The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away from the first World Series title in franchise history, and they get their second chance to clinch it on Wednesday night. World Series Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Rays is set for 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, less than 24 hours after the Rays kept their season alive with a stunning 4-3 win in 12 innings in Game 4. Milwaukee still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1, and ace Jacob Misiorowski lines up to start with the championship on the line.

Tuesday night was supposed to be the coronation. Instead, it became one of the wildest games of this postseason. Rookie Cooper Pratt hit a leadoff home run in the top of the 12th inning to put Milwaukee three outs from a title, only for Tampa Bay to answer with two runs in the bottom half, capped by Ben Williamson's walk-off single with the bases loaded and nobody out. The Brewers' chance to become the first team to sweep through both a best-of-seven league championship series and a best-of-seven World Series slipped away in the space of four singles.

Key Points

• World Series Game 5 is Wednesday, October 28, at 8 p.m. ET (7:08 p.m. CT) at Tropicana Field, live on FOX.
• The Brewers lead the series 3-1 after wins of 3-2, 5-4 and 10-1, followed by Tuesday's 4-3 loss in 12 innings.
• Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee's ace, lines up to start Game 5 on four days of rest after starting Game 1.
• Tampa Bay had not formally named a starter at publication time, after a Game 4 managed almost entirely by the bullpens.
• If the Rays win Game 5, the series returns to Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday, October 30, and a possible Game 7 on Saturday, October 31.

What Happened

Game 4 began as a bullpen game for both sides and stayed that way for 12 innings. Tampa Bay scored first in the second inning on a Chandler Simpson double. Milwaukee answered in the fourth, when Sal Frelick's two-out single and a Cooper Pratt double into the left-field corner tied the game 1-1, with Frelick racing all the way around to score.

The Rays retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth on one of the strangest plays of the series. Junior Caminero stood on second base with one out when Jonny DeLuca hit a chopper to third baseman David Hamilton. Hamilton tried to tag the darting Caminero before throwing to first for a double play. He missed the tag, the umpires did not rule Caminero out of the base line, and the throw sailed off target, allowing Caminero to score on the error for a 2-1 lead.

Hamilton made amends in the top of the fifth, hitting a solo home run off Rays starter Griffin Jax to tie the game 2-2. Jax allowed two runs in four-plus innings; Milwaukee starter Dustin May was charged with two runs in three innings, the second scoring after he had left the game on the error. From there, the bullpens took over completely. Tampa Bay turned to Game 1 starter Nick Martinez for two clean innings, Bryan Baker added two scoreless frames, and Milwaukee's Aaron Ashby extended his postseason scoreless streak to 18 innings, a record for a relief pitcher in the playoffs, passing Andrew Miller's 16 scoreless innings for Cleveland in 2016.

The game stayed 2-2 through the ninth, 10th and 11th innings. Then came the 12th. Pratt, who hit just three home runs in the regular season, launched a 396-foot home run off Ian Seymour to lead off the top of the inning, giving Milwaukee a 3-2 lead and becoming the first rookie in major league history to record four hits in a potential World Series-clinching game. Three outs from a title, the Brewers turned to Antonio Senzatela and then Shane Drohan, who had used up every member of Milwaukee's top bullpen group over the long night.

The bottom of the 12th unravelled fast. Caminero reached when Joey Ortiz threw a grounder away across the diamond. Drohan entered and did not record an out, allowing four consecutive singles. DeLuca's single back up the middle tied the game 3-3 with two runners on and nobody out, and after the Rays loaded the bases, pinch hitter Ben Williamson singled to win it 4-3. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel live coverage summed up the mood in one line: the magic ending would have to wait.

Background and Context

The Brewers reached this World Series as the best team in baseball in 2026. They won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season, the highest total in the majors, and swept through the National League Championship Series to reach their second pennant in club history. The first came in 1982, when Milwaukee won the American League championship and lost the World Series. The club has never won the Commissioner's Trophy.

Tampa Bay finished with an American League-best 98 wins and reached the World Series for the second time since the franchise began play in 1998, after its 2020 pennant. The Rays have also never won a title. Yandy Díaz is the only player remaining from that 2020 pennant team, a measure of how thoroughly Tampa Bay has rebuilt its roster since then. Whichever club wins this series will claim the first championship in its history, and the first Fall Classic since 1980 in which both teams are chasing a first title.

The series scores tell the story of how Milwaukee built its lead. The Brewers won Game 1 3-2 and Game 2 5-4 in Milwaukee, then routed the Rays 10-1 in Game 3 at Tropicana Field, with Robert Gasser holding Tampa Bay to one hit in six shutout innings while facing the minimum 18 batters through six. Game 4 was the first time Tampa Bay had beaten Milwaukee in the series, and the first time the Rays had scored more than two runs in a game since the opener.

History is firmly on Milwaukee's side, but not entirely. Only one team in major league history, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. The Rays are not facing a 3-0 deficit, but a 3-1 hole with the next two games, if needed, in Milwaukee still leaves them needing three straight wins, two of them on the road in a ballpark where they have already lost twice in this series.

World Series Game 5: What to Watch

The pitching matchup is the headline, even with Tampa Bay's starter unconfirmed. Misiorowski, Milwaukee's 23-year-old ace, started Game 1 on Friday and lines up for Game 5 on the standard four days of rest, according to Sportsnet's reporting noted in Game 4 coverage. He led the majors in earned run average and strikeouts during the regular season and became the first Brewers starter ever to post a sub-2.00 ERA across 20 or more starts. In this postseason he has struck out nearly 12 batters per nine innings, but he has averaged just over four innings per start, with his last outing ending after four and a third innings and 94 pitches. Milwaukee's bullpen will need to be ready again, even with its ace on the mound.

