Brewers Beat Rays 4-1 to Win First World Series; Contreras Named MVP

The Milwaukee Brewers won the first World Series championship in franchise history on Wednesday night, Oct. 28, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to take the best-of-seven series four games to one. Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt drove in two runs, and catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP, according to the Associated Press game story published by CBS Sports.

The final out came at 11:13 p.m. local time, when closer Trevor Megill got Richie Palacios to ground out to second baseman Brice Turang, MLB.com reported. About 31,000 fans watched the game on the scoreboard at American Family Field in Milwaukee, roughly 1,200 miles away, while thousands of traveling Brewers fans filled sections of Tropicana Field. The official attendance was 40,489, and the game took 3 hours, 5 minutes, according to the Baseball-Reference box score.

"It's the best feeling ever. All of our fans are here. I know the city's waited a long, long time for this," said Brewers captain Christian Yelich, the AP reported. "We're so happy to bring it home to them."

How Game 5 Unfolded

Pratt gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead with an RBI single off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen in the second inning. In the fifth, he singled for his sixth consecutive hit, a World Series rookie record, and scored on David Hamilton's single off Kevin Kelly. In the sixth, Contreras doubled off Garrett Cleavinger to score Yelich, and Pratt added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. Pratt, 22, made his major league debut in June and had gone 4 for 5 with a tiebreaking solo home run in the 12th inning of Game 4, according to the AP.

"This is one of the greatest moments of my life. Oh my gosh. It doesn't even feel real," Pratt said. "This is surreal. It only took four months!"

Misiorowski, a 24-year-old right-hander and two-time All-Star, held the Rays to two hits, a walk and a hit batter on 86 pitches before a right calf cramp forced him out in the sixth inning, MLB.com reported. He did not record a strikeout until the fourth inning, the first time in his career it had taken that long, and finished with two. He went 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in the series, after going 16-5 with a major league-leading 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in the regular season.

"I'm happy I left it all out on the field," Misiorowski said. "I obviously wish I could have gotten one more out, but it is what it is. We got the win."

JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Megill finished the game. Megill pitched the last two innings and allowed the Rays' only run on a two-out RBI double by Chandler Simpson in the ninth. Misiorowski was credited with the win, and Rasmussen took the loss. Milwaukee went 11-2 in the postseason after a franchise-record and major league-best 103 regular-season wins, beating the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series and sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Contreras Named World Series MVP

Contreras, 28, went 8-for-21 with four RBIs in the series and threw out four of nine Rays base-stealers, according to MLB.com. Tampa Bay had been 11-for-11 on stolen-base attempts in the postseason before the World Series. Milwaukee's pitching staff posted a 1.91 ERA and held the Rays to a .182 batting average in the series. Ten of Contreras' 13 challenges under the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, in its first season in the majors, were overturned during the series.

He is the eighth catcher to win World Series MVP or co-MVP, and the first since Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals in 2015. "I don't have words to say how I'm feeling," Contreras said through an interpreter. "But I'm just appreciative of my teammates, appreciative for [manager Pat] Murphy, and just want to thank all of them."

Jackson Chourio set a record for a five-game World Series with 11 hits, the AP reported. The two teams combined for four home runs in the series, three of them by Milwaukee.

A 44-Year Wait and Friday's Parade

The title came in the 58th season for a franchise that began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee the following year. The Brewers' only previous World Series appearance, in 1982, ended with a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee's only previous major league championship was won by the Braves in 1957. "This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever - and they deserve that because they were a team," said Murphy, 67, who was named National League Manager of the Year in 2024 and 2025.

The Rays, who began play in 1998, fell to 0-3 in World Series appearances after losses in 2008 and 2020. Tampa Bay, Colorado, San Diego and Seattle are now the four MLB franchises that have never won a World Series. "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 as I've ever been around," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. The AP reported that it was the first World Series since 1991 between two teams in the bottom half of payrolls, and that a management lockout is likely to begin Dec. 2 as owners push the players' association for a salary cap.

The Brewers' Parade of Champions is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30, beginning at 10 a.m. CT at N. 4th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue and ending with a rally and fan festival at Henry Maier Festival Park, according to MLB.com. Milwaukee Public Schools announced that all schools and district offices will be closed Friday. The festival grounds open at 8 a.m., and tickets for the rally went on sale Thursday, with net proceeds benefiting the Brewers' charitable foundation, WBAY reported.