The Tampa Bay Rays were still absorbing the loss in a quiet home clubhouse at Tropicana Field after midnight Thursday. The Milwaukee Brewers beat them 4-1 on Wednesday to win the World Series in five games, ending an eight-month run that began with a celebrated return to their home ballpark. Sadness and tears were present, but players said pride came first.
"I'm really just proud," All-Star closer Bryan Baker said. "I'm just proud to be part of this group."
Baker was one of seven Rays pitchers used in Game 5. He worked a scoreless eighth inning a day after throwing two innings, something he had not done all year, in a 12-inning win that kept Tampa Bay alive. The pitching plan was assembled in a hurry because scheduled starter Nick Martinez was needed for two innings of relief in Game 4.
Ace Drew Rasmussen started on three days' rest for the first time as a full-time starter. He had thrown 89 pitches over 3⅔ innings in Game 2 on Saturday. Manager Kevin Cash set limits for Rasmussen, who has had three major elbow surgeries in the past decade: four innings or 60 pitches, whichever came first. Rasmussen allowed one run over four innings on 48 pitches and looked sharp, but Cash stuck to the plan and brought in Kevin Kelly for the fifth. "That was the easiest call in the world to take him out of the ballgame," Cash said.
Kelly gave up three straight one-out singles to Milwaukee's No. 7, 8 and 9 hitters. David Hamilton's ground ball through the right side of a drawn-in infield scored Cooper Pratt and doubled the Brewers' lead. Milwaukee added two runs in the sixth against Garrett Cleavinger and Tyler Wells. Jacob Misiorowski, the heavy favorite for the National League Cy Young Award, and three relievers kept the Rays scoreless until the ninth. "That's the best team I've played at the major league level," Rasmussen said.
Tampa Bay had finished fourth in the American League East in consecutive seasons and was widely projected to place fifth in 2026. The Rays instead took the league's best record in late June and kept it, winning 98 regular-season games. They then swept the New York Yankees in the Division Series and beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games in the AL Championship Series. They had played the 2025 season at the Yankees' spring training facility after Hurricane Milton damaged the dome.
Their formula relied on a strong rotation, with Baker at the back end of games, and constant pressure on opponents. The Rays had the majors' highest contact rate and lowest strikeout rate, bunted more than any club and finished second in steals. Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda supplied most of the power. Rasmussen and Martinez were All-Stars, and Freddy Peralta pitched well after a trade-deadline acquisition.
That polish slipped early in the Series. Uncharacteristic mistakes in the field and on the bases helped put Tampa Bay in a 3-0 hole. The Rays rallied in Game 4, but no team has ever recovered from such a deficit in a World Series. Caminero, 23, who went 1-for-4 in Game 5 while playing through a left foot injury he aggravated in Game 4, said through Spanish remarks that Milwaukee played very good baseball. "We gave the best we could, but it didn't turn out how we wanted."
Cash said he was crushed and disappointed, but that the bond in the group eased the pain. Many players called it the closest team they had been part of, crediting Martinez, a 36-year-old who signed a one-year deal just before spring training and organized a team dinner in every road city. The club reached its third World Series in 29 years and set a franchise record with 106 wins counting the playoffs. "They did everything to win the World Series," Baker said of the Brewers. "It was an impressive display of baseball."
