Brewers end Rays run for first title

The Milwaukee Brewers secured their first World Series championship by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.

The victory concluded a 44-year wait for a title in the city's modern baseball history. The team posted an 11-2 record during the postseason, which included a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. The Brewers led Major League Baseball with 103 wins in the regular season.

Jacob Misiorowski opened the game with a pitch clocked at 103.5 miles per hour. He threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. The left-hander was pulled from the game due to a right calf cramp. He finished with 86 pitches and 58 strikes. The 24-year-old two-time All-Star had a 0.84 earned run average in the series.

Rookie Cooper Pratt hit in six consecutive at-bats before his turn ended with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. He recorded two hits and two runs batted in for the winning team. Jackson Chourio set a five-game World Series record with 11 hits. William Contreras, the series MVP, hit a run-producing double in the sixth inning.

Manager Pat Murphy noted that the 2026 group prioritized collective success over individual statistics. He called the team close-knit and resilient. Murphy had won National League Manager of the Year awards in 2024 and 2025.

The Rays fell behind 3-0 in the series after previous World Series losses in 2008 and 2020. The Elias Sports Bureau reported that only the Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers had lost their first three appearances. Tampa Bay became the fifth team to lose in Game 5 after falling behind 3-0.

Principal owner Mark Attanasio addressed the crowd from the postgame stage. He stated that Milwaukee had waited 44 years for this championship. The Brewers had only four home runs in the series, while the Rays had none. This small-ball approach occurred as owners pushed for a salary cap to help smaller market teams compete.

Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash described his team as banged up but grateful for their performance. The Rays had a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning of the previous game but lost 5-4. A management lockout is likely to start December 2 and could threaten the 2027 season.