The Milwaukee Brewers are headed back to the World Series for the first time in 42 years, and they got there by doing something just as emphatic as it sounds: sweeping the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers out of the NLCS.
Milwaukee closed out Game 4 with a 6-4 win, finishing off the four-game set and sending Los Angeles home. The Brewers even made it interesting after digging themselves into a four-run hole just two innings in, then storming back the way they’ve done so often this season.
This wasn’t a fluke run from an overlooked club, either. Milwaukee won 103 games in 2026 and owned homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
Pat Murphy: “They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers.” pic.twitter.com/5rGfNGxclL
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) October 16, 2026
Still, the Dodgers entered the series looking like the standard in October, especially after back-to-back World Series titles. Instead, the Brewers answered the challenge by sweeping them a year after getting bounced in four games in the NLCS themselves.
After the clincher, manager Pat Murphy put the difference in blunt terms during the Brewers’ NL pennant celebration.
“They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers,” Murphy said, per Curt Hogg of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That line fits this group. The Brewers don’t look overwhelmed when they fall behind; if anything, that’s when they seem to settle in. Giving up runs appears to light the fuse.
Now Milwaukee gets a breather while waiting for the winner of the ALCS between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians. The Brewers are four wins away from the franchise’s first World Series title, and after this kind of run, they’ve made it clear they’re not going quietly.
In Other News...
Brewers World Series Return Just Created A Rare Milwaukee Sports Moment
Major League Baseball has already started shaping the 2026 calendar around a Brewers team that has put Milwaukee in an unusual spotlight. With the World Series set to begin at the end of October, the league announced all seven games will start at 8 p.m. Eastern, and Milwaukee would have the first two games at home if the Brewers get there. The Cleveland Guardians or Tampa Bay Rays would host the middle portion depending on how the American League Championship Series plays out.
The ripple effect reached across town, where the Bucks adjusted their home opener to make room for a potential citywide overlap. Their game was moved from 7 p.m. Central to 3 p.m., a rare scheduling move that gives Milwaukee fans a chance to keep one eye on the court and another on a possible October baseball run. It is the kind of crossover moment that only comes around when a team is deep enough into a postseason chase to force everyone else in the city to plan around it. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers World Series Breakthrough Came With A Tribute Milwaukee Fans Felt
Bob Ueckers absence has lingered over Milwaukee all season, and with the Brewers heading to the World Series for the first time since 1982, the timing has given this run a deeper emotional charge. Uecker, who died in January 2025, was so tied to the franchise that every big moment has felt inseparable from his voice, his humor and the decades he spent turning Brewers baseball into something larger than the box score.
Jeff Levering understood the setting when the pennant was clinched, and his tribute during the moment landed the way only a Milwaukee call could. For fans, this is no longer just a chance to celebrate a breakthrough that has been more than four decades in the making. It is also a way to carry Ueckers legacy into October, with the citys most familiar baseball voice still echoing through its biggest stage. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Saw Why The Dodgers Face A Huge Skubal Decision
The Dodgers went all-in on Tarik Skubal before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, bringing in the left-hander to firm up a rotation they believed could carry them through October. For much of the stretch run, he looked like the kind of difference-maker they had in mind, and his presence only added to the sense that Los Angeles had done enough to chase another deep postseason run.
Then came the NLCS, where Milwaukee swept the Dodgers and turned the focus from what Skubal brought on the mound to what comes next around him. The uncertainty now is bigger than one October stumble, because the Dodgers still have to figure out how long they can actually keep him in the fold with the landscape around the sport potentially changing in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]