American Family Field (MILWAUKEE) — By the time the eighth inning rolled around Friday night in Game 1 of the 2026 World Series, William Contreras had already impacted the Brewers’ first Fall Classic game in 44 years in almost every way a catcher could.
At the plate, he delivered an RBI single in the first inning to help take an early lead. Behind him, he had caught two runners stealing and won two ABS challenges to steal strikes from his pitchers. Each of these challenges resulted in strikeouts.
But he figured he could provide even more help in the field, with the Brewers holding a two-run lead in their eventual 3-2 win over the Rays.
So when left-handed reliever Aaron Ashby threw a 2-1 curveball that missed home plate badly, forcing Rays outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. to step aside to avoid being hit, Contreras calmly called for a new ball, walked directly to the mound, covered his glove with his mouth to protect his words and patted Ashby on the back.
“The visit tonight between him and I was, frankly, a one-sided conversation,” Ashby told me. “I was listening. It was just like I needed to hear what he was saying. He knows the right times to speak and what to say. He’s amazing.”
Spanish is Contreras’ primary language, but the Venezuelan catcher delivered his words of wisdom to Ashby in English.
What exactly did Contreras say?
“I can’t share,” Ashby said with a smile.
The bottom line: “Get in the zone.”
(Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Ashby, who has yet to allow a run in 14 postseason innings, took the advice. The multi-inning sensation fought back to strike out Mesa in a perfect eighth inning, with help from his catcher.
Contreras said he took it upon himself this year to make it a point to speak “a little more sternly” to his pitchers.
“It’s kind of my way of giving them a little confidence and giving them a boost, the boost that they need every time they’re on the mound,” Contreras said in the Winners’ clubhouse through a translator. “I don’t know how some guys take it, but it was something for me that was a priority of mine.”
Clearly, it works.
William Contreras reacts during the sixth inning of the Brewers’ Game 1 win over the Rays. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Contreras had his hands on nearly every play of the Brewers’ run in October. He has guided a pitching staff that is 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA and a bullpen that has a 1.41 ERA with seven saves so far in the postseason. Contreras was also the team’s offensive MVP, leading the Brewers in October with hits and home runs while slashing .394/.487/.697 with as many walks as strikeouts.
“He wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to win,” Brewers outfielder and team captain Christian Yelich told me. “You see that behind the plate and the passion and intensity of his hitters.”
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold joked that Contreras, known to many as “Wild Bill,” must give the hardest high-fives in Major League Baseball. Such a greeting awaited Spencer Allen after Contreras’ RBI single Friday night.
Contreras reached base three times in his four plate appearances, each time raising the decibel levels inside a sold-out American Family Field. His first at-bat resulted in the Brewers’ hardest-hit ball of the game, a scorching 108.4 mph liner that was too hot for Rays shortstop and defensive wunderkind Taylor Walls to handle.
The hit scored the Brewers’ second run, sent 43,250 fans who had waited 44 years for this opportunity into a frenzy and ensured that Milwaukee’s week-long layoff after sweeping the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series would lead to no rust.
“This guy has been unbelievable,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, “and he’s a master on both sides of the ball. And the side you can’t measure. I don’t know what his numbers are, but he does so much for the team.”
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
On Friday, Contreras finished 2-for-3 with a walk while also playing a defensive role. The Rays went a perfect 11 for 11 on stolen base attempts before Contreras threw out two runners.
How does great success compare to the joy Contreras feels when catching someone stealing?
“They’re really very comparable,” Contreras told me through an interpreter, “but what I was able to do defensively today, I think, means a little more to me.”
That would make sense, given its history.
Contreras is one of many examples of a Brewers player passed over by a team before finding refuge and new heights in Milwaukee. Four years ago, the Braves favored Sean Murphy’s defense over Contreras’ offense and sent the 24-year-old catcher, who was coming off a 20-homer All-Star season, to Milwaukee in a three-team trade.
Since then, Contreras has logged the second-most innings behind the plate of any catcher in MLB and has the highest OPS of any primary catcher who has played in at least 500 games over the past four years.
William Contreras singles in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the World Series Friday night at American Family Field. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
His full skillset was on display Friday night.
And in a low-scoring opener decided on the sidelines, Contreras’ impact — in ways both obvious and more obscure — made all the difference.
“He was the player of the game,” Murphy said. “We had a lot of good performances, a lot of good things…but Contreras was unbelievable.”
In the second inning, Contreras’ challenge on a 100.7 mph four-seamer from Jacob Misiorowski knocked down a strikeout on a possible Mesa strikeout. In the fifth, with the Brewers leading by just one run, Contreras caught Mesa stealing third with slugger Yandy Díaz – who had the highest batting average with runners in scoring position this season – at the plate to end the inning before any damage was done.
An inning later, Contreras challenged for a 1-0 lead against Chandler Simpson that was called out on a strike. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, reliever Abner Uribe allowed Simpson to swing at a slider for a strikeout. Uribe then ducked, watching a Contreras dart fly over his head and masterfully into the glove of shortstop Cooper Pratt, who provided the inning-ending tag to catch Jonathan Aranda stealing on an inning-ending double play.
Contreras’ two impressive pitches earned him a new nickname, courtesy of David Ortiz on the MLB postgame show on FOX: the “Bazooka.”
After Contreras threw out Aranda, Uribe roared with excitement, then pointed appreciatively at the catcher who left an imprint at nearly every turn in the Brewers’ first World Series victory since 1982.
“This fan base deserves this,” Ashby said. “Just super special stuff.”
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