The Milwaukee Brewers trailed by four runs before most fans had finished finding their seats — and still walked away with a 5-4 win and a commanding 2-0 World Series lead over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Bay jumped on Brewers pitching for four runs in the top of the first inning at American Family Field on Saturday night, the kind of start that would sink most postseason hopefuls. Instead, Milwaukee answered immediately with two runs in the bottom half and chipped away the rest of the way, according to official box scores from both MLB's Stats API and ESPN.

Rays starter Tyler Wells took the loss, falling to 0-2 this postseason, while Brewers reliever Abner Uribe picked up the win and closer Aaron Ashby notched his third save of October, closing out the comeback.

"THE BREWERS ARE INEVITABLE."

That's how ESPN framed Milwaukee's second straight comeback-flavored win in a piece published Sunday morning, as the Brewers now sit two wins from their first championship since 1982. Oddsmakers reacted accordingly — ESPN's betting desk reported Milwaukee's World Series odds jumping to -750 after going up 2-0, reflecting just how lopsided the series now looks on paper.

A Series That Flipped Fast

Few would have predicted this script after Tampa Bay's first-inning outburst. But Milwaukee's bullpen — a strength all October — slammed the door after the early damage, holding the Rays to isolated runs the rest of the way while the Brewers' lineup methodically clawed back the deficit.

The series now shifts to Tampa Bay for Game 3, with the Rays needing to win essentially every remaining game just to force a Game 7. No team has rallied from an 0-2 World Series deficit to win it all in a long time — a statistic Rays players are surely aware of as they fly home facing legitimately long odds.

For a Brewers franchise that has never won a World Series, two more wins would complete a run already being compared, in Milwaukee, to the magic of 1982 — the last time this city saw its team this close. American Family Field has sold out for every postseason date this October, and ticket brokers are already bracing for a possible clinching-game crowd if the series heads back to Wisconsin.

Game 3 is set for Tampa Bay, where the Rays will try to salvage a series that, 24 hours ago, still looked wide open.

How the Rays Lost Control

Tampa Bay's four-run first inning had the makings of a statement — a loud response to dropping Game 1 and a chance to flip home-field momentum before the series even left Milwaukee. Instead, the Rays' bullpen couldn't protect the cushion, surrendering it in pieces across the middle innings while Milwaukee's relievers methodically shut the door. By the time Ashby took the mound for the ninth, the building had already turned into the kind of delirious, foot-stomping scene longtime Brewers fans associate with October runs gone right.

The Rays, appearing in just their second World Series in franchise history, now face a steep historical climb. Tampa Bay's lineup has shown it can produce runs in bursts, as the first inning proved, but doing that consistently on the road against a Milwaukee pitching staff that has tightened up all postseason will be the central test of the next three games.

For Brewers fans who have watched this franchise chase a title since its lone prior World Series appearance in 1982, two wins now stand between four decades of waiting and a parade down Wisconsin Avenue.