Brewers Win First World Series, Beating Rays 4-1 in Game 5

Fifty-eight years, one first title. Milwaukee closed out Tampa Bay in Game 5 behind its second-year ace and its rookie shortstop, and the celebration that waited 44 years since the last World Series appearance is finally here.

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions. Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field, capping a 4-1 series win and the first championship in the franchise's 58-year history. The Brewers finished October 11-2, and there will be no return trip to Milwaukee for a Game 6.

Second-year ace Jacob Misiorowski made it happen, even without his usual strikeout stuff. He took a shutout into the sixth inning, leaving with a 4-0 lead after 5 2/3 innings, two hits, one walk and two strikeouts, when right calf cramps ended his night. He started and won Games 1 and 5 of this series. The bullpen covered the last 4 1/3 innings in scoreless fashion, with Trevor Megill closing out the ninth.

Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt was in the middle of it again. Pratt roped an RBI single to score Brice Turang for the first run of the night, then brought home William Contreras on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, his seventh RBI of the World Series. Pratt had six hits in a row across Games 4 and 5, including the go-ahead homer in the top of the 12th in Game 4 that briefly looked like the clincher before Tampa Bay rallied.

Milwaukee doubled its lead in the sixth. Christian Yelich led off by getting hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Contreras, his fourth RBI of the series, before Pratt's sacrifice fly made it 4-0. Tampa Bay's only run came after Misiorowski left, and the final out was a soft grounder to second baseman Brice Turang, who threw to Jake Bauers at first.

The series went Milwaukee's way from the start: 3-2 in Game 1, 5-4 in Game 2, 10-1 in Game 3, then Tampa Bay's 4-3 win in 12 innings in Game 4, the only game the Rays won. Milwaukee had won eight straight in October before that Game 4 loss. The Brewers' last World Series appearance was 44 years ago, and this is the first title in franchise history.

The celebration does not wait. Milwaukee's World Series parade is scheduled for Friday, October 30 in downtown Milwaukee, beginning on Wisconsin Avenue and winding to the lakefront, with an anticipated crowd of at least 400,000.