A lifetime of waiting, and a moment worth every wait: Brewers are World Series champions

MILWAUKEE -- There are certain moments as a sports fan that you spend your whole life waiting for. You imagine what they might feel like, what you might say and how you might celebrate if they ever actually happen.

For me, as a lifelong Milwaukee Brewers fan, I spent years wondering what it would be like to see my team win the World Series.

Now, I don’t have to wonder anymore.

The Brewers are World Series champions.

Even typing those words still feels a little surreal. For as long as I can remember, being a Brewers fan has been part of who I am. Growing up in southwestern Wisconsin, Milwaukee was my team. It was one of the connections that made me feel at home, no matter where life took me.

My dad introduced me to sports, and those early connections became some of the most meaningful parts of my childhood. Whether it was watching a game, following a season or simply talking sports, those moments helped shape the fan I am today. The Brewers were always part of that.

And being a Brewers fan has never required an easy path.

For years, there was always a familiar feeling that came with following the Brewers. You could enjoy a great season, get excited about the possibilities and start believing that maybe this was the year. But there was also that lingering concern that something would go wrong. My dad and I would talk about it -- whether it was an injury, a late-season collapse or something else that could derail a promising season.

This year, though, felt different.

I wrote about that feeling earlier in the postseason, when the Brewers were facing the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series. It wasn’t that I suddenly stopped being nervous or that I expected everything to go perfectly. It was that there was something about this team, the way it played and the way the season unfolded that made me believe this could be something special.

What made the season even more remarkable was how few people outside of Milwaukee saw it coming. Throughout the preseason, it was difficult to find analysts who believed the Brewers would even win the National League Central, let alone win 85 games. Yet, Milwaukee didn’t just prove those predictions wrong. The Brewers won 103 games during the regular season, setting a franchise record. A team so many people overlooked put together the greatest regular season in franchise history and ultimately brought a World Series championship back to Milwaukee.

I got to experience that feeling firsthand at Game 1 of the NLDS at American Family Field, where I traveled with my college buddy, Cullen, and his dad.

The atmosphere around the ballpark was unlike anything I had experienced before. From arriving on the shuttle to walking into the stadium, you could feel how much the game meant to Milwaukee. Every pitch seemed to matter, and every big moment brought the crowd to life.

I still remember Jackson Chourio’s two-run home run in the third inning sailing over me and the reaction that followed. The bullpen erupted, the crowd came alive and suddenly the Brewers had given everyone another reason to believe.

Then came William Contreras’ home run off Mason Miller in the seventh inning, giving Milwaukee the lead in what became a 3-2 victory.

It was the kind of game you hope to experience as a fan. The Brewers went on to win Game 2 on Chourio’s walk-off home run, dropped Game 3 in San Diego and then won Game 4 to advance to the National League Championship Series.

By that point, it was becoming harder not to believe.

But some of my favorite memories from this postseason didn’t come from being inside the ballpark. They came from the conversations I was able to share with my dad over the phone throughout the playoffs, especially during the World Series.

My dad is the person who introduced me to sports, so being able to talk with him as the Brewers moved closer to accomplishing something neither of us had ever experienced was incredibly special. We could talk about the games, the big moments, what was happening and what it all meant. Even though we weren’t necessarily watching every game in the same place, we were experiencing the postseason together.

Those conversations brought things full circle for me. The same person who helped make me a Brewers fan was someone I could share the excitement and emotion of a World Series championship with. That is something I won’t forget.

I also found myself thinking about my uncle, who lives in Seattle. He was at the 1982 World Series, the last and only other time the Brewers reached that stage. More than four decades later, he finally got to see Milwaukee return to the World Series and, this time, finish the job.

There is something remarkable about that connection. My uncle experienced the Brewers’ first trip to the World Series, while I got to experience this championship as a lifelong fan. Generations of our family have followed the same team, and now we have a World Series title to share.

When Milwaukee won Game 5 of the World Series in Tampa, the excitement was about as high as it could get. I even found myself doing something I don’t normally do: going out for a drink to celebrate.

