The Brewers Rally Late to Complete the Sweep

Los Angeles Dodgers #17 Shohei Ohtani (DH) had a gram-slam home run in the bottom of the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium. This photo is by TGSportstv1.

 LOS ANGELES – To be the champ, you have to beat the champ. The Milwaukee Brewers took that to heart, sweeping the back-to-back defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a wild come-from-behind finish, 6-4 at Dodger Stadium tonight.

It was poetic justice for an emotional Brewers team that was swept by the Dodgers on this same field a year ago in the 2025 NLCS and spent that time hoping, plotting, and believing they were destined for revenge.

“If you get in the ring and you fight a guy and you lose, you remember it,” said Brewers skipper Pat Murphy. “You understand what could have been different. I know this year we weren’t coming in to play patty-cake; we were coming in to try to do everything we could, we were hungry. Yeli(ch) said it early in the season, ‘we better start believing because we’re going to the World Series’ and now we’re right here.”

Thanks to timely hitting and clutch bullpen action late, the Brewers are back in the World Series, ending a 44-year drought, the third-longest in Major League Baseball.

After some pregame lineup shuffling by Dave Roberts, the potent Dodger bats came alive in the second inning with Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez knocking back-to-back singles. Andy Pages came through with a hit that scored Tucker as the powerful Dodger lineup, known for its slugging, opened the game with a slew of hits and base-running to manufacture a 1-0 lead.

The biggest lineup change came in the form of Shohei Ohtani being bumped up to the lead-off spot in the lineup. There had been calls by both media and Dodger fans alike for Ohtani to be benched after struggling at the plate during the playoffs as he battled through injuries, but Roberts trusted his gut and had faith in his former MVP.

Ohtani validated that faith, digging deep and catching a cutter that didn’t quite cut low enough, crushing it 444 feet deep into the right field stands. The struggling Ohtani gave out a primal emotional scream of pure unbridled excitement and happiness as he flipped his bat, and rounded the bases with Dodger Stadium fans energized and the loudest it's been all series. The three-run blast gave the Dodgers an early 4-0 lead.

“It was loud tonight when Ohtani hit the homer, and I thought we woke up a giant,” said Murphy.

Unfortunately for Dodger fans, it was all downhill from there. Tyler Glasnow had tamed the red-hot Brewer bats through three scoreless innings, but in the fourth the wheels began to fall off.

After walking Brice Turang, Glasnow gave up a double to William Contreras, and then red-hot Jake Bauers followed up with a double of his own, scoring two, cutting the lead in half to 4-2.

In the fifth inning, Sal Frelick was walked, then stole second to put himself in scoring position, when Dave Hamilton knocked a base hit, scoring Frelick and ending Glasnow’s night as the Brewers cut the lead to 4-3.

Evan Phillips stepped on the mound hoping to protect the slim Dodgers lead but proceeded to allow Hamilton to steal second, walk Turang and Contreras to load the bases. Roberts then called on Alex Vesia to get the team out of the bases-loaded jam, but instead he walked Bauers, scoring the game-tying run. Vesia calmed his nerves after that, inducing a ground out from Christian Yelich to get out of the inning, stranding three Brewers on base with the game tied 4-4.

In the sixth inning, Tanner Scott was brought in and immediately gave up a deep solo home run to Garrett Mitchell, which gave the Brewers their first lead of the game, 5-4.

With the game in reach, the Dodgers had the go-ahead run at bat several times over the next few innings but failed to capitalize. Stranding runners on base and in scoring position has been a theme every game this series.

On the mound, the Dodgers key 69-million-dollar acquisition, Edgar Diaz, who had been looking like his former elite self after battling injuries most of the season, threw a scoreless seventh and eighth innings to keep the team within striking distance.

In the ninth inning, after getting two outs, Diaz served up a juicy PITCH to Hamilton, who crushed a missile into the right field pavilion, giving the Brewers a 6-4 lead.

On the Brewers side of the mound, Aaron Ashby was called upon for the final three innings. In the bottom of the ninth, he retired the side, with the game ending on a weak liner from Kike Hernandez, ending the Dodgers season and quest for the three-peat.

“For me it never feels good to lose,” said Roberts. “I had a good conversation with the guys in there and told them how proud I was. I’m not used to those consolation speeches. The thing about sports that we all love is no matter how much you prepare and you want it, there are no guarantees. With that, we just got beat in four games.”

The NLCS MVP was awarded to Bauers, whose long, double-digit pitch at-bats and confident clutch hitting against some of the best arms in the game were a pivotal reason why the Brewers were able to defy the odds and not only beat, but sweep the two-time defending champs.

“You think of the pitching staff they have, Yamamoto, Skubal, Snell, Glasnow, and the relief staff, and for these guys to come back from a 4-0 deficit, I think the Dodgers figured out we came out here with a different attitude this year,” said Murphy.

The Newport Beach native Bauers won the MVP award and series in front of both friends and family who made the two-hour drive up north from Orange County to watch and support from the stands. It was a true rags-to-riches moment for a player who went from being designated from assignment a few years ago to NLCS MVP, doing it against Cy Young winners and future Hall of Famers and while being down four runs in the clinching game.
 
“There was never a doubt in that dugout what was gonna happen today,” said Bauers after falling behind by four runs early. “We knew we were going to win that game.”

Milwaukee proved they were the better team and stuck together, chipped away during deficits, but despite winning the pennant, they are aiming higher.

“It feels good; it's great to get to the World Series, but we have bigger goals in mind,” said Thousand Oaks native Yelich. “We’ve got four more wins to get, obviously, enjoy tonight but back to business after that.”

Bauers also has the same mindset going forward in preparation for facing the winner of the American League.

“We won the Division Series against the Cubs, and we celebrated like that was something. The Dodgers swept us and sent us home, and you would’ve thought that was a handshake line at a Spring Training game,” says Bauer. “That’s something that I carried with me, that I remembered, and it was motivation to keep going until there’s not another game left to play.
 
This Dodgers team may have been the greatest team ever assembled from top to bottom, pitching and hitting-wise, but this series showed that they are not invincible; injuries can strike at any time, and if your bats go cold and your pitchers aim isn’t true, even a Goliath can be brought down. The Dodgers salary is more than the remaining three clubs put together, but this off-season will be the true testament to how next season's path will go.

The Brewers will host Game One of the World Series next Friday, October 23rd, at American Family Field in Milwaukee.