The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time in the franchise's 57-year history.

Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to clinch the series four games to one. The win ended a drought stretching back to the franchise's only prior World Series appearance in 1982, when the Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

"I think about the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin," manager Pat Murphy said, according to MLB.com. "They pushed us through for sure, and this group of guys right here, this 2026 team will be remembered forever."

The title gives Wisconsin its first Major League Baseball championship since the Milwaukee Braves won in 1957. That franchise moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season.

For Kenosha-area fans, the excitement had been building for weeks. Even before the clincher, Brewers jerseys and popular baseball cards had sold out at AJ Sports Collectables in Kenosha, owner John DeMario told Kenosha.com.

"Anything Brewers, we're trying to pull out," DeMario said. "People are enjoying this as much as we are, and they wanna get their Brewers memorabilia."

How Game 5 unfolded

Starter Jacob Misiorowski, a 24-year-old right-hander and the National League Cy Young Award favorite, threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and a walk before leaving with a right calf cramp, according to NPR. He finished the Series 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA.

Catcher William Contreras earned World Series Most Valuable Player honors. He went 8-for-21 with four RBIs in the Series, including a sixth-inning double that scored Christian Yelich for an insurance run in Game 5, MLB.com reported.

Rookie Cooper Pratt, 22, set a World Series rookie record with six straight hits before adding a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Jackson Chourio set a five-game Series record with 11 hits.

Closer Trevor Megill pitched the final two innings. He allowed one run on a two-out RBI double by Chandler Simpson in the ninth before retiring Richie Palacios on a grounder to second to end it. Megill threw his arms in the air and was mobbed by teammates near the mound, NPR reported.

A dominant October

The Brewers led the majors with a franchise-record 103 wins in the regular season. They swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) before taking down Tampa Bay.

Milwaukee is MLB's smallest market. Its payroll ranked 19th out of 30 teams as of Aug. 31, according to NBC News. The Rays ranked 25th.

"I can't tell you how many people have told me, 'I've waited my whole life for this,'" Yelich said, according to MLB.com's Game 5 recap. "I think any time you win a World Series, it changes a place a little bit."

Back in Milwaukee, 31,000 fans filled American Family Field to watch the game on the stadium scoreboard, MLB.com reported. Thousands more Brewers fans traveled to Tropicana Field and packed the sections behind Milwaukee's dugout for the final three games.

The team also played in memory of the late Bob Uecker, the Hall of Fame broadcaster who died in January 2025 from small cell lung cancer. Longtime clubhouse manager Tony Migliaccio carried a coin from Uecker's wife Judy throughout the season, MLB.com reported.

"I like to think he's with us," Migliaccio said.

Parade set for Friday

The Brewers' championship parade is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30, in downtown Milwaukee. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the intersection of North 4th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue, proceeding through downtown to Henry Maier Festival Park, according to Brew Crew Ball.

Admission to the festival grounds is free until capacity is reached. Rally speech tickets go on sale to the public at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, with net proceeds benefiting the Brewers Community Foundation.

USA TODAY reported an anticipated crowd of at least 400,000.