Brewers Take First World Series Title, Beat Rays 4-1 in Game 5

The champagne soaked the Tampa Bay infield and a chant rose from behind Milwaukee's dugout.

The Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series on Wednesday night, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 at Tropicana Field. Milwaukee took the series four games to one. Thousands of Brewers fans had traveled to Florida and occupied the seats behind the team's dugout for the final three games of the series.

Milwaukee fell behind early in Game 5 before rookie Cooper Pratt put the Brewers ahead with an RBI single off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen in the second inning. Pratt singled again in the fifth and scored on David Hamilton's hit. William Contreras added a run-scoring double in the sixth, and Pratt drove in a fourth run with a sacrifice fly that inning.

The Brewers led 4-0 through six innings. Tampa Bay's run came on a Chandler Simpson double with two outs in the ninth. Closer Trevor Megill retired Richie Palacios on a ground ball to second base to end the game, and his teammates mobbed him near the mound.

Milwaukee had not appeared in the World Series since 1982, when the Brewers held a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 before losing 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals. The franchise started as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee in 1970. Its only championship came in 1957, when the Braves played in Milwaukee before moving to Atlanta after the 1965 season.

Jacob Misiorowski started for Milwaukee and worked 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run. He gave up two hits and left with a right calf cramp, receiving a standing ovation as he walked off. The 24-year-old opened the game with 12 straight four-seam fastballs between 100.9 and 103 mph. He threw 86 pitches, 58 of them strikes. He finished the series 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA. Contreras was named series MVP.

Rasmussen, working on three days' rest, held Milwaukee to one run and two hits across four innings. Kevin Kelly took over in the fifth and allowed consecutive singles to Pratt, Garrett Mitchell and Hamilton. Tampa Bay put runners on second and third with two outs in the fourth, but Ben Williamson grounded out to end the threat.

The Brewers finished the regular season with 103 wins, the most in baseball, and went 11-2 in the postseason. They swept the Los Angeles in the NLCS. Milwaukee scored 32.1% of its runs on home runs, the lowest share in the majors, and Tampa Bay ranked second at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The two teams combined for four home runs in the series, three of them by Milwaukee.

Owner Mark Attanasio addressed the crowd on the field after the final out. "Milwaukee has waited 44 years, and Milwaukee, you have your world championship," Attanasio said. Manager Pat Murphy, who won NL Manager of the Year in 2024 and 2025, told his players, "This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever, and they deserve that because they were a team."

The Rays, who entered the majors as an expansion club in 1998, fell to 0-3 in World Series appearances after losses in 2008 and 2020. Only the Brooklyn Dodgers, at 0-7, and Detroit Tigers, at 0-4, have lost more in their first three trips, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of his players, "They're banged-up and hurting right now, but just grateful for the way they carried themselves all season long, winning a bunch of games. It's as close-knit of a group I've ever been around."

A management lockout could begin Dec. 2 and threaten the 2027 season. The Brewers ranked 19th in payroll as of Aug. 31, and the Rays ranked 25th.