Brewers Won World Series Game 1 Twice After an Overturned Double Play and Early Fireworks

Milwaukee won Game 1 of the 2026 World Series on Friday night, and for about five minutes it had won it twice. The 3-2 final over the Tampa Bay Rays at American Family Field gives the Brewers a 1-0 series lead with Game 2 set for Saturday night, but the night belonged to a replay review that turned a celebration into a second save situation.

What happened in the ninth inning?

The Brewers were up 3-1 with the bases loaded and one out when closer Trevor Megill got Rays catcher Liam Hicks to hit a grounder. Second baseman Brice Turang fed shortstop Cooper Pratt, who relayed to Jake Bauers at first for what everyone at American Family Field took to be a game-ending 6-4-3 double play. The stadium erupted and the post-win fireworks fired. Then the Rays challenged, and after a lengthy review the out at second was overturned: Pratt’s foot had come off the bag, Caminero was safe, Mateo’s run counted, and it was 3-2 with the game still alive. Smoke from the premature fireworks hung thick in the air as Megill went back to work.

Why was the double play overturned?

It came down to inches and timing. FOX Sports rules expert Andy Fletcher, a veteran umpire, explained on the broadcast that officials had to judge exactly when the ball touched the interior of the thrower’s glove and whether Pratt’s foot was on the bag at that moment. It took many replays and a zoom in on the rookie’s cleats to confirm it, but Fletcher said they got it right: when the ball touched the interior of the glove, Pratt’s foot was already off the bag. The Rays, who punched their ticket to this series by beating the Brewers’ old rivals, live to challenge everything.

How did Megill reset after the celebration blew up?

By doing the only thing a closer can do: throwing strikes. With the ballpark’s emotions swinging from eruption to deflation, Megill regrouped and struck out Rays outfielder Jonny DeLuca to end the game for real. It was a test of the exact skill Milwaukee’s October bullpen has been built on, the same staff construction that made the Woodruff roster gamble the week’s biggest talking point before first pitch. One batter after the chaos, the party was back on, this time for real.

What did the players say about the chaos?

Nobody argued with the officials. Christian Yelich, the longtime Brewers star who has been the face of this postseason run, told Fox’s postgame show: “You have a big range of emotions. Big credit to Trev for locking back in and making some big pitches there.” DeLuca was just as gracious from the losing side. He called the smoke in the air “not ideal” for his at-bat, but added: “There were a few angles where it seemed like he was off so I think they made the right call there.” He also praised the challenge system itself: “This is a game of momentum. That’s why we have the challenge system and that’s why it’s great.”

What comes next in the series?

Game 2 on Saturday night back at American Family Field, with the Brewers up 1-0. Friday’s game was close long before the ninth, and Tampa Bay’s challenge shows a team that will not hand Milwaukee anything. The Brewers’ path through October, including the NLDS opener against San Diego, has been anything but smooth, and Game 1 fit the pattern: two celebrations, one win, and a reminder that in this postseason, nothing is over until the review is over.

Update: the other Game 1 story was the catcher

Update note (October 24, 2026): This article originally covered the ninth-inning overturned double play. It has been updated with William Contreras’s Game 1 performance, the story the overnight coverage settled on.

The ninth inning was not the only review drama in Game 1, and it was not even the first. In the second inning, with Jacob Misiorowski pitching, Contreras called for an ABS challenge on a 100.7 mph four-seamer to Victor Mesa Jr. that had been called a ball. The system overturned it to a strike, and Misiorowski finished the strikeout. The Journal Sentinel’s live blog flagged it as the first ABS challenge of the night, and the crowd got to its feet for it.

That was the pattern of his night. Contreras won a second ABS challenge in the sixth, on a 1-0 sinker to Chandler Simpson that was overturned to a strike; Simpson struck out on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, and the inning ended with Contreras throwing out Jonathan Aranda trying to steal second. In the fifth he had already caught Mesa trying to steal third with Yandy Diaz at the plate, ending the inning with Milwaukee up by one. The Rays had been a perfect 11-for-11 on stolen base attempts before Contreras threw out two runners in one night.

Then came the quietest big moment of the game. In the eighth, with Milwaukee nursing a two-run lead, Aaron Ashby floated a 2-1 curveball so far off the plate that Mesa had to duck. Contreras asked for a new ball, walked to the mound, covered his mouth with his glove, and patted Ashby on the back. Ashby later called it a one-way conversation: he did the listening. He struck out Mesa to finish a perfect eighth. Contreras finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a first-inning RBI single, the hardest-hit ball of the game at 108.4 mph off the bat, and manager Pat Murphy called him the player of the game. The ninth inning gave Milwaukee its win. Contreras gave it the margins that made the win possible.

The other side of that story is now its own report: Victor Mesa Jr. apologized for the steal of third, while Tampa Bay refused to ease up on the bases, with Kevin Cash taking responsibility for the sixth-inning play that followed.