Lineups, live updates from Brewers-Rays World Series Game 5 - ESPN

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For the first time in franchise history, the Milwaukee Brewers are champions of baseball!

It was nearly a Fall Classic sweep. But after a thrilling, 12-inning Game 4 victory saved the season for the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, Milwaukee bounced back Wednesday to put them away and win the 2026 World Series.

Here are our takeaways from the Brewers' title-clinching Game 5 victory.

Milwaukee Brewers 4, Tampa Bay Rays 1

Milwaukee wins series 4-1

Game 5 was over when... Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled Drew Rasmussen. Tampa Bay's ace was originally slated to start Game 6, but the Rays used Nick Martinez, their scheduled Game 5 starter, out of the bullpen in Tuesday's 12-inning win. So Rasmussen started Wednesday on three days' rest after throwing 89 pitches in 3⅔ innings in Game 1.

He was, as a result, on a shorter leash than usual. But Rasmussen looked sharp after throwing 48 pitches over four innings. He allowed just one run. He didn't issue a walk. Cash, however, decided to replace him with right-hander Kevin Kelly for the fifth inning. Kelly then allowed the consecutive singles to Milwaukee's Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters.

David Hamilton, who homered in Game 4, supplied the third hit, a ground ball through the right side of a drawn-in infield to score Cooper Pratt. The knock gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead -- more than enough for Jacob Misiorowski and the A-side of Milwaukee's bullpen to seal the victory. -- Jorge Castillo

Game 5 star: After a pitching-staff-draining Game 4, the Brewers needed everything they could get from their ace, Misiorowski. They got it in a very literal sense.

As has been the case throughout the postseason, Misiorowski was more effective than dominant. Despite an average fastball velocity that sat at 101.1 mph, Misiorowski struck out just two Rays on the night. His swinging strike rate (10.5%) was better than it was in Game 1 (9%) but was still tied for the seventh lowest of his career.

Nevertheless, Misiorowski went 5⅔ innings, crucial length on a night when the Brewers so badly needed it, blanking the Rays in the process. That set up a nice, clean path for Pat Murphy's lights-out bullpen. Misiorowski was in good shape to at least get through the sixth when he turned up with what appeared to be a right calf cramp. That ended his night. The tank was empty.

For all the consternation about Misiorowski's lack of dominance during the playoffs, at least relative to his historic regular season, he finished the postseason 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA. And he will forever be known as the winning pitcher in the game that clinched the first World Series in Milwaukee Brewers history.

It just makes sense. -- Bradford Doolittle

The stat that defined the game: 4. In a potential elimination game, the Rays mustered only four hits. This didn't come as a big surprise. They were facing the most unhittable starter in baseball in Misiorowski. Beyond that, though, Tampa Bay struggled to get hits all series with just 29 -- and only 12 runs scored -- in the five games.

The Brewers, meanwhile, smacked 51 hits, plated 25 runs and finished with an OPS 300 points higher than the Rays'. In a series dominated by Milwaukee, the gap between the offenses was the most obvious difference, and the fact that Jackson Chourio, Cooper Pratt and William Contreras by themselves had three fewer hits than the entire Rays roster illustrated just how big a mismatch it was. -- Jeff Passan