ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras loves his younger brother, William. But he could not bring himself to attend the first four games of the World Series to watch him play.
“I get too nervous. I get anxious,” he said. “It’s not easy to sit out there and watch a World Series. It’s a lot different than playing.”
But with William and the Milwaukee Brewers poised to win the first championship in team history on Wednesday night, Contreras made his way to Tropicana Field.
He saw the Brewers beat the Rays, 4-1, as William was named Most Valuable Player.
“It means a lot,” Contreras told the Globe. “He played the whole playoffs in such an amazing way. I mean, MVP of the World Series? It means a lot to him; it means a lot to me, and it means a lot to our family.”
William Contreras hit .373 with three home runs, nine RBIs, and a 1.037 OPS in the postseason and caught all but two innings. He was 8 for 21 in the World Series and drove in four runs.
Willson Contreras won the World Series as a rookie with the Cubs in 2016. The brothers also teamed up to help Venezuela win the World Baseball Classic in March. That’s a lot of hardware for one family.
“It means a lot. Especially this being the second World Series for our family,” Willson Contreras said. “It means a lot to Venezuela and to our family.”
William Contreras appreciated that Willson made it to the game.
“My brother is my role model. I don’t have a lot of friends. He’s my friend. I love him. I love all the support that he gives me. If I have something to ask somebody, I ask Willson,” he said.
“I follow after him. I always knew that he was going to be here. He wasn’t able to be here for the first couple of games, but he was here for this one.”
The Red Sox exited the playoffs quickly, losing twice against the Yankees in the Wild Card Series. Willson Contreras was disappointed and questioned whether the Sox were too reliant on analytics in making decisions.
“It’s not enough when you have talent or you have data or you have computers telling you what to do. This is baseball, and the data is here to help us,” he said at the time. “But at the end of the day, you’re going to need experience and veteran guys to win games. There’s a lot of stuff that I would love to say, but I’ll stay [with] that.”
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Chad Tracy met with Contreras for more than two hours at Fenway Park four days after his comments.
Breslow called it a “great conversation” but did not divulge details beyond saying, “It was incredibly constructive and covered a wide scope of things.”
Contreras agreed with that characterization.
“After you lose in the playoffs and get kicked out, you get frustrated,” he said. “But it was nothing to take personal. I think we had a great meeting. It’s going to be good for next year. We’re on the same page, which is the most important thing.”
Contreras, 34, is signed through the 2027 season with the Sox holding an option for 2028. He was the team’s most productive hitter this past season, hitting .275 with a .901 OPS, 27 home runs, and 81 RBIs.
“I feel good about things, for sure. One hundred percent,” he said. “Things are in a good place.”
Contreras also said he’s doing well physically and that the nagging injuries he finished the season with have healed.
“I’ve been at the beach. I’m great,” he said. “Now I want to celebrate with my brother. He deserves it.”
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.