Brewers win their first World Series, beating Rays in five games
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win the World Series four games to one, the franchise's first championship in 57 seasons. Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
The Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series for the first time on Wednesday, Oct. 28, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to take the series four games to one. The franchise, which entered the majors in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, had reached the World Series only once before, in 1982. It is Milwaukee's first baseball title since the 1957 Braves.
Rookie Cooper Pratt's single in the second inning scored Brice Turang, and David Hamilton drove in a run in the fifth. In the sixth, a William Contreras double and a Pratt sacrifice fly made it 4-0. Starter Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings before leaving with calf cramping, and the Rays scored their only run in the ninth on a Chandler Simpson double that brought home Liam Hicks. Closer Trevor Megill finished it, with the final out a groundball to Turang.
Contreras, 28, was named World Series MVP, the eighth catcher and third Venezuelan to win the award, according to BBC Sport. About 31,000 fans watched on screens at American Family Field in Milwaukee, ESPN reported.
Why it matters
The title is a rare championship for a small-market team that has competed against far bigger payrolls, including the Dodgers, whom Milwaukee swept on the way to the series.
What’s next
Watch for the team's championship celebration plans in Milwaukee and the start of the offseason.
More context
Key numbers: 103 regular-season wins, a franchise record and the best in the majors, for a second straight season with MLB's best record. An 11-2 postseason, including wins over the Padres in the NL Division Series and a four-game sweep of the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. MLB's smallest market and, per ESPN, the 19th-highest payroll. Four franchises have still never won a World Series: the Mariners, Padres, Rays and Rockies.
"I think any time you win a World Series, it changes a place a little bit," outfielder Christian Yelich said, according to ESPN. Manager Pat Murphy, 67, asked, "Like who believed it?"
4 listed sources
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Sourcing: MLB.com, BBC Sport, ESPN and AP game coverage, Oct. 28, 2026. Stats and records as reported by those outlets. Photos are file photos: American Family Field in October 2023 and Christian Yelich in June 2024.
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