Comeback Crew has been must-see all October -- and '82 squad loves every minute

MILWAUKEE – The Brewers are heading to St. Petersburg with a two games to none lead in the World Series, and their favorite Robin is flying along.

“Hey, I waited 44 years for this!” Hall of Famer Robin Yount said. “I am not missing a game.”

You’d better not miss a game with this Comeback Crew, which fell into a four-run deficit before picking up a bat in Game 2 on Saturday night and then did what it’s done all season -- chipping away, getting a good break here and an unlikely homer there -- until rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt atoned for his costly first-inning error by delivering the biggest hit of his life. The 22-year-old’s tiebreaking single in the seventh inning gave Milwaukee the deciding run in a 5-4 win over the Rays and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series to the delight of 43,245 elated fans at American Family Field, including a 71-year-old who was the Brewers’ shortstop the last time this team was in the Fall Classic.

The two came face to face for the first time after Game 1. Pratt was searching for his family outside the clubhouse. Yount was searching for Pratt.

What did he say?

"He enjoyed watching me play," Pratt said. "I was kind of bamboozled because he came up and I wasn’t expecting it."

You can count Yount among the fans who packed a ballpark that will be buzzing again on Tuesday night for Game 3, even though the game will be played 1,200 miles away. The Brewers sold 31,000 tickets (capped so that everybody had a view of the scoreboard) at $15 a pop, and they sold out in minutes.

• What to know as World Series shifts to the Trop for Game 3

Milwaukee has been waiting a long time for this. Yount & Co. were one win away when they last played a World Series game in this city in 1982, leading the Cardinals three games to two. You know how that one ended.

Yount desperately hopes this ending is different, and history gives his favorite team some favorable odds, since in all best-of-seven postseason series, teams with a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the series 80 of 96 times (83%). Two of the 16 comebacks have come in the last three seasons (the Blue Jays against the Mariners in the 2025 ALCS and the D-backs against the Phillies in the 2023 NLCS). But it hasn’t happened in the World Series in 30 years, since the 1996 Yankees rallied past the Braves.

If the Brewers played their final game of the year at American Family Field on Saturday, what a game it was, beginning with Pratt bouncing the throw after fielding Yandy Díaz’s leadoff ground ball for an error that got the Rays going against Brewers starter Logan Henderson. After a pair of run-scoring singles and Liam Hicks’ two-run homer, it was 4-0 before the Brewers came to bat against the Rays’ ace, Drew Rasmussen.

But once they did bat, they did their thing.

“Our offense is built to chip away and wear on pitchers,” Sal Frelick said. “Today, we’re down four. We know how good that guy is over there. Let’s just wear on him, see if we can get him out of the game, get to their bullpen and really break the thing open.”

• Key takeaways as Brewers take commanding 2-0 lead in World Series

They didn’t do that, but they did enough. The Brewers got RBI singles from William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell in the first inning for an immediate answer – Contreras’ hit coming after Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda dropped a catchable foul pop. Then Aranda muffed David Hamilton’s grounder in the fourth inning for an error that made it 4-3.

When Frelick hit a fly ball that carried just enough for a home run off tough Rays reliever Ian Seymour leading off the sixth – Frelick’s first left-on-left homer since Opening Day, and only the fourth of his four-year career – the game was tied.

“We’re down to the end of the season here. They’re going to tap us on the shoulder here at some point and tell us no more,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “These guys just don’t give up. They believe, and they don’t give up.”

That includes Pratt, whose first-inning error was his fourth of this postseason, an anomaly for a player whose Major League-caliber defense was a big factor in the Brewers’ willingness to sign him to an eight-year, $50.75 million contract in April when he had yet to step foot in the big leagues.

Then he struck out to end the first inning. But he walked and scored in the fourth and got another chance in the seventh, with one out and Brice Turang in scoring position, representing the go-ahead run. Hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach pulled Pratt aside and said, “You’re born for this stuff.”

“My heart was racing, I’m not going to lie,” Pratt said.

The Rays brought in right-hander Kevin Kelly. Pratt fell behind, 1-2, when he fanned at a changeup that was so far outside it hit the left-handed batter’s box. He got to 2-2 before lining a sinker to right field for the lead, and when he subsequently stole second base, Pratt became the second-youngest player with an RBI and a steal in a World Series game since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. Only Juan Soto (20 years, 362 days old for Game 1 of the 2019 World Series) was younger.

“It’s nine innings for a reason,” Pratt said.

That’s the story of this Brewers postseason. Seven times in their 10 games so far this postseason, the opponent has scored first. Six times, the Brewers have come from behind to win. That ties the record for a single postseason.

The Brewers are the first team to win six of the first seven games in which the opponent scored first. They are also the first team to win seven of the first eight games in which they trailed in a postseason. They are one comeback win from tying the record for a single postseason. The 2015 Royals, 2002 Angels and 1997 Marlins all had eight comeback wins. They all won the World Series.

• Ashby might be Milwaukee's hottest pitcher, but his demeanor? Ice cold

And lately, these Brewers have upped the difficulty level. In both Game 4 of the NLCS against the Dodgers and in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday, the Brewers trailed, 4-0. Both times, they won. That makes them the fifth team in postseason history with two comeback wins of four-plus runs in a single year, along with the 2022 Phillies, 2005 White Sox, 2002 Angels and 1996 Yankees. All but the ‘22 Phillies won the World Series.

The Brewers have done it before in the World Series. They fell into a 4-0 hole after two innings in Game 4 against the Cardinals in ‘82 and still trailed, 5-1, going to the bottom of the seventh before rallying for six runs and a 7-5 victory. Yount delivered a two-run single in that inning. Paul Molitor walked and scored the go-ahead run.

Forty-four years later, those franchise icons are watching these games in a suite, where owner Mark Attanasio finds himself looking at the faces of the Brewers’ Mount Rushmore: Yount; Molitor, who threw Game 2’s ceremonial first pitch; Bud Selig, the MLB Commissioner Emeritus; and Brewers founder, and Ryan Braun, the franchise’s all-time home run leader. The only one missing was their beloved broadcaster, the late Bob Uecker.

• A message from the Uecker Family

Attanasio has been tickled by how intensely those Brewers icons still hang on every pitch.

“They’re really intense about wanting to see us win. Really intense,” Attanasio said. “And what’s so great is that they’re still so connected to this team and this city that they are invested in this as though they’re still playing. Probably more, because when they were playing, they could change the outcome. Now, they can’t.”

That’s the truth.

“I was way more nervous watching than when I played,” Yount said. “It’s way easier playing than watching.”

And what did he think of the atmosphere in the ballpark he helped design and get funded?

“That, I expected,” Yount said. “I’ve seen that before. I’ve seen how the Milwaukee fans react.”

Will this series make it back to Milwaukee?

The Brewers hope not.