The Brewers are two wins deep into the NLCS, and if they’re going to turn that start into the franchise’s first National League pennant, Jake Bauers looks like the bat built to help finish the job.
Milwaukee has already taken Games 1 and 2 from the Dodgers, but the opener’s 2-1 finish was never going to be a sustainable blueprint. Brice Turang’s solo homer, a Luis Lara go-ahead base hit and a shutdown bullpen were enough to steal Game 1, yet the reality is simple: Los Angeles is not going to keep living on one run a night.
The Dodgers scored 14 runs in their 3-1 series win over the Atlanta Braves to get here, and they added four more in Game 2. If the Brewers are going to end this series, they’re going to need offense that travels.
That is where Bauers comes in.
He’s not the headline superstar on this roster. Outside of Jacob Misiorowski in the rotation, Milwaukee doesn’t really have one of those.
What the Brewers do have is a group of players hanging just below that level, and Bauers has forced his way into that group this year. The 31-year-old has turned a long, unsettled career into his best season yet, and the numbers are loud: 28 home runs, 86 RBIs, 144 games, a .389 on-base percentage, and team highs in homers and 50 extra-base hits.
That kind of production matters even more because of where he came from. Bauers had played for five teams across six years before settling in Milwaukee, and going into the 2026 season he had 58 home runs in 613 career games.
Last year offered the first real sign that he could hit enough to stay in a full-time role. This season, he made the leap from fringe starter to everyday force.
The underlying data backs it up. According to Baseball Savant, Bauers is smashing the ball with authority, landing in the top 10 percent of major-league hitters in hard-hit percentage, average exit velocity, barrel percentage, sweet-spot percentage and bat speed.
His bat speed climbed to a career-best 76.5 miles per hour, and his launch angle dropped to 12.1 degrees after sitting at 22.6° two years ago. In plain terms, more of his contact is being driven with the kind of trajectory that turns loud outs into home runs.
There’s also the continuity factor. Bauers is working with the same major-league coaching staff for the third straight year, something he hadn’t had before this stretch in Milwaukee. That stability has clearly mattered.
Even in a series where the Brewers have done enough to stay ahead, they still need one swing that changes everything. Milwaukee can be pesky, and Bauers can be part of that.
He helped keep the line moving in Game 2, while Christian Yelich delivered the hit that flipped the scoreboard. But sooner or later, the Brewers are going to need the crooked number, the kind that lets them put the Dodgers away with force.
If that moment arrives, Bauers is the most likely man to supply it.
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