William Contreras hit .381 with four RBI across five games, and that is why he is the World Series MVP as the Milwaukee Brewers won the first title in franchise history.
Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field to take the series 4-1, according to WPR. If you want to see how this run started, our look at the World Series opener between the Brewers and Rays shows just how long the odds seemed.
Why Contreras Is the World Series MVP
The 28-year-old catcher also posted a .435 on-base percentage, theScore reports. He is the eighth catcher to win the award and the first since Salvador Perez in 2015. The numbers only tell half of it. Contreras threw out three base-stealers in the first three games. In Game 1 he also won two automatic ball-strike challenges that turned into strikeouts, MLB.com documented.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy saw it coming after Game 1. “If anybody doesn’t notice the contributions of Contreras, he was the player of the game,” Murphy said.
How Milwaukee Closed It Out and Sealed the MVP Award
Game 5 was never really a nail-biter. Cooper Pratt and David Hamilton drove in early runs, and young right-hander Jacob Misiorowski picked up the win, according to CNN’s game coverage.
Then Contreras did what an MVP does. His RBI double in the sixth put Milwaukee in control, and he scored on a Pratt sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. That sixth inning pretty much locked up the Series MVP vote.
Tampa Bay only got on the board in the ninth, on back-to-back doubles from Liam Hicks and Chandler Simpson. That was too little, too late. Misiorowski finished the postseason 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA, per ESPN.
Here’s the Thing: Why This One Matters
This is bigger than one trophy. Milwaukee went 103-59 this season, the first 100-win team in franchise history. The Brewers then swept the Dodgers in the NLCS on the way here, per OnMilwaukee. And they did it as one of the smaller markets in the sport.
Remember, the club was one win from the title in the middle of the series.
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio summed it up for the city. “Milwaukee has waited 44 years and Milwaukee you have your world championship,” he said. That number refers to Milwaukee’s last trip to the World Series, in 1982, not the age of the franchise. Don’t let anyone mix those up.
The title also shrinks a short list. Only four franchises have never won it all: the Padres, Rockies, Mariners and Rays, according to Yahoo Sports. For a catcher like Contreras, the World Series most valuable player trophy is just the cherry on top.
What Happens Next
The team flies home to a city that has been waiting a long time to throw a party. Parade and celebration details are coming “in the very near future,” but no date is confirmed yet. Brewers fans, keep your eyes on the team’s official channels before you plan the day off.
The Brewers’ site is already pushing 2027 season tickets.
Contreras will keep hearing his name next to the MVP award for years, too. The real question for the rest of baseball is simpler: if a team with this pitching and a catcher like this can do it once, what stops them from doing it again?
