The Milwaukee Brewers moved within one victory of their first World Series title Monday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 in Game 3 at Tropicana Field to take a 3-0 series lead.
Thousands of traveling fans from Milwaukee and across Wisconsin filled the stands, giving the road game the feel of a home contest for the visitors.
Manager Pat Murphy noted the support after the win.
“It was unbelievable. Our players felt it, and they’ll tell you about it. Our players looked around and were like, ‘Wow.’ You could tell during introductions there was a lot of people here for the Brewers, and that’s a statement about how much this team has captured the hearts of the people of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin, all the Brewers fans. It was amazing, the level of support we got tonight. I mean, it was incredible,” Murphy said.
“It was incredible.”
The announced crowd was a sellout of 40,388.
Starting pitcher Robert Gasser estimated that about 20,000 of those present were Brewers fans.
“Normally it’s 35,000 against nine, but tonight we had 20,000 people behind us,” Gasser said.
Home crowds had already shown similar passion, with American Family Field drawing 43,250 for Game 1 and 43,245 for Game 2, both above the regular seating capacity of roughly 41,900.
The Brewers also sold 31,000 tickets for official watch parties of Games 3 and 4 back in Milwaukee.
StubHub data showed 21 percent of Game 3 tickets sold on its platform came from Wisconsin ZIP codes, while only two to three percent of Milwaukee home-game tickets originated from Florida addresses.
Milwaukee finished the regular season at 103-59, the best record in Major League Baseball and a franchise high that marked the club’s first 100-win campaign. The team averaged 34,431 fans per home game and drew a total of 2,788,933 spectators.
In the postseason, the Brewers earned a first-round bye, beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 in the NLDS, swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, and have now won three consecutive games against the Rays.
Of the 25 previous teams that held a 3-0 lead in a World Series, 21 completed sweeps and the other four won in five games.
Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, where Milwaukee can clinch the series.
The Rays finished the regular season 98-64. Milwaukee’s regular season road record was 48-33, and the club outscored opponents 832-618 for a run differential of plus-214.
The traveling support stood out even to broadcasters, who described the atmosphere as a Milwaukee takeover of the building.
With the series lead in hand, the Brewers turn their focus to the next contest. A win Tuesday would deliver the franchise’s first championship.
