Four Venezuelan players won the World Baseball Classic and the World Series in the same year. Jackson Chourio, William Contreras, Antonio Senzatela and Ángel Zerpa did with the Milwaukee Brewers what they had done in March with Venezuela: lift a trophy. According to journalist Shawn Spradling, it’s only the second time in professional baseball history that players have pulled off that double in the same calendar year — a feat that makes Venezuela and Milwaukee the center of the baseball world in 2026.
First the Classic, then the Series: how the perfect year came together
On March 17, 2026, Venezuela defeated the United States 3-2 in the World Baseball Classic final at loanDepot Park in Miami in front of 36,190 fans. It was the country’s first international baseball championship since the 1945 Amateur World Series and the first WBC title ever won by a South American nation. Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel García was named tournament MVP.
Seven months later, in the early hours of October 28, four of those Venezuelan champions closed the loop at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to claim the franchise’s first World Series title in its 57-year history.
Milwaukee had been the best team in baseball all season long — 103 wins, 59 losses and a +214 run differential — and the postseason was no different. The Brewers finished 10-2 in October, swept the Dodgers in the NLCS and took down the Rays in five games. The Venezuelan red and Milwaukee blue never looked so good together.
Chourio and Contreras: two MVP candidates with a ring in their pocket
Jackson Chourio is 22 years old and already has more stories to tell than most veterans. In Game 3 of the World Series he went 4-for-4, becoming the youngest player in 80 years to record four hits in a Fall Classic game. By Game 5 he had accumulated 8 hits in the Series. Born March 11, 2004, in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
William Contreras arrived at Game 5 with 7 hits in the Series and already had a previous ring — he won the 2021 World Series with the Atlanta Braves — along with two Silver Slugger awards (2023 and 2024). He is Milwaukee’s Venezuelan catcher; his brother Willson Contreras also plays in MLB, so every stat in this article refers exclusively to William, #24, born in Puerto Cabello.
Antonio Senzatela, a starting pitcher, and Ángel Zerpa, a left-handed reliever who finished the regular season on the injured list, round out the Venezuelan quartet. Zerpa’s participation in the active postseason roster requires verification before he can be officially counted as part of the championship roster — players on the IL during the postseason may or may not receive a ring at the team’s discretion.
Only twice in baseball history
The historical claim — that this has only happened twice in baseball — is the most striking piece of the night, and also the one that deserves the most care. The most likely precedent is 2023, when Japanese players won the WBC with Japan in March and then the World Series with their MLB teams in October. What is fully documented: Venezuela entered the 2026 WBC having never won the tournament — their best previous finish was the 2009 semifinals — and knocked out defending champion Japan in the quarterfinals on the way to the title.
The fact that that same group of players now has a World Series ring makes 2026 the greatest year in Venezuelan baseball history. For the Brewers, the title closes 57 years without a championship. For Venezuela, the year started in Miami with an improbable final and ended in Florida with four of its sons hoisting the most important trophy in baseball.
Not bad for a country that had never done it before.
- Note on Zerpa: His inclusion as an official World Series champion is pending confirmation of his postseason roster status.
