Milwaukee Brewers star talks nearly quitting baseball, heading to the World Series
Milwaukee Brewers star Jake Bauers is speaking out ahead of the start of the World Series this week.
Bauers and his wife, Lauren Bauers, sat down with ABC News’ Will Reeve to discuss his journey, going from nearly walking away from professional baseball in 2024 to being named the National League Championship Series MVP last week.
"I don't think I can say the words that went through my mind on national TV but, no, it was a surreal experience," Jake Bauers said.
The first baseman is a major reason why the Brewers are heading to their second World Series in franchise history, after they defeated the 2025 champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It took years for Bauers to get to this point in his career, however. After a decade spent bouncing between Major League and Minor League teams, including a disappointing season with the Brewers, Bauers almost said goodbye to baseball.
"I was beat up after a long season," Jake Bauers recalled. "[My wife and I] had our daughter. We didn't necessarily know what was next. I was a free agent. There wasn't a lot of interest around the league. And so, I just felt like it could have been time to move on."
Lauren Bauers said she was ready to jump in and help support their growing family at the time.
"I mean, my answer was always, yeah, I'll support whatever you decide," Lauren Bauers said. "You know, I have a teaching background. I used to be a first and second grade teacher, so that was an easy fallback."
A week after Jake Bauers said he called his agent to say he was hanging up his bat, Lauren Bauers found out she was pregnant with their second child, a son, and their considerations changed again.
"The story goes, 'we do need health insurance,'" Lauren Bauers said.
"I have a vivid memory of just making a decision that if I go back and if I continue playing, it's going to be different. I'm going to do it different," Jake Bauers said of what his mindset was then. "And that was really, to me, where just making that decision and commitment to myself and to her and to our kids is where things kind of started to really turn around."
Jake Bauers re-signed with the Brewers in 2025 and this year, the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.
"I said, whatever happens is, that's what's going to happen," Jake Bauers said. "And so, all I'm going to do is go experience it, be the best version of myself that I can be on a day-in and day-out basis and let the chips fall where they may."
This season, the Brewers and Bauers won a franchise record of 103 games and are now four wins away from a World Series title.
"It's been a really rewarding journey," Jake Bauers said of this season. "I think somewhere along the way, we kind of found something within each other and together."
"We call ourselves the average Joes," he added of his Brewers teammates. "We like to just be normal dudes, best friends, hanging out all day, having fun playing baseball, and then, you know, come 7 o'clock, we bear down and find a way to get the job done."
For the first baseman, despite all the ups and downs he has faced, his baseball career has been "perfect."
"I think I would say it's been perfect," Jake Bauers said. "There's a lot of times when things might not necessarily seem to be going your way and then, I think once you kind of get a little bit further away from it and zoom out, you come to see that everything happened exactly how it was supposed to happen."
And for Lauren Bauers, the cherry on top has been seeing her husband not just thrive as an athlete but also as a parent.
"The home runs and everything is so great but watching him come home, playing with them, throwing them in the air is my favorite part," Lauren Bauers said.
The World Series begins Friday with the Milwaukee Brewers facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team Bauers made his Major League debut with back on June 7, 2018.
