2026 World Series
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to win the 2026 World Series, their first title, with catcher William Contreras named MVP.
The Milwaukee Brewers won the 2026 World Series. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays four games to one and clinched with a 4-1 win in Game 5 at Tropicana Field on October 28, 2026. It was the first World Series championship in the franchise’s 58 seasons. The club began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, moved to Milwaukee in 1970, and had lost its only previous World Series, in 1982, in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals, according to the Associated Press. Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP after hitting .381 with eight hits and four RBIs. The Rays, an expansion franchise that first played in 1998, fell to 0-3 in World Series appearances.
| Fast facts | |
|---|---|
| Champion | Milwaukee Brewers (103-59, NL Central champions) |
| Runner-up | Tampa Bay Rays (98-64, AL East champions) |
| Dates | October 23–28, 2026 |
| Venues | American Family Field (Milwaukee); Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Fla.) |
| Result | Brewers won 4-1 |
| World Series MVP | William Contreras, C, Milwaukee |
| Attendance | 207,886 over five games (per Baseball-Reference box scores) |
The setup
Milwaukee went 103-59 and won the National League Central under manager Pat Murphy. The AP reported that it was the most wins in the majors and the club’s fourth straight division title. The Brewers then beat the San Diego Padres three games to one in the Division Series and swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. First baseman Jake Bauers was NLCS MVP. Milwaukee entered the World Series with an unusual identity for a champion. The AP noted that it scored a major league-low share of its runs on home runs and relied on contact, speed and a deep bullpen.
The defining roster move came in January. On January 21–22, 2026, Milwaukee traded ace right-hander Freddy Peralta and pitcher Tobias Myers to the New York Mets for prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat. The Brewers built their rotation around Jacob Misiorowski, a young right-hander with a 100-plus mph fastball. Their lineup leaned on outfielder Jackson Chourio, second baseman Brice Turang, veteran Christian Yelich and Cooper Pratt, a 22-year-old rookie.
Tampa Bay, managed by Kevin Cash, went 98-64 and won the American League East. The Rays swept the New York Yankees in the Division Series and beat the Cleveland Guardians four games to two in the AL Championship Series. They won the pennant with a 7-3 victory in Game 6 on October 19. Peralta, acquired from the Mets on August 2, was named ALCS MVP. That set up a World Series against the team that had traded him nine months earlier. It was Tampa Bay’s third pennant, after 2008 and 2020. The AP reported that it was the first World Series since 1991 between two teams in the bottom half of the majors in payroll.
How it happened
Game 1 (October 23, Milwaukee). The Brewers scored twice in the first inning. Chourio singled, Yelich drove him in with a triple and Contreras singled home Yelich, per the game account. Tampa Bay’s Liam Hicks answered with a run-scoring groundout in the fourth. Chourio’s RBI single in the seventh restored a two-run lead. The Rays loaded the bases in the ninth. Hicks then hit what was first ruled a game-ending double play, but a Rays challenge overturned it into an RBI groundout that scored Jorge Mateo. DeLuca then struck out to end it. Milwaukee won 3-2. Misiorowski got the win and Trevor Megill the save.
Game 2 (October 24, Milwaukee). Tampa Bay scored four runs in the first inning, two of them on a Hicks home run. Milwaukee got two back in the bottom half on RBI singles by Contreras and Garrett Mitchell. Pratt scored on a fielding error in the fourth, and Sal Frelick tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth. In the seventh, Turang doubled and Pratt singled him home for the go-ahead run. Milwaukee won 5-4. Abner Uribe got the win, Tyler Wells took the loss and Aaron Ashby earned the save.
Game 3 (October 26, St. Petersburg). Milwaukee scored twice in the third and eight times in the fifth to win 10-1. The Brewers had 16 hits, and Chourio went 4-for-5. Peralta started against his old team and took the loss. Robert Gasser got the win. The Rays scored their only run in the ninth on a Yandy Díaz double.
Game 4 (October 27, St. Petersburg). Three outs from a sweep, Milwaukee lost 4-3 in 12 innings, the longest game of the series at 4 hours, 20 minutes. Chandler Simpson’s RBI double gave Tampa Bay the lead in the second. Pratt’s RBI double in the fourth tied it 1-1, and Tampa Bay went back ahead 2-1 later that inning. David Hamilton’s home run in the fifth tied it 2-2. Pratt homered off Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th to put the Brewers back in front, 3-2. In the bottom half, DeLuca singled in the tying run. Pinch-hitter Ben Williamson then won it with a hit into right field, per the AP. Seymour got the win and Shane Drohan took the loss.
