MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee could come to a standstill as fans celebrate the Brewers’ first World Series title.
Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets for a victory parade on Friday, forcing the state’s largest school district in Milwaukee to close because of operational and safety concerns.
The small-market Brewers gave their long-suffering fans the title they had been waiting for with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, clinching the series in five games.
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Thousands of Brewers fans filled the Trop — nearly outnumbering Rays’ fans — and celebrated from the stands after the final out. Thousands more celebrated back in Milwaukee, where the party will continue with Friday’s parade.
MVP catcher: Brewers catcher William Contreras was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. The 28-year-old Contreras hit .381 with four RBIs. Behind the plate, he helped to hold the Rays to 11 runs in five games.
He is the eighth catcher to win the MVP award and the first since Salvador Perez won it with the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
“I don’t want to offend any of the other catchers in the league. The last thing I want to do is offend any of them,” Contreras, who is Venezuelan and speaks Spanish, said through a translator. “But sitting up here today, champion of the world, I feel like I’m the best catcher in the league. Again, that’s no disrespect to any of them. That’s the last thing I want to do. But today I feel like I’m the best catcher in the world.”
Contreras also completed a rare feat not seen in nearly 90 years. The catcher stole a base while also throwing out the Rays’ top base stealer. The last player to accomplish the feat was New York Yankees catcher Bill Dickey in 1938.
It is Contreras’ second World Series title after winning the championship with the Atlanta Braves in 2021.
Remembering Uecker: Like many Milwaukee fans, Christian Yelich took a moment while celebrating the Brewers’ first World Series title to remember a man he wished had been around to see it.
“Uecky, I love you, man,” Yelich said in reference to beloved Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, who died in January 2025 at the age of 90. “We did it.”
Yelich’s tribute after the Brewers’ 4-1 Game 5 victory recalled a dramatically different postgame setting two years earlier, when Milwaukee couldn’t hang on to a 2-0 ninth-inning lead and fell to the New York Mets in the decisive game of an NL Wild Card Series.
That would be the last game in the broadcasting career of Uecker, who had been calling games through the 2023 and 2024 seasons while battling small cell lung cancer. Uecker had kept that information private up until his death and shared it only with a select group of people, including Yelich.
Schools’ out: Milwaukee Public Schools canceled classes on Friday, allowing fans to enjoy the parade that will run through downtown and conclude with a fan fest at Henry Maier Festival Park, not far from the shore of Lake Michigan.
Michael Maxwell, the presiding judge in neighboring Waukesha County, declared Brewers attire will be formally considered “in compliance with professional decorum expected of courtroom staff, litigants and attorneys appearing before the court” through the conclusion of the victory parade.
Milwaukee has celebrated a World Series title once before. The Milwaukee Braves won the 1957 World Series over the New York Yankees before moving to Atlanta in 1966.
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