The Milwaukee Brewers’ 57-season wait for a World Series title ended Wednesday as their victory over Tampa Bay completed one of the most dominant postseason runs in MLB history.Once closer Trevor Megill induced a soft ground ball for the last out and their 4-1 win over the Rays in Game 5 was final, the Brewers rushed up the steps of their dugout and onto the playing field at Tropicana Field in St.Petersburg, Florida.
The celebration had been in the making for more than half a century.After having relocated from Seattle to Milwaukee and played for the first time as the Brewers in 1970, the team didn’t make the World Series until 1982, when it lost in seven games.
It then waited 44 years to make its return to the Fall Classic.Brewers starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski celebrates after an out during Game 5.Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via GettyFor a franchise starved for big moments, this year’s team supplied one after another.
The Brewers’ 12-2 postseason record is among the best since the MLB postseason format expanded in 1995 to include wild-card teams.The Brewers’ .857 winning percentage was just off the percentages produced by the 1999 New York Yankees and the 2005 Chicago White Sox, which each went 11-1 en route to their own titles.
“I don’t even have words,” star pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, who threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings of the clinching game, told Fox after the Game 5 win.Milwaukee is MLB’s smallest market.
Its payroll ranked only 19th out of 30 teams.In 12 postseason games, it trailed nine times.
But the Brewers won seven of those games by finding ways to prevail in multiple ways.Milwaukee hit seven home runs in a National League Championship Series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers yet took a 3-0 series lead on Tampa Bay while hitting just one homer.
In Game 5, Milwaukee drove in runs using two singles, a sacrifice fly and a double.Cooper Pratt and Brice Turang embrace after the Brewers defeated the Rays in Game 5.Carmen Mandato / Get...