ST. PETERSBURG, FL — You want to know why the Milwaukee Brewers have won 113 games this year?
Why they have nearly run the table this postseason, going 10-1 with eight consecutive wins to tie an MLB record?
You wonder why they are going to win the World Series, perhaps on Tuesday night by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays into 2027?
Well, all you had to do was watch the fifth inning of their 10-1 rout over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, turning Tropicana Field into a Milwaukee suburb, with about 10,00 Brewer fans screaming and cheering late into the evening until stadium security ordered them to leave.
But, oh, they’ll be back. Louder, crazier, and more raucous than ever before.
They are about to make history, becoming the first Brewers team to win the World Series in franchise history, and all of Wisconsin wants to be on hand to witness it.
“I heard they would be a lot of Brewers fans coming down here," Brewers captain Christian Yelich said, “but I never through it would be like this, man. I was doing interviews on the field, and not one of them was left. They were really loving this.
“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 two-out runs, with a postseason record seven consecutive two-out hits – but one that simply defined Brewer baseball.
It will be an inning that will live forever in Brewer lore, with the Brewers living it, but still trying to wrap their minds around what just happened after the game, as if it were an out-of-body experience.
They were just one strike away from a harmless, innocuous inning, clinging to a 2-0 lead in the fifth.
“It’s almost like it was a ticking time-bomb waiting to happen," said Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff, who pitched an emotional ninth inning, his first appearance in four months. “We are able to put so much pressure on teams the way we control the zone as a hitting group. Our guys create that, and if you keep hitting it, hitting it, hitting it, eventually it just busts.
“Busts wide open."
Woodruff, the Brewers’ longest-tenured player, then thought back to the quote that Brewers manager Pat Murphy loves to say.
“You’re an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom," Woodruff said. “That’s a perfect example, how it can turn right there. A two-nothing game turns into a 10-nothing just like that."
Inning over.
Game over.
World Series over.
The Brewers, who won more games than any team in baseball in the regular season are about to be thrown into a debate on the most dominant champions in the division era beginning in 1969.
They are that good.
And they put it all on display for the world to see in that fifth inning.
It began with two outs, two strikes, and a runner on second base, when Yelich drew a walk when down 1-and-2 in the count to 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 thew to 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 down there trying to see," Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, “Dang, that’s close. I thought he was safe right away, but your eyes may lie to you sometimes. And then, obviously, the replay."
The inning was still alive. The bases were loaded. And Rays manager Kevin Cash called on left-hander Cam Booser to face Turang.
Then, it happened.
Turang, with two strikes, hit a 106-mph chopper that shortstop Taylor Wells was unable to smother with the ball caroming off his glove into 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-field corner for two more runs. 7-0.
Sal Frelick followed with another double to left field. 8-0.
Booser, who had given up only two hits with runners in scoring position the entire season, while yielding a .100 batting average with men on base, gave up three consecutive run-scoring hits.
Out went Booser, in came Cole Sulser, but the momentum continued.
David Hamilton hit a run-scoring single. 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’re just moving the chain. You just keep going. So the mentality is to just keep going, keep putting pressure on them, and stacking hits. I mean, these guys in here are unbelievable at what they do, and that's why they're here."
It was Yelich’s huge secondary lead off first base, his hustle to second base, and his baseball acumen to be safe at second.
If not for him, the inning is over.
Who knows what then would have happened?
“Just to see him do that, get a good secondary, run as hard as he could, and beat that out," Frelick said, “that’s what allowed us to be able to have that big inning. We work on those things in spring. He's the guy that's running the meeting saying, “This is important. It's his 14th season. He's been All-Star, Silver Slugger, MVP, and nobody cares about base running more than him.
“Little things like that, that's what makes our team great.’’
Certainly, there were plenty of heroes on the night. Robert Gasser, after giving up a leadoff hit single to Yandy Diaz, retired the next 17 batters in a row, becoming the first lefty to face the minimum batters through 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 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 is hitting .500 with a double, homer and six RBI in his six-game hitting streak. And there were eight players in the Brewers lineup who had at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored by the fifth inning.
Yet, the man of the hour was Yelich, who will turn 35 in five weeks, not for his two hits or RBI, but for that hustle play running to second base.
“That’s where the game changed," said Turang, who had three hits and two RBIs. “That’s baseball IQ. I mean, getting that lead, getting a big enough lead, and then getting a good enough secondary, and a jump off the bat to go beat it.
“The little things matter in this game, and when you do the little things right, then good things happen. Props to him.
“Just a consummate team player."
Yelich, on a team that had three position players under the age of 23 make plate appearances – the most since in a World Series game since the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 – feels like an old man at times. He doesn’t run like he used to when he was one of the finest all-around player in the game.
But, he still plays the game hard, plays the game right, and is their first team captain.
“The whole game was changed when Yeli was safe at second," Murphy said. “That's just a hustle play. When your leader makes that play, that says it all."
Yelich knew that he could get a bigger lead with the right-handed hitting Contreras at the plate, while making sure that he didn’t wander off too hard, and busted it as hard as he could when the ball was hit. He didn’t know whether Caminero was going to throw the ball to second base or first base, but this is the World Series.
“I know I’m a little bit older now," Yelich said, “but I feel like I can still run a little bit. I don’t know about like when I was 21 with the Marlins, but I still feel like I’ve been able to run a little bit and hold my own."
Yelich then watched the Brewer Ball, with one two-out, run-scoring hit after another, blowing the game wide open.
“It's really just guys taking pride in having quality at-bats, executing game plans, staying within themselves, taking what the game gives them,’’ Yelich said, “and passing it to the next guy. Just going up there and having the will to compete, and find a way to help the boys.
“We've kind of taken it, you know, to that level, just playing a team game. We’ve been doing it all year. It's one of those baseball things that you can't explain, but it just kind of happens.’
Only this time, it happened in a World Series game, putting the Brewers on the brink of history.
“Yeah, pretty good time for it to happen," Yelich said.
Now, one more game, one more victory, and the Brewers will be forever cherished, capturing the hearts of people throughout Wisconsin, where not a single player will again have to buy a beer.
“We understand how much this team means to people,’’ Yelich said. “We understand how much this team and our performance affects people's happiness in Milwaukee. We understand that our performance as a team creates memories for people.
“This team doesn’t take that lightly, and that what makes this a really cool part of this whole ride.’’
One more night.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers have Wisconsin ready to explode after unbelievable World Series rally