For Tampa Bay, the question is how much the bullpen has left. The Rays used Jax, Martinez, Baker, Ian Seymour and others across 12 innings on Tuesday, on top of a Game 3 in which their pitching staff was hit for 10 runs. Manager Kevin Cash has leaned on his relievers all postseason, and Game 5 will test that depth again, whoever starts. The Rays' offence, quiet for most of the series, finally showed life late in Game 4, with Simpson, DeLuca, Caminero and Williamson all delivering in the 12th.

Milwaukee's top of the order is the other watch point. Christian Yelich, William Contreras and Brice Turang combined for one single and three walks in 24 plate appearances in Game 4, and the Brewers' bats, for all their hard contact, 10 of the 11 hardest-hit balls in Game 4, managed only three runs in 12 innings. Pratt, Hamilton and Frelick, none of whom hit more than four home runs in the regular season, have supplied Milwaukee's three home runs of the series so far. If the stars join the supporting cast in Game 5, the Brewers may not need late drama.

The setting matters too. Game 5 is the last game scheduled at Tropicana Field in this series. A Rays win sends the series back to American Family Field in Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday and, if necessary, Game 7 on Saturday. A Brewers win ends it in St. Petersburg, in front of a crowd that watched its team refuse to go quietly on Tuesday night. First pitch is 8 p.m. ET on FOX, with Joe Davis and John Smoltz calling the game and Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci reporting from the dugouts.

Reactions and Quotes

Milwaukee's players and coaches had little time to dwell on Game 4, with first pitch for Game 5 coming less than 24 hours after Williamson's walk-off single. The Journal Sentinel's live coverage captured the swing of the night in plain terms, noting that Milwaukee had three more chances to win the franchise's first World Series, with Misiorowski in reserve, but that Tuesday's loss stung precisely because the title had been three outs away.

For Tampa Bay, Game 4 was validation of a clubhouse that had refused to accept a sweep. The Rays had been outscored 18-7 across the first three games and trailed in the 12th inning of Game 4 before rallying. Their comeback also spared them an unwanted place in history: no team has ever been swept in the World Series after reaching it with 98 wins, and the Rays' win guarantees the series goes at least five games, with the final game at the Trop carrying a winner-takes-all edge for the home crowd.

Pratt's night deserves its own line in the record book regardless of what happens next. A rookie with three regular-season home runs does not expect to own a World Series clincher, yet his four hits in Game 4, including the go-ahead home run in the 12th, set a record for a rookie in a potential clinching game. If Milwaukee wins Game 5, Pratt's home run will be remembered as the warning shot. If the series goes back to Milwaukee, it will be remembered as the one that got away.

Why It Matters

This World Series matters because it crowns a first-time champion either way, and because of how the two clubs got here. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay are two of baseball's smaller-market clubs, built on player development, smart trades and bullpen depth rather than the sport's biggest payrolls. The winner will carry the lowest payroll of any champion since the 1994-95 work stoppage, according to series previews, a fact that will be cited in every small-market front office this winter.

For Milwaukee, Game 5 is about finishing the job before the series returns home, where the pressure would only grow. Teams leading 3-1 have historically closed out series at a high rate, but the Brewers have now burned through their entire top bullpen group in Game 4, and a Game 5 loss would mean facing elimination-game pressure in reverse, with Tampa Bay's momentum and a raucous home crowd waiting in Milwaukee. For Tampa Bay, Game 5 is about belief. One more win, and a series that looked like a sweep 48 hours ago becomes a genuine contest, with two games in Milwaukee deciding a champion.

The wider baseball world is watching Misiorowski, too. A dominant Game 5 start on the biggest stage would cap a season in which he led the majors in ERA and strikeouts and announced himself as one of the sport's defining young pitchers. A short, shaky outing would hand the game to the bullpens again and keep the Rays alive. Either way, Wednesday night is the night this series is defined.

What Happens Next

Game 5 is Wednesday, October 28, at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field, live on FOX. If Milwaukee wins, the Brewers are World Series champions for the first time, and the celebration begins in St. Petersburg. If Tampa Bay wins, the series moves to Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday, October 30, at 8 p.m. ET, with Game 7, if necessary, on Saturday, October 31, at American Family Field.

Beyond the series, the offseason begins for the loser, with Tampa Bay facing decisions on its rebuilt roster and Milwaukee, win or lose, facing a winter in which its young core, led by Misiorowski, Chourio and Contreras, will be the envy of the sport. For now, though, everything comes down to nine innings on Wednesday night, and to whether the Brewers can finish what they started, or whether the Rays can force this series back north.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is World Series Game 5?

Game 5 between the Brewers and Rays starts at 8 p.m. ET (7:08 p.m. CT) on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, live on FOX.

Who leads the World Series?

Milwaukee leads Tampa Bay 3-1. The Brewers won Game 1 3-2, Game 2 5-4 and Game 3 10-1, before the Rays won Game 4 4-3 in 12 innings.

Who is pitching in World Series Game 5?

Jacob Misiorowski lines up to start for Milwaukee on four days of rest after starting Game 1. Tampa Bay had not formally named a starter at publication time.

Have the Brewers or Rays ever won the World Series?

No. Neither club has ever won a World Series title. Milwaukee's only previous pennant came in 1982, and Tampa Bay's only previous World Series trip came in 2020.

What happens if the Rays win Game 5?

The series returns to Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday, October 30, and, if necessary, Game 7 on Saturday, October 31, both at American Family Field.

Related coverage on US News Pulse: Rays beat Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings in World Series Game 4, Brewers rout Rays 10-1 in World Series Game 3, and World Series Game 4 preview: Brewers one win from first title.