Brewers end 44-year wait, reach World Series against Rays

The Milwaukee Brewers are back in the World Series for the first time in 44 years. They swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games in the National League Championship Series, according to MLB.com and Wikipedia's season summary.

MLB.com reported that the Brewers closed it out by beating the Dodgers 6-4 in Game 4 after trailing by four runs.

The long wait

Milwaukee's last Fall Classic was in 1982. According to the Wikipedia entry for the 2026 World Series, the Brewers lost that series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. They have never won a World Series title, and this year's run is a chance to change that.

MLB.com's headline on the pennant, "Milwaukee, you have a World Series! 44 years later, this one's for the believers," put the wait at the center of the story. A second MLB.com piece, published Oct. 18, was headlined around Mark Attanasio and a 22-year journey to bring the World Series back to Milwaukee. Only the headline was available, so details of that story are not included here.

Wikipedia lists the Brewers at 103-59 (.636) on the season under manager Pat Murphy.

The opponent

The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant on Monday, Oct. 19. They beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 to take the ALCS 4-2, according to MLB's postseason schedule page. Wikipedia says it is the Rays' third AL pennant.

What's next

The 122nd World Series opens at American Family Field on Friday, Oct. 23, with Milwaukee hosting, according to MLB.com's schedule. A Game 7, if needed, is listed for Saturday, Oct. 31 on FOX.

The matchup is already drawing commentary. Yahoo Sports ran a piece headlined on how the Brewers-Rays pairing inspires "dreams and nightmares" around MLB. USA Today published an opinion column on Tuesday whose headline says MLB is "ready to blow up baseball for a salary cap" and can't spin this World Series. Only the headlines were available for both, so their arguments are not detailed here.