LOS ANGELES — The Milwaukee Brewers captured their first National League pennant and punched their ticket to the World Series for the first time in 44 years, overcoming an early deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.
The victory finished off a four-game sweep of the defending champions, sending Milwaukee to the Fall Classic for only the second time in franchise history. The club previously reached the World Series in 1982, when the franchise competed in the American League. Milwaukee was the only active National League franchise that had never won a pennant in the league, ESPN reported.
Rallying past Los Angeles
The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead after Shohei Ohtani struck a three-run home run, breaking out of a prolonged slump, according to Sports Illustrated. However, the Brewers answered by steadily cutting into the margin. Across the four-game series, Los Angeles held six separate leads, and Milwaukee wiped out every one of them.
Milwaukee started its decisive comeback in the fifth inning. Sal Frelick drew a walk, stole second base and scored on a single from David Hamilton. Hamilton later scored the tying run on a walk with the bases loaded. In the sixth inning, center fielder Garrett Mitchell hit the go-ahead home run to right-center field off left-handed reliever Tanner Scott. Hamilton added insurance with a solo home run to seal the 6-4 victory.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Dodgers became just the seventh club in baseball history to drop four consecutive games in a single postseason series without attempting a stolen base, finishing the sweep with a .250 slugging percentage.
Throwback baseball under Pat Murphy
The Brewers reached the World Series by relying on a style rarely seen in modern analytics-heavy baseball. Milwaukee hit 154 home runs during the regular season, the fewest by any pennant winner since the 2015 Kansas City Royals, Sports Illustrated reported. Instead, the team led the majors in singles, ground-ball hits and opposite-field hits.
Manager Pat Murphy, 67, became the second-oldest manager to reach his World Series debut, trailing only Jack McKeon of the 2003 Florida Marlins. Murphy took over the managerial duties in 2024 after previous manager Craig Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs.
“They may have had a lot of Hall of Famers,” Murphy said, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “We have a bunch of gamers. The gamers won this week.”
On the mound, Milwaukee relied on power pitching to subdue Los Angeles hitters. The pitching staff threw fastballs 66 percent of the time at an average speed of 97 mph during the series, leaning heavily on left-handed arms including Aaron Ashby, D.L. Hall and JoJo Romero.
Ending a four-decade drought
In the visiting clubhouse after the game, players celebrated with champagne bottles that carried labels honoring former Brewers players from past playoff teams, including Rollie Fingers, Rowdy Tellez, Jeff Suppan, Curtis Granderson and Jace Peterson, Bleacher Report reported. Former MVP Ryan Braun also joined current team captain Christian Yelich on the field to celebrate the achievement.
“Forty-four years of hope, 44 years of heartbreak, 44 years of believing that we would have our moment, and that moment has arrived,” Braun told ESPN.
Yelich, who was named the first captain in franchise history weeks before the postseason run, noted the resilience of the roster after falling behind early in Game 4. “This place is going crazy and all the momentum’s swinging the other way,” Yelich said, according to ESPN. “And we’re like, ‘Hey, just stay together, guys. This is gonna be a great way to win it. Just chip away. This is gonna be a great story.'”
The Brewers, who won a franchise-record 103 games during the regular season, now hold a 7-1 record in the postseason. Milwaukee will host Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 23 at American Family Field against the winner of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays.
