Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras has been named the Most Valuable Player of the 2026 World Series after leading his team to the first championship in franchise history. Contreras hit .381 in the five-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, going 8-for-21 with four runs batted in, as Milwaukee clinched the title with a 4-1 win in Game 5 on Wednesday, October 28, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. His RBI double in the sixth inning of the clinching game scored Christian Yelich and extended Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0, giving the Brewers breathing room in a game they would close out 4-1.
A complete series behind the plate
Contreras’s award was won as much behind the plate as at it. He threw out four Tampa Bay runners attempting to steal during the series, weakening one of the Rays’ strengths, and he guided a Milwaukee pitching staff that allowed just 12 runs across the five games. He also turned the first World Series played under Major League Baseball’s Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system into an advantage, winning 10 of his 13 challenges in the series. Contreras is the eighth catcher to be voted World Series MVP, and the first since Salvador Perez in 2015. He is also the first World Series MVP in Brewers history, and the third Venezuelan to win the award, after Perez and Pablo Sandoval.
A year of championships
The World Series title capped a remarkable year for the 28-year-old. In March, he was part of the Venezuela team that won its first World Baseball Classic, and during the regular season he hit .270 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs for a Brewers team that won a franchise-record 103 games. Moments after receiving the Willie Mays World Series MVP trophy, Contreras embraced his older brother Willson Contreras, a World Series winner with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 who now plays for Boston. “My brother is my best friend,” William Contreras said through tears after the game. Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby summed up his teammate’s importance in the same terms used throughout the postseason. “He posts every day,” Ashby said. “This team’s not what it is without this guy. He’s unbelievable.”
What it means for Milwaukee
The award closes a postseason in which Contreras was Milwaukee’s most consistent performer. He had already hit .444 in the Division Series and .357 in the Championship Series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers before his .381 World Series. For a small-market club that had never won a World Series — its only previous appearance ended in defeat to St. Louis in 1982 — the MVP award recognises the player at the centre of nearly every pitch of the run.
Sources
Associated Press via TSN, Brewers’ William Contreras named World Series MVP: https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/article/brewers-conteras-named-world-series-mvp/ — USA Today, William Contreras named World Series MVP after leading Brewers to first title: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2026/10/28/william-contreras-world-series-mvp-win-mlb-playoffs-performance/92490864007/ — Fox Sports, Brewers Catcher William Contreras Named World Series MVP: https://foxsports.com/stories/mlb/world-series-mvp-william-contreras-milwaukee-brewers — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers catcher William Contreras named World Series MVP: https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2026/10/28/milwaukee-brewers-catcher-william-contreras-wins-world-series-mvp-award/92491355007/
Also see the Emadan Game 5 post: https://emadan.store/brewers-beat-rays-4-1-game-5-first-world-series-title-october-28/
FAQ
Who won the 2026 World Series MVP? Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras.
What were Contreras’s World Series numbers? He hit .381 (8-for-21) with four RBIs in five games.
How did the Brewers win the title? They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on October 28, winning the series 4-1 for the franchise’s first championship.
