Christian Yelich, the Milwaukee Brewers‘ first captain and designated hitter, explained the standard-driven culture behind Milwaukee’s first World Series title after the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Fox Sports took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a clip of Yelich early Thursday morning, tagging MLB on Fox. 

Christian Yelich talks on Brewers’ culture

Speaking from Fox’s set at Tropicana Field after the clinch, the Brewers captain explained how daily standards and shared accountability fueled Milwaukee’s championship culture.

“I think the standard creates the culture because you have yes or no checkpoints that you can look yourself and your teammates in the mirror every day and say, did I do this? Am I doing the right thing? And then we can all hold each other to that, which then in turn creates the winning, which creates the culture,” Yelich said.

Yelich’s explanation starts with daily responsibility. Clear standards give teammates a way to evaluate themselves and hold one another accountable. That accountability creates winning, and winning builds the culture.

The Brewers named Yelich their first captain on Sept. 26. Before accepting, he sought Hall of Famer Robin Yount’s blessing and received it.

Yelich joins Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Salvador Perez of the Royals as MLB’s three active captains. Manager Pat Murphy additionally credited him with upholding Milwaukee’s standards. Now in his ninth season with the Brewers, the 2018 NL MVP earned his first championship in his first World Series appearance.

Milwaukee paired its small-ball approach with the majors’ 19th-biggest payroll while representing MLB’s smallest media market. The Brewers’ only previous World Series appearance came in 1982.

Yelich hit .268 with 11 hits, five RBI and six runs in 12 postseason games. In the World Series, he batted .235 with four hits, two RBI and three runs across five games.

Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the Brewers’ Game 5 clincher, and rookie Cooper Pratt contributed two hits and two RBI. Catcher William Contreras won World Series MVP after batting .381.

The 4-1 series victory at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., delivered the first championship in the franchise’s 57-year history and Milwaukee’s first World Series title since the 1957 Milwaukee Braves.

Josh Davis Jr.

Josh Davis is a sports journalist and editor covering MLB, NFL, NBA, college football, and college basketball. He is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Davis currently serves as an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints and is the founder of OutOfSightSports.