Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich dedicated the franchise’s first World Series title to longtime radio voice Bob Uecker after the team closed out the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
“He’s smiling,” Yelich said. “I really wish he could’ve been here to see this. It would have meant everything to him. But like we said a bunch, he’s been with us a lot. We keep him close to our hearts. This one’s still for Bob, this one’s still for Ueck. I love you, man. We did it.”
The win ended a 57-year championship drought for the Brewers, who last reached the World Series in 1982 and fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. Uecker had been the team’s primary play-by-play announcer for 54 seasons before his final year in 2024.
Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning on an RBI single by David Hamilton that scored Cooper Pratt. William Contreras then drove in a run with a double in the sixth, and Pratt added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. The Rays scored their lone run in the ninth.
Jacob Misiorowski started and worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. Trevor Megill recorded the final out. Contreras was named World Series MVP after batting .381 with four RBI across the five games.
The Brewers finished the series 4-1. They had opened with wins of 3-2 and 5-4 at home, then routed the Rays 10-1 in Game 3 before dropping a 12-inning contest 4-3 in Game 4.
In the National League Division Series, Milwaukee lost only once to the San Diego Padres before taking the series 3-1. The club then swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, in four games in the NL Championship Series.
Milwaukee posted a 103-59 regular-season record, the best mark in the majors, and won the National League Central by 14 games. The team went 11-2 in the postseason overall.
Uecker died Jan. 16, 2025, at age 90 after a private battle with small-cell lung cancer that began in early 2023. He continued calling games through the 2024 season and was a Ford C. Frick Award winner in 2003 for excellence in broadcasting.
Yelich, the team captain in his ninth season with Milwaukee, batted .268 with five RBI and four stolen bases in 12 postseason games. He drove in the first run of the series with a triple in Game 1 and later scored in the Game 5 clincher.
The 34-year-old former National League MVP joined the Brewers before the 2018 season and has been a central figure during a stretch that has included eight playoff appearances in nine years. His postgame comments made clear the title carried extra meaning for the organization and its fans.
The Brewers’ only previous World Series appearance came in 1982. Wednesday’s result marked the first time the franchise, which began play as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before moving to Milwaukee in 1970, has claimed baseball’s ultimate prize.
Players and staff had kept Uecker’s presence close throughout the playoffs, with references to the broadcaster appearing on equipment and in on-field moments. Yelich’s remarks after the final out captured the shared sense that the longtime voice remained part of the celebration.
