Updated October 27, 2026, 2:35 a.m. ET
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Want to know why the Milwaukee Brewers won 113 games this year?
Why did they nearly dominate the postseason standings, going 10-1 with eight straight wins to tie an MLB record?
Wondering why they’re going to win the World Series, maybe Tuesday night by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays through 2027?
Well, all you had to do was watch the fifth inning of their 10-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, turning Tropicana Field into a Milwaukee suburb, with about 10,000 Brewers fans screaming and cheering late into the evening until stadium security ordered them to leave.
But, oh, they will come back. Louder, crazier and more throaty than ever.
They’re about to make history by becoming the first Brewers team to win the World Series in franchise history, and all of Wisconsin wants to be there to witness it.
“I heard there were going to be a lot of Brewers fans coming here,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said, “but I never experienced it like that, man. I was doing interviews on the field, and there weren’t any left. They really loved it.
“It’s crazy.”
Well, not as crazy as one of the wildest innings ever seen in World Series history – scoring a World Series record eight runs with two outs, with a postseason record seven consecutive hits with two outs – but one that simply defined Brewer baseball.
This will be an inning that will live forever in Brewers lore, with the Brewers living it, but still trying to understand what just happened after the game, as if it were an out-of-body experience.
They were just one shot away from a harmless, innocuous inning, clinging to a 2-0 lead in the fifth.
“It’s almost like it’s a time bomb waiting to happen,” said Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff, who pitched an emotional ninth inning, his first appearance in four months. “We’re able to put so much pressure on teams because of the way we control the zone as a strike group. Our guys create that, and if you keep hitting it, hitting it, hitting it, eventually it breaks out.
“Busts wide open.”
Woodruff, the Brewers’ longest-tenured player, then thought about the quote Brewers manager Pat Murphy likes to say.
“You’re an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom,” Woodruff said. “It’s a perfect example of how things can turn out there. A two-nothing game turns into a 10-nothing like that.”
The round is over.
Game over.
The World Series is over.
The Brewers, who have won more games than any team in baseball during the regular season, are about to be immersed in a debate over the most dominant champions of the division era beginning in 1969.
They are so good.
And they put it all on display for the world to see in this fifth round.
It started with two outs, two strikes and a runner on second base, when Yelich drew a walk while down 1 and 2 in the count against former teammate Freddy Peralta.
Catcher William Contreras stepped to the plate and hit a bouncer that third baseman Junior Caminero fielded, spun around, but instead of throwing to first base to get the slow-footed Contreras, he headed toward second base. Second base umpire Dan Bellino called Bellinger, ending the inning, only for the replay to reveal that Bellinger beat the throw.
“I’m looking over there trying to see,” Brewers second baseman Brice Turang said, “Dang, it’s close. I thought right away he was safe, but your eyes can lie to you sometimes. And then, obviously, the replay.”
The sleeve was still alive. The bases were loaded. And Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in left-hander Cam Booser to face Turang.
Then it happened.
Turang, with two strikes, hit a 106 mph helicopter that shortstop Taylor Wells couldn’t smother with the ball coming out of his glove in shallow center field, allowing two runs to score. It was 4-0.
Garrett Mitchell followed with a run-scoring single to left field. 5-0.
Cooper Pratt, on the first pitch, lined a double that deflected off Caminero’s glove into the left corner for two more points. 7-0.
Sal Frelick followed with another double to left field. 8-0.
Booser, who had allowed just two hits with runners in scoring position all season while producing a .100 batting average with men on base, allowed three consecutive hits.
Booser went out, Cole Sulser came in, but the momentum continued.
David Hamilton singled with a run. 9-0.
Chourio, producing his second hit of the inning and becoming the youngest player since Joe Garagiola in the 1946 World Series to have a four-hit game, hit a double into right field for another run. 10-0.
“That’s how we play the game,” Turang said, “you just move the chain. Just keep going. So the mentality is to keep going, keep putting pressure on them and stacking hits. I mean, these guys here are amazing at what they do, and that’s why they’re here.”
It was Yelich’s huge secondary lead at first base, his rush to second base and his baseball savvy to be safe at second base.
Without him, the round is over.
Who knows what would have happened then?
“Just to see him do that, get a good secondary, run as hard as he could and beat that,” Frelick said, “that’s what allowed us to have that big run. We’re working on those things in the spring. He’s the guy leading the meeting saying, ‘This is important. This is its 14th season. He’s been an All-Star, a Silver Slugger, an MVP, and no one cares more about baserunning than he does.
“Little things like that, that’s what makes our team great.”
Certainly, there were many heroes that evening. Robert Gasser, after giving up a leadoff hit to Yandy Diaz, retired the next 17 batters in a row, becoming the first left-hander to face the minimum number of batters in six innings in a World Series game since Sandy Koufax.
There was Chourio, 22, who not only became the fourth youngest player to produce a four-hit game in the World Series, but only the second player under the age of 23 to produce four hits with a stolen base, joining Hall of Famer Ty Cobb in Game 3 of the 1908 World Series. There was Contreras, who hit .500 with a double, a home run and six RBIs during his streak. six hitting games. And there were eight players in the Brewers lineup who had at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored in the fifth inning.
Yet the man of the hour was Yelich, who turns 35 in five weeks, not for his two hits or RBI, but for his rushing play to second base.
“That’s where the game changed,” said Turang, who had three hits and two RBIs. “It’s baseball IQ. I mean, getting that lead, getting a big enough lead, then getting a good enough secondary, and jumping out right out of the gate to beat it.
“Little things matter in this game, and when you do the little things right, good things happen. Props to him.
“Just a consummate team player.”
Yelich, on a team that had three players under the age of 23 making plate appearances — the most in a World Series game since the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 — feels like an old man at times. He no longer runs like he did when he was one of the best all-around players in the game.
But he still plays the game hard, plays well and is the captain of their first team.
“The whole game changed when Yeli was safe at second,” Murphy said. “It’s just a battle game. When your leader makes this play, it says everything.”
Yelich knew he could take a bigger lead with the right-hander hitting Contreras at the plate, while making sure he didn’t come away too hard and hit him as hard as he could when the ball was hit. He didn’t know if Caminero was going to throw the ball to second or first base, but it’s the World Series.
“I know I’m a little older now,” Yelich said, “but I feel like I can still run a little bit. I don’t know like when I was 21 with the Marlins, but I still feel like I was able to run a little bit and hold my own.”
Yelich then watched Brewer Ball, with one two-out hit after another blowing the game wide open.
“They’re definitely guys that pride themselves on having quality hitters, executing game plans, staying home, taking what the game gives them,” Yelich said, “and passing it on to the next player. Just going out there and having the will to compete and finding a way to help the boys.”
‘We’ve kind of taken it, you know, to this level, just playing a team game. We’ve done it all year. It’s one of those things in baseball that you can’t explain, but it just kind of happens.’
But this time it happened in a World Series game, putting the Brewers on the brink of history.
“Yes, it’s a good time for this to happen,” Yelich said.
Now, one more game, one more win, and the Brewers will be cherished forever, capturing the hearts of people all over Wisconsin, where no player will have to buy a beer again.
“We understand how much this team means to people,” Yelich said. “We understand how much this team and our performance affects the happiness of people in Milwaukee. We understand that our performance as a team creates memories for people.
“This team doesn’t take this lightly, and that’s what makes it a really cool part of this whole journey.”
One more night.
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