MILWAUKEE BREWERS WIN FIRST WORLD SERIES TITLE

The Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series title with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Tampa Bay’s only win in the five-game series came in Game 4. William Contreras hit an RBI double in the deciding game and received the World Series MVP award. Series figures put his batting average at .381. Milwaukee entered the postseason with 103 regular-season wins and swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Milwaukee opened the World Series with a 3-2 win. Jackson Chourio began Game 1 with a single, and Christian Yelich drove him in with an RBI triple. Contreras then singled to score Yelich after the ball deflected off Taylor Walls. Junior Caminero drove in a run for Tampa Bay in the fourth inning, before Chourio added a run for Milwaukee in the seventh. A ninth-inning replay review overturned a double-play call because Cooper Pratt’s foot came off the bag, allowing Tampa Bay to score again.

Contreras became the eighth catcher to receive the World Series MVP award. He won 10 of 13 appeals under the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, which made its World Series debut. Regular-season figures put his batting average at .270, with 18 home runs and a career-best 94 runs batted in, as Milwaukee won a fourth consecutive NL Central title. He also hit two home runs against San Diego in the Division Series and one against Los Angeles in the Championship Series. “This team’s not what it is without this guy,” reliever Aaron Ashby said.