Entering the postseason as two‑time defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers featured a star‑filled roster that boasted multiple MVPs and Cy Young Award winners, including Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Tarik Skubal, and Blake Snell.
Despite a $412 million payroll, the Dodgers were out‑played by the Milwaukee Brewers, who knocked them out of the NLCS in four games and earned their first World Series appearance since 1982.
How did Milwaukee pull off the upset? Brewers manager Pat Murphy summed it up succinctly:
“Watching these guys start to believe in themselves and know they can win—this is what motivated us. They may have Hall of Famers, but we have a bunch of gamers, and the gamers won this week.”
Milwaukee finished the regular season with a league‑best 103 victories and became the first major‑league team to sweep a postseason series after having been swept by the same opponent the previous year.
Additionally, the Brewers became the first team ever to sweep a best‑of‑seven postseason series while trailing in every game.
“There was never any doubt in that dugout about what would happen tonight. We knew we were going to win that game,” said first baseman Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP.
Aaron Ashby tossed three scoreless innings, earning a save, as Milwaukee erased a four‑run deficit to clinch their first National League pennant and second World Series berth overall. The franchise, which spent 44 years in the American League, had previously appeared in the World Series in 1982, losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
“We were down early tonight, but we knew it was going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We would stay together, chip away, and win this game. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Shohei Ohtani’s first postseason home run put the Dodgers ahead 4‑0 in the second inning, but the Brewers rallied to complete a four‑game sweep of the two‑time defending champions—a reversal from the NLCS sweep they suffered a year earlier.
Los Angeles’s bid for a three‑peat—the first since the New York Yankees of 1998‑2000 and the first ever by a National League club—collapsed under the weight of a sluggish offense and injuries to Ohtani and other key players on an aging roster.
Ohtani snapped out of his postseason slump with a three‑run homer following Andy Pages’ RBI single in the second inning. The four‑time MVP unleashed weeks of frustration, raising his arms and cheering, while the crowd of 49,104 erupted in celebration.
Yet the Brewers were not to be denied. After the game, owner Mark Attanasio reflected on Milwaukee’s storied baseball history.
“It’s so important for the community, the entire state of Wisconsin,” Attanasio said. “We’re standing on the shoulders of Bud Selig and Bob Uecker.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.