ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays’ improbable 2026 season ended Wednesday night the same way their 2008 and 2020 runs did — without a championship — as the Milwaukee Brewers won Game 5 of the World Series, 4-1, at Tropicana Field, delivering Milwaukee its first baseball title since the 1957 Braves.
Ace right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers’ presumptive Cy Young winner, threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, and Milwaukee’s dominant relief corps held Tampa Bay to just four hits. Catcher William Contreras was named Willie Mays World Series MVP. Richie Palacios grounded out to second base for the final out, slamming his helmet as he reached first too late.
“I’m crushed right now, disappointed,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But it’s easier to handle because of what we all meant to each other throughout the course of this season, and certainly this last month in October.”
The loss left the Rays as one of four franchises — alongside the Padres, Mariners and Rockies — to have never won a World Series. The Brewers, who had not reached the Fall Classic since 1982 and had not won a title since debuting as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, became the first team to celebrate a championship under Tropicana Field’s tilted white roof.
Tampa Bay had avoided a sweep by winning Game 4 in 12 innings, but Milwaukee recovered quickly. The Rays’ season had been one of the most unexpected in recent franchise history — widely projected to finish last in their division, they posted the American League’s best record for most of the year, won the AL East for the first time in five years by beating the Yankees at their ballpark, swept New York in the division series, and clinched their World Series berth on home turf. The run came only two years after Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off Tropicana Field.
“This is the best group I’ve ever been around, especially at this level. To make it as far as we did, and to come up short, I mean … failure sucks,” pitcher Drew Rasmussen said. “You just don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get, especially in this game. So, to be this close, it really hurts.”
Nick Martinez, who walked in from the bullpen mound after the final out, echoed that sentiment. “It sucks, right? Because we believed with everything we had that we can win it all,” Martinez said. “Not the result we wanted, but it was a hell of a ride with a very special group of guys. Didn’t meet our ultimate goal, but that’s a really, really good ballclub.”
Infielder Junior Caminero, speaking through interpreter Kevin Vera, said the hardest moment came in the clubhouse afterward. “I think one of the hardest parts was, after the game, everybody hugging each other in here,” Caminero said. “When I started going around hugging the guys, I think that was the most difficult part.”
Outfielder Chandler Simpson added: “It’s not really what you envision, especially after all the success that I’ve had this year. There’s a lot of pain in coming up short, but we can also be proud of everything that we accomplished.”
Jonathan Aranda, the longest-tenured player in the organization, was still in his full jersey — World Series patch on his left shoulder — more than an hour after the final out, long after most teammates had changed and left. “I think back to when we clinched the World Series. In that moment, you feel such joy because of all your hard work, everything that you’ve gone through — you finally made it,” Aranda said through Vera. “But when we lose, it’s kind of the same feeling, but in the opposite way.”
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy credited his city and his roster. “I think about the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin,” Murphy said. “They pushed us through for sure, and this group of guys right here, this 2026 team will be remembered forever. They deserve that, because they were a team, and I couldn’t be more grateful and more proud to be a Milwaukee Brewer.”
The Rays will enter an offseason with roster decisions ahead, including the futures of several players whose contracts expire. No date for a front-office address to fans or media has been announced.