Brewers Win First World Series Title Behind Misiorowski's Arm and Contreras's Bat

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions, and it took a 24-year-old who throws a baseball faster than any starting pitcher in recorded history to get them there.

Jacob Misiorowski was the star of the show as the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 late Thursday night in St. Petersburg, according to reporting by the Morning Star, securing Milwaukee's first World Series title in franchise history. The Rays had forced a fifth game with a narrow 4-3 win in Game 4 -- a 12-inning marathon -- but the Brewers closed it out the way they'd opened it: with Misiorowski on the mound and nobody in the league ready for what was coming.

Misiorowski set the tone for the entire series with his first pitch of Game 1 on Oct. 23. As WISN 12 News in Milwaukee reported, that opening fastball to Yandy Diaz registered 103.5 mph -- the fastest pitch ever thrown by a starting pitcher in a World Series game in the pitch-tracking era, which dates to 2008. The old record for a starter in the Series was 101.1 mph. He didn't slow down from there. By the time he left Game 1 with a 2-1 lead after five innings, he'd thrown 38 pitches at or above 100 mph -- topping the previous World Series record of 24 set by Aroldis Chapman in Game 5 of 2016.

For the Series, Misiorowski was the winning pitcher in both Game 1 and Game 4, when he delivered 5 2/3 shutout innings, according to Sports Illustrated. He left Game 5 in the sixth inning with a leg cramp, visibly frustrated. The bullpen held it. The Brewers closed it.

The numbers on Misiorowski's 2026 season are the kind that stop a conversation. He led the majors in both ERA and strikeouts, fanning 252 batters. He threw 1,115 pitches at 100 mph or higher this year, shattering the previous record of 673 set by Jordan Hicks, per WISN. His fastest single pitch was 105.5 mph back in June. He's the heavy favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, which would make him the first pitcher since Randy Johnson to win that award and a World Series ring in the same season, according to Sports Illustrated.

Misiorowski didn't do it alone. Catcher William Contreras -- one of only two Brewers All-Stars in 2026 alongside Misiorowski -- was Milwaukee's most valuable player across the full postseason, according to Sports Illustrated's postseason breakdown. The Brewers are a depth team in a mid-market city. They don't carry a roster of household names. They make it work with contributions from every corner, and this October, the top of the roster delivered when it had to.

This is worth putting in historical context. Milwaukee hadn't been back to the World Series since 1982, when Mike Caldwell started Game 1 against the Cardinals. Misiorowski is now only the second Brewers pitcher ever to start a World Series opener, per WISN. The Brewers lost that 1982 Series in seven games. They spent the next 44 years without a ring.

The Rays, for their part, were in this Series as one of the American League's true low-budget overachievers. Both clubs came into the Series chasing their first title. One of them had to leave empty. Tampa Bay forced extras in Game 4 but couldn't push it to six.

Milwaukee is the kind of market that waits a long time for something like this. It waited 54 years. A kid from the 2022 draft who throws triple digits before the first batter even settles in the box is the reason the wait is over.

Sources cited:
- Morning Star (https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sport-brief-october-29-2026)
- WISN 12 News (https://www.wisn.com/article/world-series-brewers-first-pitch-record/74235508)
- Sports Illustrated (https://www.si.com/mlb/brewers/2026-world-series-brewers-biggest-stars-jacob-misiorowski-william-contreras-delivered)
- The Profile (https://www.readtheprofile.com/p/who-is-jacob-misiorowski)