MILWAUKEE -- The 2026 Milwaukee Brewers are redefining relentless.

They did it again. The Brewers fell behind early and came back to win. This time around, the Rays scored four runs in the first inning and the Brewers just chipped away until they finally (inevitably?) took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. They won, 5-4. They are masters of the comeback craft. 

It all started in Game 1 of the NLDS. The Padres took the early lead. The Brewers came back to win. It happened again in Game 2. They did it in all four games of the NLCS against the two-time defending champion Dodgers, including a four-run comeback in the Game 4 clincher. And now they've done it again. The Brewers are now 9-1 in the playoffs, and they've come from behind to win seven times. 

If that's not enough, some of the other numbers are downright staggering. The Brewers this year, regular season and playoffs combined, are now 41-37 when the other team scores first. That's a mind-boggling stat. The last team to finish a season with a winning record in such situations was the 2009 Yankees (via Sarah Langs). 

Or how about this one? The Brewers just became the fifth team in MLB playoff history to win multiple games after falling behind by at least four runs.

These Brewers are also just the third team to trail by four runs at home in the World Series and come back to win, along with the 2017 Astros and 2002 Angels.

"We're down to the end of the season here," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Game 2 on Saturday. "They're going to tap us on the shoulder here at some point and tell us no more. Guys just, they don't give up. They believe, and they don't give up. They just keep going."

That said, I would be remiss to ignore the other component of World Series Game 2: the mistake-filled game the Rays just played. That absolutely cannot happen against a team as relentless as these Brewers. 

• In the bottom of the first inning, Jonathan Aranda botched an attempt to catch a foul ball. William Contreras then singled and the Brewers scored twice that inning. 
• In the bottom of the fourth, Aranda let a weak grounder go through his legs. The Brewers scored again, cutting the deficit to 4-3. 
• In the top of the sixth, Liam Hicks was thrown out at home plate by Jackson Chourio after a single to left field. It makes sense to try and score the run with two outs, but Hicks was out by a country mile. It was the fourth out on the bases the Rays have made in the World Series. This was only the middle of Game 2. 
• Sal Frelick homered to tie the game. He only hit four in the regular season. Give Frelick credit, of course, but that was another thing that just can't happen.
• Chandler Simpson couldn't hold on to a Christian Yelich pop fly in the sixth inning and the dropped ball put runners at first and third with two outs. The play was ruled a single and Tyler Wells got out of the inning, but it should have been caught.
• Not that it mattered much at the time, but the Brewers pulled off a double steal in the eighth, thanks in part to backup catcher Nick Fuentes bobbling the pitch. 

"Look, we didn't play our cleanest baseball game by any stretch," Rays manager Kevin Cash said after Game 2. "We pride ourselves on doing everything we can to support the pitchers and making plays behind them. Today was probably not our best day."

The Milwaukee Brewers won 103 games in the regular season and posted the best run differential in baseball. They regularly come from behind to win. They create their own breaks so often. No team can expect to beat them in the playoffs by giving them gifts the way the Rays did in Game 2 of the World Series. It was unacceptable.

Let's not get things twisted, though. The Brewers deserved to win this game and deserve to be up 2-0 in this series, just as they are. They are the better team and have played like it. 

Even if that send of Hicks to home was a bad decision, Chourio's throw was excellent, as was the work at home plate by Contreras. Also, the Rays scored four runs in the first inning and didn't score again. That's some outstanding mound work from the Brewers, especially their bullpen. JoJo Romero, Dustin May and DL Hall kept their team in the game before the Brewers tied it and then took the lead and dropped the proverbial hammer with late-inning beasts Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby.

The top of the first inning was a disaster, really, for the Brewers. Logan Henderson gave up four runs in a game for the first time in his (admittedly short) MLB career. Cooper Pratt started the game with a throwing error that opened the door. Hicks crushed a two-run home run to silence the crowd. 

But. 

And there's always a but with these Brewers, isn't there? 

Chourio led off the bottom of the first with a single and the comeback was on. The crowd seemed to sense it was inevitable from the get-go. The noise never wavered. They were electric all night, as if there was never a doubt. For the fans who have watched this team all season, there probably wasn't. 

From the press box, the second Sal Frelick hit his unlikely home run, the game seemed over. That blast merely tied the game, but we might as well have called the rest of the thing off. It was over the second that ball crossed over the center field wall. The Rays were cooked because the Brewers are just too good to be allowed to hang around. 

Even when the Rays got a leadoff double from Jonny DeLuca in the ninth, it never felt like a huge threat. They even got the runner to third base with Yandy Díaz coming to the plate. No matter. Brewers manager Pat Murphy stuck with Ashby and Ashby got the strikeout. 

The Brewers now only need to win two more games before they lose four to secure the first World Series title in franchise history. When they do clinch this thing, it won't be a surprise. It feels inevitable at this point, and if we start to doubt them, they'll remind us with another comeback. That's how relentless they are. No abatement of severity, intensity or strength.