Milwaukee Brewers: 58-year wait for a title ends in Tampa

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions. The team defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night to claim their first franchise title. The victory snapped a 3-0 deficit, a feat only four other teams in history have accomplished before losing the next game.

Jacob Misiorowski led the pitching effort with 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced. The 24-year-old right-hander left the game with a right calf cramp. He drew a standing ovation from the thousands of Milwaukee fans who occupied the section behind the home dugout for the final three games of the series.

The offense was powered by a record-setting hitting streak. Rookie Cooper Pratt collected two hits and two runs batted in. His sixth straight hit in the series came in the fifth inning. He set a rookie World Series record with six consecutive hits before a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning extended the lead to 4-0. Jackson Chourio finished the series with 11 hits, a five-game record.

The Brewers have been in Milwaukee since 1970, following a one-year stint as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. This marks the 58th season for the franchise. Their only previous appearance in the World Series came in 1982. That team blew a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 to lose 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Manager Pat Murphy guided the team to the title in his fourth full season. The 67-year-old manager won National League Manager of the Year awards in 2024 and 2025. He survived a heart attack in 2020. The Brewers finished the regular season with 103 wins, the most in Major League Baseball. They went 11-2 in the postseason, including a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Misiorowski pitched on four days of rest, his fifth time doing so in 34 starts this season. He opened the game with 12 consecutive four-seam fastballs between 100.9 and 103 mph. He topped 103 mph on two of his 86 pitches, 58 of which were strikes. He recorded only two strikeouts, matching his career low, but his velocity and command held the Rays off the board.

Trevor Megill closed the game. He retired Richie Palacios on a ground ball to second base to end the ninth inning. Megill had allowed an RBI double to Chandler Simpson earlier in the frame. JoJo Romero and Abner Uribe combined for four outs in the seventh and eighth innings. The bullpen preserved the lead after Misiorowski exited.

The Rays' Drew Rasmussen pitched four innings, allowing one run and two hits. He retired the first four batters before Brice Turang hit a double. Kevin Kelly replaced Rasmussen to start the fifth inning and allowed singles to Pratt, Garrett Mitchell, and David Hamilton. The teams combined for four home runs, a low total for a World Series. The Brewers scored 32.1% of their runs on home runs this season, the lowest in the majors.

The Rays, who debuted in 1998, are now 0-3 in World Series appearances. The Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers are the only other clubs with worse all-time World Series records. The Brewers' previous MLB championship came in 1957 with the Milwaukee Braves, who moved to Atlanta in 1966. That team, known as the Wall of Worry, featured five Hall of Famers but lost to the Cardinals in 1982 after Rasmussen's predecessor could not hold a lead in a key game.

The series concluded before the next step in labor negotiations. A management lockout is likely to begin on Dec. 2, potentially threatening the 2027 season. The Brewers and Rays were the first two teams since 1991 to meet in a World Series while ranking in the bottom half of payrolls. Milwaukee ranked 19th and Tampa Bay 25th as of Aug. 31.