After 57 years, the Milwaukee Brewers can finally say they are World Series Champions.

They totally dominated the Tampa Bay Rays, winning it in five. They did it with a lineup that hit from top to bottom, one through nine. With a rotation that was unstoppable. And relief pitching that was dominating, up and down the bullpen.

You know it’s a total team effort when any of six guys could have legitimately been named the World Series MVP and there would have been no argument. It went to William Contraras, but it could have gone to Cooper Pratt, Alan Ashby, Jacob Misiorowski, or Jackson Chourio. Contraras earned it by hitting .381, driving in four runs, winning about every pitch he challenged, and being a steel wall behind the plate. 

The Brewers brought back a brand of baseball that was so much fun. They didn’t swing for the fences. It wasn’t home run or strikeout. Instead, they put the ball in play. They were masters of going the other way. Moving over runners. Putting together sustained rallies with two outs. There were no holes in the lineup. They weren’t waiting on the three-run homer. 

Baseball is a copycat sport. Their dominance will hopefully spur on other teams to play that brand of baseball. That’s the brand of baseball the Rays played as well; they just happen to run into a team that played it a bit better, and had a pitching staff that was nearly impossible to score off of.

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers, one of five franchises that hadn’t won a World Series. Now four. And the smallest market in baseball. They proved the small market teams can compete.

Celebrate their greatness. Celebrate the beauty of baseball. Because the ugliness of baseball is coming December 1.