William Contreras named World Series MVP after Brewers win first title

William Contreras was named World Series Most Valuable Player on Wednesday, October 28, after the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, according to AFP. The victory gave Milwaukee its first championship and ended the best-of-seven series in five games.

Contreras drove in four runs during the series, including one on a sixth-inning double in the title-clinching game, AFP reported. CBS Sports counted eight hits in 21 at-bats, with just one strikeout across the five games. He had multiple hits in each of the first three games, including three in Game 3, according to CBS Sports.

Contreras’s work behind the plate

Contreras is the first catcher to receive World Series MVP honors since Salvador Perez did so with the Kansas City Royals in 2015, CBS Sports reported. AFP said he is the third Venezuelan winner, following Perez and Pablo Sandoval, who won the award with the San Francisco Giants in 2012.

‘I’m very proud. I don’t even know what to say,’ Contreras said as he received the award, according to AFP. ‘I just want to thank my teammates. I love this game.’ CBS Sports quoted Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby after Game 5 calling Contreras ‘our bulldog’ and saying he wants to compete every day.

How Milwaukee clinched the series

Tampa Bay had forced a fifth game by winning Game 4 by a 4-3 score in 12 innings, avoiding a sweep and cutting Milwaukee’s series lead to 3-1, according to an Agencies report published by The Guardian. Ben Williamson’s walk-off single drove in the winning run. Milwaukee secured the championship in the next game.

CBS News reported that Jacob Misiorowski threw five and two-thirds scoreless innings while allowing two hits in Game 5. Rookie Cooper Pratt had two hits and two runs batted in. The championship came in Milwaukee’s second World Series appearance; its previous trip ended in a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982.

Contreras joined the Brewers in a three-team trade involving the Atlanta Braves and Oakland Athletics in December 2022, according to CBS Sports. He has since been selected for two All-Star Games with Milwaukee.