The Dodgers ended their season with a 6-4 loss to the Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, a game that completed Milwaukee’s pennant sweep with heroes, zeroes and other observations:
Zero: Dodger offense – after second inning
In 2004, a crucial stolen base changed everything for the Boston Red Sox.
There was a brief sense that a cathartic swing could lead to similar results for the Dodgers in 2026.
In the bottom half of the second inning on Thursday, Ohtani Shohei hit a long-awaited home run, and the team finally ushered in a breakthrough moment, leading 4-0.
It was the four-time MVP’s first long ball since Aug. 18, ending a 25-game career home run drought. It was also the Dodgers’ first big run of the series and represented their first real sign of recovery after an offensive slump all week.
However, this won’t last long.
As the Brewers stormed back, the Dodgers’ bats mysteriously went cold again.
Former Dodger Dustin May gave up a homer to Ohtani, but then worked a couple of shutout innings. Next, left-hander JoJo Romero came out of the Milwaukee bullpen and pitched several scoreless frames, striking out Max Muncy in the sixth inning and driving his bat into the dirt to put a potential tying run in scoring position.
From that point on, the Brewers just needed one more arm.
Power-throwing left-hander Aaron Ashby entered the seventh and gave up a leadoff double to Andy Pages, but he struck out Ohtani on three pitches and allowed Mookie Betts to bounce on a short ball that stranded him.
The Dodgers got another shot at life in the eighth inning when Will Smith hit a ball into the outside right corner that kicked off Sal Frelick, allowing him to reach third with one out. But Ashby gave in again, allowing a shallow fly ball to Kyle Tucker and a swinging strikeout from Teoscar Hernandez.
In the ninth inning, Ashby returned for the third inning and retired in sequence.
Race, race, race. The Brewers won the National League pennant.
Hero: Jack Bowles
If you’re wondering why this year’s Brewers team is different from last year’s team that was swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS, you need look no further than the Series MVP winner.
Before this season, Jake Bauers was a journeyman slugger who had never batted better than .235 in a season while playing for five different major league teams.
But this year, he shined in Milwaukee’s player development facility, hitting .266 with homers and 86 RBIs.
He’s caused pain for the Dodgers again and again this week, hitting a two-run leadoff homer in an 11-pitch game against Blake Snell in Game 3 after a crucial 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, and several heroic moments to help the Brewers overcome a four-run deficit.
In the fourth inning, he hit a two-run ground-rule double to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half. He erased it with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning, giving him an NLCS-best six RBIs in this four-game series.
Like the rest of the Brewers’ ruthless lineup, he struggled on the pitches, hitting the ball long and putting the Dodgers’ pitching under constant pressure.
For a small-market team that has to find different ways — and underrated players — to win, he epitomizes their success and is the number one reason they won their first pennant in nearly half a century this week.
Unsung Hero: Pat Murphy
Last year, Pat Murphy tried to play the underdog card against the Dodgers.
This year, the Brewers’ manager implored his club to join the fight.
A change in mindset worked. The lifelong baseball player helped Milwaukee upset the NLCS, setting the tone for a team that — at the plate, on the mound, in the field and on the bases — did every little thing right and flipped the script this year.
The Brewers’ victory marked just the second time in MLB history that a team was swept by an opponent in the playoffs and then came back to eliminate them the next year. This is the first time such a sweeping reversal has occurred.
Murphy challenged his team. They responded.
Game statistics: Six
That’s the number of times the Dodgers have taken the lead in this series. Once in the first game. Three times in the second game. after Will Smith’s leadoff double in the sixth inning of Game 3. That followed a four-point outburst in Game 2 on Thursday.
Each time, Milwaukee responded.
The Dodgers never led more than three innings.