The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history. Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field, and catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP, as reported by Deadspin.
A few days ago we said the Brewers were one win away after a 10-1 Game 3 rout. The Rays made them sweat with a wild 12-inning comeback in Game 4, but Milwaukee closed it out one night later.
Contreras Did It From Behind the Plate
Contreras hit .381 in the Series (8-for-21) with four RBIs, two runs, two walks and a stolen base, good for a .435 on-base percentage. He started behind the plate in every Brewers postseason game and, per Deadspin, won 10 of his 13 automated ball-strike challenges in the World Series. That’s a whole new way for a catcher to swing a game.
He’s only the eighth catcher ever to win World Series MVP and the second since 1992, after Kansas City’s Salvador Perez in 2015. It also caps a full-circle year: Contreras won a World Baseball Classic title with Venezuela back in March, and his older brother Willson, a 2016 champ with the Cubs, was in the building for Game 5.
“My brother is my role model. I don’t have a lot of friends. He’s my friend,” Contreras said.
The IAHHM Take
This is a small-market win in every sense. Milwaukee’s pitching staff gave up just 33 runs across 13 postseason games, about 2.5 a night, and the guy calling those pitches gets the trophy. Young ace Jacob Misiorowski summed it up best: “It just makes sense.”
The bigger question: is this the start of a run, or a one-time magic season? With Misiorowski and Contreras both in their 20s, Milwaukee has the core to come back. Let us know: are the Brewers built to repeat?
Source: Deadspin
