Brewers Reach First World Series Since 1982 After Sweeping Dodgers

The Milwaukee Brewers are going to the World Series for the first time since 1982 after sweeping the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Milwaukee completed the four-game sweep with a 6–4 win at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, winning the franchise’s first National League pennant and ending Los Angeles’s bid for a third straight title. The Brewers, who led the major leagues with 103 regular-season wins, had a week off before hosting the World Series opener on October 23.

A familiar comeback

Game 4 followed a pattern that had come to define the Brewers’ postseason. The Dodgers took a 4–0 lead in the second inning on a three-run home run by Shohei Ohtani, his first of the playoffs. Milwaukee chipped away with two runs in the fourth, then tied it in the fifth before Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth. David Hamilton added an insurance homer in the ninth, and the bullpen closed it out.

It was the sixth time in the Brewers’ seven postseason wins that they came from behind. They became the first team in Major League Baseball history to sweep a best-of-seven series in which they trailed in every game, and the first to sweep a postseason series a year after being swept by the same opponent.

Relievers DL Hall, Trevor Megill and Aaron Ashby were central to the run. Ashby pitched three scoreless innings for the save in the clincher. Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP after delivering key hits against the Dodgers’ pitching staff, while Mitchell’s home run became the defining moment of the series.

What it means

The result ends an era of frustration for Milwaukee, which had been eliminated by Los Angeles three times in the previous decade, including a sweep a year earlier. The pennant gives the franchise its second World Series appearance and its first since it played in the American League in 1982, when it lost a seven-game series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Manager Pat Murphy credited his players’ character and their refusal to be intimidated. “They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers,” he said. “And the gamers won this week.”

The Dodgers’ goal of a third consecutive title, something no National League team has achieved, ended with an offence that misfired and injuries to Ohtani and others on an aging roster.

Milwaukee’s bullpen has been the backbone of the run, repeatedly protecting leads and keeping games close long enough for the offence to rally. The group held the Dodgers scoreless across the late innings in the clincher, ensuring the comeback stood.

The Brewers’ path has been built on depth rather than star power, with contributions from throughout the lineup and a pitching staff that has answered every challenge. That balance has made them one of the season’s most complete teams.

The Brewers will face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays, whose American League Championship Series was delayed by rain and level at two games to one in Cleveland’s favour entering the weekend. Game 1 of the World Series is set for Milwaukee.

Sources

Reports from the Associated Press, MLB.com, NPR and Baseball Reference (October 2026).