Brewers Win First Title in 58 Years, Lockout Looms
Milwaukee’s small-market team defeated Tampa Bay 4-1 to secure the championship, ending a decades-long wait for a pennant.
By Jonathan Ramirez ·
The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions.
The team defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field to claim their first title in franchise history. This victory marks the end of a 58-year wait for the organization, which began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before relocating to Milwaukee the following year. The previous World Series appearance in 1982 ended in a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals after the Brewers blew a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7.
The path to this win was long. In Game 4, the Brewers lost 4-3 in extra innings after falling behind in the 12th. That defeat left them one loss away from being swept. The team has since won seven games in the postseason after trailing, including a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. They finished the regular season with 103 wins, the most in the majors, and went 11-2 in the playoffs.
Jacob Misiorowski started the decisive game on four days of rest. He threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only two hits. The 24-year-old right-hander left the game due to a right calf cramp but received a standing ovation from the fans. He struck out two batters and threw 58 strikes on 86 pitches. His fastball reached 103 mph, matching the velocity he recorded when he broke the World Series record on the first pitch of the series.
Cooper Pratt drove in two runs and hit safely in all five of his at-bats. The 22-year-old rookie set a World Series record with six consecutive hits before hitting a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. William Contreras added an RBI double. Trevor Megill pitched the final two innings, allowing an RBI double to Chandler Simpson with two outs in the ninth before retiring Richie Palacios to end the game.
The Brewers represent the smallest market in Major League Baseball. Their payroll ranked 19th as of August 31, while the Rays were 25th. This was the first World Series since 1991 to feature two teams from the bottom half of the payroll rankings. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that the Brewers scored a league-low 32.1% of their runs on home runs during the regular season.
A management lockout is likely to begin on December 2. Owners are pushing for a salary cap, arguing that small-market teams struggle to compete financially. This championship comes just as the players' union and owners debate the future of the sport. The Rays, an expansion team that debuted in 1998, have now lost three World Series in five appearances. They became the fifth team in history to lose in Game 5 after falling behind 3-0.
The celebration in the stands was immediate. Fans in the section behind the Milwaukee dugout took over the area for the final three games. The team’s manager, Pat Murphy, has been with the organization through a heart attack in 2020 and won NL Manager of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. The Brewers will now join a short list of champions in Milwaukee, a city whose only other MLB title was won by the Braves in 1957.
