Brewers Win First World Series as Chourio Sets Hit Record

Trevor Megill got Richie Palacios to roll over a grounder, threw both arms in the air and disappeared under a pile of teammates, and just like that the Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time. Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field to take the Series four games to one, and Jackson Chourio finished it with 11 hits, a record for a five-game World Series.

This one was 44 years in the making. The franchise started as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, moved to Milwaukee a year later, and its only other trip to the Fall Classic in 1982 ended with a blown 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 against St. Louis. This group led the majors with 103 wins, went 11-2 in the postseason with seven comeback wins, and swept the Dodgers in the NLCS on the way here.

The Miz Set the Tone

Jacob Misiorowski opened the night with 12 straight four-seam fastballs between 100.9 and 103 mph, and the Rays never really caught up. The 24-year-old threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed just two hits, and left only because of a right calf cramp. He threw 86 pitches, 58 for strikes, and finished the Series 2-0 with an 0.84 ERA.

He only struck out two, but the fist pumps after Yandy Diaz missed a cutter to end the fifth said everything about how locked in he was. Seeing a kid that young pump triple digits in a clincher on the road is the kind of thing Milwaukee will be talking about for decades.

The bullpen took it from there. JoJo Romero got two outs, Abner Uribe got two more, and Megill handled the last two innings, giving up only a two-out RBI double to Chandler Simpson in the ninth.

Pratt, Contreras and Chourio Did the Damage

Rookie Cooper Pratt, who made his big league debut in June, opened the scoring with an RBI single off Drew Rasmussen in the second. He singled again in the fifth for his sixth straight hit, a Series rookie record, and scored on David Hamilton's single off Kevin Kelly. In the sixth, William Contreras doubled off Garrett Cleavinger to score Christian Yelich, and Pratt added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

Contreras was named World Series MVP. Chourio's 11 hits set the five-game mark. "This is surreal. It only took four months!" Pratt said after the game.

Watching a 22-year-old who was in the minors this spring carry a lineup through the biggest week of the year is exactly why this team was so fun to follow.

Tampa Bay Comes Up Short Again

The Rays, who won 98 games, are now 0-3 all time in the World Series after losses in 2008 and 2020. They managed four hits on Wednesday and never got a runner across until the ninth. "That's the best team I've ever played against," Rasmussen said.

Rays fans got a walk-off win in Game 4 to keep the Series alive, and seeing the bats go quiet one night later is going to sting all winter.

Brewers fans took over the infield section for the trophy presentation and were still chanting nearly two hours after the last out. Owner Mark Attanasio summed it up from the stage: "Milwaukee has waited 44 years, and Milwaukee, you have your world championship!"

Smacktok Pick Lean

Baseball's board is closed until 2027, and the AP reports a lockout is likely to start Dec. 2. Whenever Chourio's hits lines come back, lean higher. He just collected 11 hits in five games against a 98-win Rays staff on the biggest stage there is.