Brewers Sweep Dodgers to Win 1st NL Pennant; Earn 1st Trip to World Series Since 1982

The Milwaukee Brewers have swept the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2026 NLCS and with it their first NL pennant.

Tonight, they bested Dodgers 6-4 at Chavez Ravine and with it LA's dream of becoming the first NL club to win three consecutive World Series titles. The Brewers were down 4-0 early in the game on the strength of a 3-run HR by an otherwise struggling Shohei Ohtani.

Milwaukee battled its way back on a Jake Bauers two-run double in the fourth and RBI single by David Hamilton in the fifth to cut the Dodgers' lead to 4-3.

I have been wanting to watch a bit of the post-season at a sports pub near Porter Square, but it's usually dominated by the Bruins, Celtics or college football. While most people were paying attention to the Chargers-Seahawks game, there were plenty of TVs tuned to the Brewers-Dodgers.

I got to the pub in time to watch the Brewers tie it in the bottom of the fifth with a bases loaded walk. In the bottom of the sixth, the Brewers went ahead on a Garrett Mitchell home run. I came back home after that half inning. The Brewers would add an insurance run in the 9th on a HR by Hamilton. 

This is a remarkable achievement by the Brewers considering how they were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS last year. Milwaukee has reached the post-season 8 of the last 9 seasons winning the NL Central title in the last four seasons and five times in six years. But until now the Brewers couldn't punch their ticket to the World Series.

Although this is the Brewers first NL pennant, it is their second trip to the World Series. Of course, the Brewers were originally an AL team and won the AL pennant in 1982 but would lose to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. 

I remember that 1982 Brewers team well. Managed by Harvey Kuenn, it included Hall of Famers Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons. There was also Cecil Cooper, Jim Gantner, Ben Ogilive, Gorman Thomas, Charlie Moore, the DH platoon of Roy Howell and Don Money and AL Cy Young winner Pete Vukovich. 

Back to the present, Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers earned the NLCS MVP. Bauers went 4 for 14 with a HR and 6 RBI. Aside from tonight's bases loaded walk to tie the game, Bauers earned an 11-pitch against the previously invincible Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 that would spark a Brewers rally. In Game 3, Bauers would force Blake Snell to throw 12 pitches before he took him deep for a go-ahead 2-run HR. He was in the middle of the action at the most crucial time in the game. If that doesn't a most valuable player, then nothing does. Perhaps most remarkably, Bauers nearly quit the game after bouncing around with the Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians, Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees before having a career year this season with 26 HR and 86 RBI.

The 2026 World Series will commence a week from Friday. As of this writing, the Cleveland Guardians have a 2-1 lead in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays. Should the Guardians prevail, the World Series will see a contest between a Cleveland franchise which hasn't won a World Series since 1948 against a Brewers club which has never won a World Series since the franchise was originally known as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. Should the Rays prevail, it will be the first World Series since 1980 in which neither team has previously won a World Series.