In 1970, the Seattle Pilots, after a disastrous initial season, decided to move to Milwaulkee. The home of Miller (the champagne of beers!) and Pabst, and a rather small airport, the organisation renamed themselves the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the 56 years since, they haven’t had much success. In 1982, they made their first, and only, World Series appearance, going down in seven to the St Louis Cardinals after leading 3-2 at one point. They then took a QUARTER OF A CENTURY to even make it back into the playoffs. I don’t get the impression they were a truly terrible team, they were just consistently mid and forgettable. Think Crystal Palace, or North Melbourne.
But, as of about 20 minutes ago, the Milwaukee Brewers are (and I’ll never get over this) World Champions, beating Tampa Bay in five. As you can imagine, the fine people of Wisconsin are going gorillas, which unsurprisingly, will involve a lot of beer.
Less than 600k people live in Milwaukee. It’s a smaller city, and as such will always struggle against the power teams of like the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Dodgers, and of course, the Yankees. A dynasty is unlikely.
But the trophy is theirs, even if its just the one. After waiting 56 years, they’ll be sure to enjoy it.
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