It felt like one of those moments that deserved more than simply watching the final moments of the game and going about the rest of the night. I shared a photo with the caption, “This one is for you, Uecker.”

It was a small way of paying tribute to Bob Uecker, the late voice of the Brewers and someone who meant so much to the organization and its fans. With the Brewers finally reaching the top of baseball, it felt right to think about Uecker and the generations of fans who had waited for this moment. I couldn’t help but wish he could have been here to see it.

A World Series title isn’t just about the final out or the celebration that follows. It’s about every season that came before it. It’s about the games that didn’t go the way you hoped, the players you rooted for and the memories you built along the way. It’s about sticking with a team because it’s your team, regardless of what the standings say.

But the celebration didn’t end when the final out was recorded.

After the Brewers won the World Series, I made another trip to Milwaukee -- this time for the championship parade. I drove down the day before and planned to return to Marshall as soon as the celebration was over. It was a very quick trip, but one I knew I had to make. After following this team my entire life and finally getting to see it win a World Series, it would have felt so wrong not to be there.

I wasn’t making the trip alone, either. I was back with the same college buddy, Cullen, who had joined me for Game 1 of the NLDS. We made our way downtown early the next morning, arriving before 7 a.m., and managed to get a spot right in the front row. Once the parade was over, it was back on the road to Marshall, but there was no question the trip had been worth every mile.

By the time the celebration got going, the city was filled with an estimated 750,000 people. Looking around and seeing that many fans gathered in one place to celebrate the same team was difficult to put into words. Everywhere you looked, there were Brewers jerseys, flags, smiles and people who had come together to celebrate a moment generations of fans had dreamed about.

Standing in the front row, surrounded by that many people, was an experience I’ll never forget. Just a few weeks earlier, Cullen and I had been together at American Family Field watching the Brewers begin their postseason run. Now, we were standing side by side in Milwaukee, watching the city celebrate a World Series championship.

There was something special about being able to share both experiences with the same person. We got to experience the nerves and excitement of playoff baseball together, and then we got to be part of the celebration when it all came together.

For me, being there made the championship feel even more real. It wasn’t just something I watched happen from a distance. I got to be part of the celebration, in the front row, with a friend who had shared the ride with me from the beginning.

For Wisconsin sports fans, championships are moments we hold onto. I still think about watching the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl in 2011 and being in Milwaukee to celebrate the Bucks’ championship in 2021. I remember being part of the massive watch party outside the Bucks’ arena, surrounded by more than 100,000 people sharing the same excitement.

Those moments are special not only because of what happened on the court or field, but because of the people you share them with and the memories that stay with you afterward.

The Brewers’ championship now belongs in that same category for me.

There is something different about seeing a team you’ve followed for your entire life finally reach the mountaintop. You aren’t just celebrating the players on the field. You’re celebrating every version of yourself that watched along the way -- the kid who first fell in love with the game, the fan who kept believing through the difficult seasons and the person you are today.

Moving away from Wisconsin hasn’t changed that connection. Even after making Minnesota home, Milwaukee remains my team. Distance doesn’t change where your sports loyalties come from, and it certainly doesn’t make a moment like this any less meaningful.

If anything, it reminds me how much those connections stay with you.

I know there will be another season, another group of players and another set of expectations. Eventually, the excitement of this championship will give way to the everyday rhythm of baseball. But the memories of this season -- experiencing Game 1 of the NLDS, talking with my dad throughout the postseason, sharing the moment with my uncle who remembers 1982, celebrating Game 5 with a toast to Uecker, making the quick trip to Milwaukee for the parade and standing in the front row alongside hundreds of thousands of fans -- will always be there.

For a lifelong Brewers fan, this is the kind of moment you never take for granted. You spend years hoping you’ll get to experience it, never knowing if it will actually happen.

And now it has.

After all the years of waiting, all the ups and downs, all the conversations with my dad and all the times I believed this team could get there, I can finally say something I once only dreamed about saying:

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions.

And I couldn’t be happier to have been along for the ride.