Game 5 (October 28, St. Petersburg). The clincher is described below.
By the numbers
| Game | Date | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oct. 23, 2026 | Brewers 3, Rays 2 | At American Family Field; attendance 43,250 (box) |
| 2 | Oct. 24, 2026 | Brewers 5, Rays 4 | Milwaukee recovers from 4-0 first-inning deficit (box) |
| 3 | Oct. 26, 2026 | Brewers 10, Rays 1 | Eight-run fifth inning (box) |
| 4 | Oct. 27, 2026 | Rays 4, Brewers 3 (12 inn.) | Williamson walk-off hit (box) |
| 5 | Oct. 28, 2026 | Brewers 4, Rays 1 | Clincher at Tropicana Field (box) |
The record
Per Baseball-Reference series page and game box scores, through Oct. 28, 2026.
Contreras went 8-for-21 in the series with four RBIs and no home runs, per Baseball-Reference. The award was announced after Game 5 on October 28, 2026. The AP’s MVP account also credited his defense: he threw out would-be base stealers and won most of his ball-strike challenges in the first World Series played with the ABS challenge system. The AP counted him as the eighth catcher to win the award, after Gene Tenace (1972), Johnny Bench (1976), Steve Yeager (1981, co-winner), Darrell Porter (1982), Rick Dempsey (1983), Pat Borders (1992) and Salvador Perez (2015). Murphy told reporters he had predicted the honor to Contreras before the clinching game.
Others made strong cases. Chourio’s 11 hits in 24 at-bats were the most by any player in a five-game World Series, according to the AP. Pratt led all players with seven RBIs. For Tampa Bay, Simpson hit .400 on 8-for-20.
Honors
- 2026 World Series champion: Milwaukee Brewers
- World Series MVP: William Contreras
- 2026 NL pennant: Milwaukee Brewers
- 2026 AL pennant: Tampa Bay Rays
- NLCS MVP: Jake Bauers
- ALCS MVP: Freddy Peralta
Per Baseball-Reference, through Nov. 9, 2026.
The clincher
Pratt drove in the first run of Game 5 in the second inning against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. In the fifth, Pratt singled and scored on Hamilton’s single for a 2-0 lead. In the sixth, Contreras hit an RBI double and then scored on Pratt’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-0, per the AP. Pitching on four days’ rest, Misiorowski threw 5⅔ scoreless innings and allowed two hits before leaving with a right calf cramp. JoJo Romero, Uribe and Megill finished. Simpson hit a two-out RBI double in the ninth for Tampa Bay’s only run. Megill then got Richie Palacios to ground out to second base to end the series. Misiorowski was credited with the win and Rasmussen with the loss, per the box score.
The arguments
Peralta’s place in it. Milwaukee traded its ace in January for two prospects, then beat him in Game 3. Seen one way, that validated the Brewers’ habit of selling high on veterans and trusting younger pitchers like Misiorowski. Seen another, it showed the cost: the AP’s ALCS coverage credited Peralta with carrying Tampa Bay to the pennant after the Rays acquired him at the August trade deadline. How much the trade decided the series depends on whether the Rays’ pennant or the Brewers’ title is weighed more.
The challenge system. This was the first World Series played with the ABS challenge system. In the ninth inning of Game 1, a Rays challenge overturned an apparent game-ending double play and kept the game going, per the series account. The AP’s MVP account counted Contreras’ challenge record as part of his case. Some read his challenge success as a new kind of catching skill that deserved credit. Others treated the overturned calls as corrections of umpire error rather than plays a player made.
How it was built. The AP framed the matchup around money: two teams from the bottom half of the payroll rankings, and a champion that hit few home runs. That made the Brewers a counterexample to the idea that only big-payroll, power-hitting rosters win titles. The other reading is that the 2026 bracket broke unusually well for two small-market clubs, and the result does not settle anything about payroll in general.
Why it matters
Milwaukee’s championship ended a 57-season wait that began with the 1969 Seattle Pilots. It was the city’s first World Series title since the 1957 Braves, who later moved to Atlanta. It also completed a 2026 postseason that, per the AP, the Brewers finished 11-2: a sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS, then a five-game win over a Tampa Bay team built on the same lean-payroll model. Contreras became the eighth catcher named World Series MVP, as counted by the AP. For Tampa Bay, the loss made it 0-3 in the World Series, after 2008 and 2020. For the Brewers, the 2026 title replaced their seven-game loss to St. Louis in 1982 as the best season in franchise history.
