ST. PETERSBURG, FL. — In Game 5 of the 2026 World Series at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night one would have thought the Brewers were on their home field. 

Anything that went the Brewers’ ways, the crowd roared, drowning out anyone rooting for the Rays. By the top of the sixth inning, the fans put an exclamation point about how they felt about the away team.      

“Let ‘s go Brewers,“ the crowd exclaimed that inning. It didn’t matter which side of the diamond fans were sitting; they wanted to see the Brewers win their first World Series title in franchise history and first baseball championship since 1957, when the then-Milwaukee Braves defeated the Yankees in seven games. Ironically, the Braves won 11 days after Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio was born in the Bronx.   

“When I was coming off the mound, there was a standing ovation. I said, “Holy cow. What are we doing? We are in Tampa,” Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski said. “What do we have going on?'”  

The Brewers took that positive vibe from their fans and defeated the Rays, 4-1. The Brewers can finally say they are the No. 1 team in baseball.

Think about this for a second: Milwaukee had phenomenal players in its 56 years in the major leagues, from Robin Yount to Prince Fielder, but none of them could take the team to the mountaintop.

The Brewers finally reached that mountaintop at 11:13 PM ET. 

“I bet you the city is burning it down right now,” Misiorowski said about Milwaukee. “I can’t wait to get back there and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”  

Yount was in the locker room celebrating with the guys. In 1982, his Brewers lost to the Cardinals in the World Series in seven games. The victory against the Rays made up for the heartbreaker 44 years ago.   

“I feel great celebrating with the team,” Yount said. “I’m a Brewer, a retired one, but I’m a lifelong Brewer. I played in this organization as long as I could. I was hoping one day I would get a chance to see this. I’m here in person to witness it. …I wanted a Brewer team to win it.”  

It’s fitting that Misiorowski was on the mound for the clincher. He shut the Rays down for 5 2/3 innings before leaving the game in the sixth inning with a right calf cramp. Misiorowski said the injury is not serious. 

“I’m happy I left it all out on the field. Obviously, I wish I was able to get one more out in the sixth. Whatever. It is what it is. We got the win,” Misiorowski said.  

The Miz’s fastball reached the 100 mile an hour plateau 51 times in the game, but he struck out only two batters. It shows how much he relied on his defense behind him.

“I joke and label (Miz) Forrest Gump because he goes about his day, dee, dee,“ Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “But he worked really hard developing who he (is). He worked in the weight room, and he got himself better.

“And I got news for you: he’s not even scratching the surface of how good he can be. … e’s got so much more to work (to do), and he kind of has an inkling of that.”

Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio knew he had a championship club dating back to August. The team was swept in a three-game series against the Padres. The Brewers were only three games ahead of the Cubs on Aug.12. 

Then Milwaukee faced the Dodgers in Los Angeles and took three out of four games and never looked back, winning the National League Central by 14 games over the Cubs before going 12-2 in the postseason and winning it all for the city of Milwaukee.

“This team has what it takes,” Attanasio said. They played the Dodgers real tough.” 

Now it’s time to celebrate with the fans. The Brewers will have their victory parade on Friday in Milwaukee.    

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.