Last October, the Dodgers swept the Brewers out of the National League Championship Series (NLCS), the round that decides the NL pennant. Milwaukee hit .118, the lowest average by any team in a postseason series of three or more games, according to Wikipedia.
Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, the roles flipped. The Brewers beat Los Angeles 6-4 and finished a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions.
The Milwaukee Brewers clinched their first National League pennant on Oct. 15, 2026, and will play in the World Series for the first time since 1982. No team in MLB postseason history had swept an opponent that swept it the year before, ESPN reported. Milwaukee faces the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays, starting Oct. 23.
The grudge lasted 363 days, per MLB.com.
How Milwaukee Climbed Out of a 4-0 Hole
Through two innings, Dodger Stadium looked ready for a Game 5. Shohei Ohtani launched a 428-foot, three-run homer off Dustin May in the second, his first long ball of this postseason, AP noted. Los Angeles led 4-0.
Tyler Glasnow looked untouchable too. He retired the first nine Brewers in order, according to CBS Sports.
Milwaukee kept grinding. William Contreras and Jake Bauers hit back-to-back ground-rule doubles in the fourth, balls that bounce over the fence for an automatic two bases.
Two more runs scored in the fifth. David Hamilton singled in one, and Bauers drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 4, MLB.com reported. The rally had five walks and two stolen bases, and not a single home run.
Garrett Mitchell led off the sixth against lefty Tanner Scott and fell behind 0-2. Scott missed with three straight balls to run the count full.
Mitchell crushed the full-count pitch 409 feet to center field. It was the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count, AP reported, and it put Milwaukee up 5-4.
“I’ve always dreamt of moments like these as a kid,” Mitchell said.
From there, manager Pat Murphy leaned on his bullpen. JoJo Romero threw two scoreless innings, and Aaron Ashby worked out of trouble in the seventh and eighth for a three-inning save.
Hamilton added a solo homer off Edwin Diaz in the ninth. Jackson Chourio made a leaping catch on Enrique Hernandez’s fly ball for the final out, and the dogpile followed.
The Brewers-Dodgers Rivalry Finally Flips
Milwaukee had plenty of scar tissue. The Dodgers beat the Brewers in seven games in the 2018 NLCS and swept them in the 2020 Wild Card Series. The 2025 sweep ended with Ohtani’s three-homer, 10-strikeout Game 4.
That made three postseason meetings and three Dodgers wins. This time, Milwaukee came from behind in all four games, CBS Sports pointed out.
The Brewers also outhomered Los Angeles 7-1. The Dodgers scored 11 runs in four games, according to NBC Sports.
| Detail | 2025 NLCS | 2026 NLCS |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Dodgers | Brewers |
| Result | 4-0 sweep | 4-0 sweep |
| Clinching score | Dodgers 5-1 | Brewers 6-4 |
| Series MVP | Shohei Ohtani | Jake Bauers |
| Losing side’s offense | Brewers hit .118 | Dodgers scored 11 runs |
Bauers won NLCS MVP with a team-high six RBIs, according to MLB.com. He sounded as stunned as anyone.
“This definitely feels like a movie,” Bauers said. “I don’t even know where I’m at right now.”
Murphy gave the other side its due. “We went against one of the greatest teams ever assembled, right?” he said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed. “They played flawless,” he said of Milwaukee. His team had been chasing the first NL three-peat of World Series titles, and that chase ended Thursday night.
No Brewers Player Was Born the Last Time Milwaukee Reached the World Series
The Brewers lost Game 7 of the 1982 World Series 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 20, 1982, at Busch Stadium, according to Wikipedia. Harvey Kuenn managed Milwaukee. Paul Molitor had five hits in Game 1, and Robin Yount had two four-hit games, both Series records.
Now the math. Per Baseball Reference, the oldest player on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster is Christian Yelich, born Dec. 5, 1991. That is more than nine years after Game 7.
Gary Sanchez (Dec. 2, 1992) and Brandon Woodruff (Feb. 10, 1993) come next. Everyone else is younger.
The heroes of this run arrived even later. Bauers was born Oct. 6, 1995, and Mitchell on Sept. 4, 1998. Chourio, 22, was born March 11, 2004, more than 21 years after Game 7.
The dugout has its own timeline. Murphy was 23 that October, according to Baseball Reference, and his Wikipedia biography says he coached baseball at Maryville College. Pitching coach Jim Henderson was born Oct. 21, 1982, one day after Game 7.
Forty-four years is older than every player in the clubhouse.
Milwaukee played in the American League back then, so this is the franchise’s first NL pennant. The Brewers were the only one of the 15 current NL clubs without one, ESPN noted.
The team that got here won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season. The Brewers World Series opener on Oct. 23 will be the first Fall Classic game ever played at American Family Field.
A title would be even bigger. Milwaukee is one of five active MLB franchises without a World Series championship, according to ESPN, and Tampa Bay is on that list too. A Brewers-Rays matchup would guarantee a first-time champion.
Cleveland brings its own long wait. The Guardians franchise last won it all in 1948.
Murphy summed up the run on the trophy stage at Dodger Stadium. “They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we got a bunch of gamers,” he said. “And the gamers won this week.”
Four more wins, and 1982 stops being the answer to the trivia question.
