Why the Milwaukee Brewers Smoked Cigarettes Before Every World Series Game: ‘Ready to Rock’

The Milwaukee Brewers had an unconventional — and unhealthy — warmup drill before each game of the World Series: smoking cigarettes.

Before the team beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 on Wednesday, October 28, the “Brew Crew” incorporated cigs into their batting cage pre-game routine, according to player Christian Yelich.

“You walk by the cage and see the cigs lit and you’re like, the boys are ready to rock,” the designated hitter, 34, shared in an interview with ESPN.

The outlet said the team viewed the lung darts as good luck charms, noting that “plumes of smoke” filled the air around the batting cage before every game. Per their reporting, the players believed that “if they smoke heaters in the cage, they’ll smoke heaters in the game.”

“Heaters,” of course, is both slang for cigarettes and fastballs. To “smoke heaters” in baseball means to hit a fastball — which the Brewers did. According to ESPN, Milwaukee hit .278 with a .742 OPS against fastballs, while Tampa Bay hit .159 and OPS’d .395 throughout the Fall Classic.

Throughout the postseason playoffs, meanwhile, the Brewers came out victorious with an 11-2 record, going 3-1 against the San Diego Padres, 4-0 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and, eventually, 4-1 against the Rays, winning their first World Series ever in the process.

While ESPN also noted that cigarette use has dropped dramatically in the league, they added that “every clubhouse in MLB features at least one player who relishes a dart now and again.”

Just last year, several members of the Cleveland Guardians were also seen in photos posted by TMZ ripping cigarettes in the locker room after winning the AL Central.