.435/.429 with four RBIs across the five games, including a run-scoring double in the clincher. The 28-year-old became the eighth catcher to win the award and the first since fellow Venezuelan Salvador Perez for the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
Contreras also helped contain Tampa Bay's vaunted running game, throwing out four would-be base stealers, including two in the opener, while using the automated ball-strike challenge system to overturn 10 of 13 calls behind the plate. The honor capped a year in which he also won the World Baseball Classic with Venezuela.
"I don't want to offend any of the other catchers in the league," Contreras said through a translator. "But sitting up here today, champion of the world, I feel like I'm the best catcher in the league."
The Brewers, who arrived in Milwaukee in 1970 after one season as the Seattle Pilots, had reached the World Series only once before, bowing to the St Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1982 as American League champions. They switched to the National League in 1998, but that narrow defeat remained the nearest they had come until this year, when a team blending young talent with October experience finally went one step further.
Milwaukee had been three outs from completing a sweep on Tuesday night in Game 4 before surrendering a 12th-inning lead. Given another opportunity on Wednesday, the Brewers built a four-run advantage behind Misiorowski, the brilliant right-hander who scattered two hits and one walk while striking out two before departing with a right calf cramp.
Tampa Bay's best early opportunity came in the fourth, when Liam Hicks was hit by a pitch and Chandler Simpson singled, with Sal Frelick's fielding error leaving runners at second and third with two outs. Misiorowski induced a groundout from Ben Williamson, whose pinch-hit single had won Game 4, to leave both runners stranded. He then put down the Rays in order in the fifth.
"I don't even have words," said Misiorowski, the overwhelming favorite to win the NL Cy Young award who broke the World Series velocity record with a 103.5mph fastball on the first pitch of Game 1 last Friday. "I know they're going crazy in Milwaukee." Asked about the Brewers' fans, thousands of whom had transformed the drab domed stadium in downtown St Petersburg into a home away from home, he added: "They've been nothing but supportive this year and in years prior and it has been amazing."
Pratt, the 22-year-old who made his major league debut in June and collected four hits in Tuesday's defeat, again supplied an important part of Milwaukee's offense. Turang doubled in the second inning and, after Frelick was hit by a pitch, scored on Pratt's single to center. Pratt was caught trying to reach second, but the Brewers had the lead.
"This is one of the greatest moments of my life. Oh my gosh. It doesn't even feel real," said Pratt, whose seven RBIs matched the rookie World Series record set by the New York Yankees' Gil McDougald in 1951. "This is surreal. It only took four months!"
Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, pitching on three days' rest, kept the deficit at one through four innings before manager Kevin Cash turned to his bullpen.
Milwaukee immediately doubled their advantage. Pratt singled off Kevin Kelly, Garrett Mitchell followed with another single and David Hamilton's ground-ball single to right brought Pratt home for a 2-0 lead.
The Brewers widened the gap in the sixth. Yelich was hit by a Garrett Cleavinger pitch and scored on Contreras's double to left. Turang singled, then swiped second after Tyler Wells entered. Following a Frelick strikeout, Pratt lifted a sacrifice fly into foul territory in right, scoring Contreras to make it 4-0.
The Rays conjured one final threat in the ninth. Hicks doubled with one out and, after Jonny DeLuca struck out, Simpson lined an RBI double to right off Megill, cutting Milwaukee's lead to 4-1 and bringing the potential tying run into the on-deck circle. But Megill stranded Simpson at second to end Tampa Bay's campaign.
The championship capped a season in which Milwaukee posted a major league-best 103-59 record before winning the NL pennant for the first time with a sweep of the deep-pocketed Dodgers in the NLCS. The Brewers came over to the senior circuit from the AL in 1998 as part of the realignment accompanying the arrival of the expansion Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks, ensuring an even number of teams in each league.
For Pat Murphy, it was the crowning achievement of his third season in charge the Brewers. The 67-year-old, previously Craig Counsell's bench coach, had already won consecutive NL manager of the year awards before helming Milwaukee to the promised land.
"The years of getting eliminated or being beaten last year by the Dodgers, that was a blessing because we learned from it and we grew, and we came in with a different attitude," Murphy said. "We came in with a spirit about us, and we weren't going to be denied."
"We weren't great at a lot of things, but we were relentless," he added.
The Brewers established total command of the matchup with three consecutive victories: a narrow win in the opener, a comeback from four runs down in Game 2 and a 10-1 rout in Game 3. Tuesday's setback denied them the chance to become the first team since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds to sweep both the League Championship Series and World Series, but merely postponed the inevitable.
Tampa Bay, who won an AL-best 98 games despite one of Major League Baseball's smallest payrolls, were left with a third World Series defeat following losses in 2008 and 2020.
"Tonight we ran into a team that had elite starting pitching, very good pitching, and then as elite of a bullpen as I've ever seen," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. Milwaukee's relievers finished the postseason with a 1.38 ERA, the fourth-lowest in history among teams with at least 40 relief innings.
The Brewers' triumph marked the city of Milwaukee's first World Series championship since 1957, when Lew Burdette's three complete-game victories powered the Braves past the Yankees in a seven-game thriller, delivering the city's first professional sports title. The Braves relocated to Atlanta nine years later.
This year's Fall Classic guaranteed a first-time champion for only the second time in 107 years and the first since Philadelphia faced Kansas City in 1980. Milwaukee claimed that distinction, leaving the Rays, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners as the four active major league franchises still seeking their first title.
Amid the celebrations, Yelich remembered the beloved Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, who died last year aged 90. "He's smiling, man. He's smiling. I really wish he could have been here to see this," he said. "This one's still for Bob and this is still for you."