The Milwaukee Brewers swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, ending the Dodgers' season and advancing to their first World Series since 1982.
Brewers' historic sweep
Milwaukee became the first team to avenge an NLCS sweep by returning the favor against the same team the next season. The Brewers, who posted a franchise-best 103 wins during the regular season, dethroned a club that was favored to become baseball's first true dynasty since the millennium.
In Game 4, with the Dodgers holding a 4-0 lead, Jake Bauers hit a double against Tyler Glasnow in the fourth inning, cutting the lead in half. In the fifth, Bauers drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Garrett Mitchell's sixth-inning solo home run gave Milwaukee a lead that held, and Aaron Ashby secured a three-inning save.
Dodgers' stars struggle
Shohei Ohtani, the four-time MVP, went homerless from late August until Thursday and was dropped to sixth in the batting order for Game 3. In the seventh inning of Game 4, with Kiké Hernández 90 feet from tying the game, Ohtani swung at an Ashby slider that missed the strike zone. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman also hit lightly, and the lineup collectively posted a .590 OPS in the series.
Manager Dave Roberts, after the game, told Fox: "The great thing about what we do is, you can try as much as you want, want it as bad and there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing guaranteed."
Payroll and postseason reality
The Dodgers won 100 games this season but were 38-37 against teams above .500 and hit into an MLB-worst 128 double plays. Their payroll exceeds the combined payrolls of the Rays, Guardians, and Brewers. Despite signing Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz for $309 million and trading for Cy Young Award winner Tariq Skubal, the Dodgers could not overcome the Brewers.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy, before celebrating, said: "They got a bunch of Hall of Famers. We got a bunch of gamers." The Brewers now await the winner of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians.
