By ROB MAADDI AP Sports Writer
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers playing in the smallest market in the majors are World Series champions for the first time.
Hey, Milwaukee: grab a brat, raise a beer and prepare for that parade.
To borrow a line from Bob Uecker, your title drought is up, outta here, gone.
Young ace Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, rookie Cooper Pratt had two more hits and two RBIs, and Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to set off a long-awaited celebration among thousands of Brewers fans in attendance at 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,” said captain Christian Yelich, who got hugs from franchise icon Robin Yount on the field when it was over. “We’re so happy to bring it home to them.”
World Series MVP William Contreras hit an RBI double and Misiorowski allowed just two hits before leaving the game because of a right calf cramp. He got a standing ovation from the Brew-Crew fans, who took over the section behind Milwaukee’s dugout for the last three games.
They filled the entire infield section of the ballpark for the trophy presentation and were still chanting “Let’s go Brewers!” almost two hours after the final pitch.
The 22-year-old Pratt set a Series rookie record with six straight hits before his sacrifice fly in the sixth. Jackson Chourio set a five-game Series record with 11 hits.
“This is one of the greatest moments of my life. Oh my gosh. It doesn’t even feel real,” said Pratt, who made his major league debut in June. “This is surreal. It only took four months!”
The championship comes 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 trip to the World Series in 1982 ended in heartbreak when they blew a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 and lost 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
But this team displayed the toughness and resilience of 67-year-old manager Pat Murphy, who survived a heart attack in 2020 and was the NL Manager of the Year in his first two full seasons at the helm in 2024 and 2025.
“This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever — and they deserve that because they were a team,” Murphy said. “They’re not worried about their own stats. No one cares about that. They care about coming together and winning tonight.”
With their flame-throwing, 24-year-old two-time All-Star on the mound, the Brewers rebounded from a heartbreaking, 4-3 extra-inning loss in Game 4 when they were three outs from a sweep in the 12th before a stellar bullpen finally faltered.
Pitching on four days’ rest for only the fifth time in 34 starts this year, The Miz had his longest outing since throwing 6 1/3 innings against the Cubs on Sept. 8. Leg cramps also forced him out of two outings earlier in the season.
“I don’t even have words,” Misiorowski said. “It’s amazing, just watching my guys celebrate. And the city — I know they’re going crazy in Milwaukee. It’s awesome.”
Misiorowski, who broke the World Series velocity record with a 103.5 mph fastball on the first pitch last Friday, opened with 12 straight four-seamers between 100.9-103 mph. He topped out at 103 twice among his 86 pitches, 58 strikes.
The 6-foot-7 right-hander didn’t record a strikeout in the first three innings for the first time in his two-year career and finished with two, matching his career low. But he was fired up after Yandy Díaz missed a cutter to end the fifth: The Miz pumped his fist twice and punched the air walking off the mound.
The NL Cy Young Award favorite allowed one run over five innings to get his first postseason win as a starter in a 3-2 victory in the opener. He was 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in the best-of-seven Series.
JoJo Romero got two outs, Abner Uribe recorded two more and closer Trevor Megill pitched the last two innings, allowing an RBI double to Chandler Simpson with two outs in the ninth.
Megill retired Richie Palacios on a grounder to end it, threw his arms in the air and was mobbed by teammates near the mound while Brewers fans celebrated in the stands.
First baseman Jake Bauers tucked the ball in his back pocket before piling on and later gave the souvenir to Murphy, saying the skipper “deserved it.”
“Milwaukee has waited 44 years, and Milwaukee, you have your world championship!” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said from the postgame stage on the field.
Pratt, who was 4 for 5 with a tiebreaking solo homer in the 12th inning of Game 4, gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead with an RBI single against Rays ace Drew Rasmussen in the second. Pratt singled for his sixth straight hit in the fifth and scored on David Hamilton’s single off Kevin Kelly.
Contreras hit an RBI double off Garrett Cleavinger in the sixth and Pratt added a sac fly to make it 4-0.
The teams combined for just four home runs in the Series, three by Milwaukee. The Brewers scored a major league-low 32.1% of their runs on homers this season and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins in the regular season and went 11-2 in the postseason, including seven comeback wins and a sweep of the mighty Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
“That’s the best team I’ve ever played against,” Rasmussen said.
Making history
Milwaukee’s only other MLB championship was won in 1957 by the Braves, who moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season.
Murphy’s team finished what Harvey Kuenn’s star-studded crew couldn’t accomplish 44 years ago as the American League champions. Harvey’s Wallbangers had five Hall of Famers: Yount, Paul Molitor, Ted Simmons, Don Sutton and Rollie Fingers, who missed the postseason with a forearm injury.
They also had a Hall of Fame broadcaster in the booth. The beloved Uecker died in January 2025 at age 90 after announcing Brewers games for 54 years.
“Cooperstown will remember the 2026 Brewers,” Murphy said.
Still seeking a title
The Rays, an expansion team that debuted in 1998, dropped to 0-3 in the World Series after defeats in 2008 and 2020. They’re one of four MLB franchises that have never won one. Colorado, San Diego and Seattle are the others.
“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,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.
Lockout looming
This might have been the last Major League Baseball game for an extended period.
The Brewers won the World Series at a time when owners are pushing the players’ association for a salary cap because they maintain small-market teams can’t regularly succeed. A management lockout is likely to start Dec. 2 and could threaten the 2027 season.
This was the first Series since 1991 between teams in the bottom half of payrolls. The Brewers ranked 19th as of Aug. 31, and the Rays were 25th.
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