Brewers 4, Rays 1: Milwaukee finishes its first World Series championship

The last play was a ground ball. Brice Turang fielded it at second base and threw to Jake Bauers at first. Richie Palacios was out, Tampa Bay was finished and the Milwaukee Brewers were World Series champions for the first time.

Milwaukee beat the Rays 4-1 at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night to win the Series four games to one. A franchise-record 103-win regular season became an 11-2 postseason. This was not a team sneaking through October. It was the best regular-season record in baseball followed by the last victory of the year.

The distinction between city and franchise matters. Milwaukee celebrated a World Series winner in 1957, when the Braves played there. The Brewers' previous appearance came in 1982. This championship belongs to the franchise that had waited ever since.

Seventeen outs, only two strikeouts

Jacob Misiorowski's line offers a useful corrective to judging an October start by strikeouts alone: five and two-thirds innings, two hits, one walk, two strikeouts and no runs. Seventeen outs went into the books before he left with a 4-0 lead. MLB reported that a right calf cramp ended his outing.

Misiorowski escaped the fourth with two runners in scoring position. JoJo Romero and Abner Uribe then combined for four outs before Trevor Megill handled the eighth and ninth. The starter's contribution was substantial; finishing the game still required the next three pitchers.

A run at a time, then the last three outs

Cooper Pratt singled home Turang in the second. David Hamilton's fifth-inning single made it 2-0. In the sixth, William Contreras doubled home Christian Yelich, and Pratt's sacrifice fly brought Contreras in. Four runs, built without a home run. Pratt's two hits also extended his World Series rookie record to six consecutive plate appearances with a hit before that sacrifice fly.

Tampa Bay did not leave without a final response. Liam Hicks doubled in the ninth, and Chandler Simpson's double drove him home. That ended the shutout, not the Brewers' control of the game. Megill got Palacios on the ground to finish it.

A championship can make every detail of the winning season seem inevitable in retrospect. It was not. Milwaukee still had to convert a strong regular season into short-series wins, and Wednesday's lead into 27 outs. The Brewers did both. The wait is over because the work on the field is finished.

October 29 update: Friday's celebration

The Brewers' parade begins Friday, October 30, at 10 a.m. Central, 11 a.m. Eastern, at North Fourth Street and Wisconsin Avenue and ends at Henry Maier Festival Park. The parade and park admission are free, subject to capacity. The separate American Family Insurance Amphitheater program requires a ticket; sales begin Thursday, October 29, at 2 p.m. Central, 3 p.m. Eastern. The club also lists a free stream at brewers.com. Check its official celebration page for the route, access rules and transport details.