The Milwaukee Brewers rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday, completing a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series and securing their first World Series appearance in 44 years.
Jake Bauers started the comeback with a two-run double, and Garrett Mitchell delivered the go-ahead home run. Bauers also drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the fifth inning. The victory came after Milwaukee were swept out of the NLCS by Los Angeles last season.
Brewers roar back from early deficit
“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers veteran Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had few complaints at the loss, saying the 2024 and 2025 MLB champions had been comprehensively outplayed.
“At the end of the day, we got beat,” Roberts said. “We got outplayed in all facets. Those guys played flawless. Defensively they pitched better than we did, they hit better than we did, they slugged more than we did. You’ve got to sometimes just tip your cap.
“I personally told our guys that there’s no apologies, there’s no sorries. We gave it everything we had, and it wasn’t good enough. That’s part of life.”
Pitching staff holds Dodgers scoreless
Catcher William Contreras guided the Brewers’ pitching staff in a bullpen game, and four pitchers held the Dodgers scoreless over the final seven innings. JoJo Romero tossed two innings, and Aaron Ashby handled the final three frames for his second save of the postseason.
“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year. You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”
The Dodgers appeared to be all business in the second inning when Andy Pages delivered a one-out RBI single and Shohei Ohtani added a towering three-run blast with two outs for a 4-0 advantage. Bauers continued his impressive series in the fourth inning with a two-run ground-rule double to cut the Milwaukee deficit in half. David Hamilton cut the Dodgers’ lead further when he made it 4-3 in the fifth inning with an RBI single, ending Glasnow’s night. Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips subsequently loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks. Alex Vesia replaced Phillips and walked Bauers on four pitches to tie the game.
Milwaukee went up for good in the sixth at 5-4 when Mitchell, a Southern California native and UCLA alumnus, greeted Scott with a leadoff home run. Hamilton sealed the victory with a two-out home run in the ninth inning against Edwin Diaz. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.
World Series opener and Dodgers' struggles
The Brewers will open the World Series at home on 23 October against the winner of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays. The Guardians hold a 2-1 lead after winning 3-2 on Thursday.
Milwaukee made their only previous World Series appearance as an AL team in 1982, falling in seven games to the St Louis Cardinals.
Ohtani hit a three-run homer in his return to the leadoff spot but also struck out three times while playing with knee and biceps discomfort that will be addressed in the offseason. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow gave up four runs on three hits and two walks over 4.1 innings. He struck out six. Tanner Scott gave up Mitchell’s go-ahead home run in the sixth inning.
“I’ve always dreamt of moments like these as a kid,” Mitchell said.
The Dodgers wasted a one-out double from Kyle Tucker in the sixth inning and a leadoff double from Pages in the seventh. Another double combined with an error in the eighth put Will Smith on third base as the tying run with one out. Ashby then retired Tucker on a shallow fly ball and struck out Teoscar Hernandez to end the threat.
