Milwaukee rallied from 4-0 down in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions at Dodger Stadium.
By The Beat Writer — CelebnMusic247
LOS ANGELES — There will be a new champion in baseball this fall, and for the first time in 44 years, Milwaukee will play for the title.
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday, October 15, in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, completing a four-game sweep and winning the franchise’s first National League pennant. According to Reuters, it is Milwaukee’s first World Series appearance since 1982, when the club was still in the American League and lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
For two innings, the night looked like a Dodgers revival. Andy Pages put Los Angeles ahead with a one-out RBI single in the second inning, and Shohei Ohtani, back in the leadoff spot, followed with a three-run home run for a 4-0 lead, per Reuters. It was the kind of early burst that had powered Los Angeles through back-to-back titles, and the Dodgers were chasing history as the first National League club to win three consecutive World Series, according to Reuters.
Milwaukee cut the deficit in half in the fourth on a two-run double by Jake Bauers. In the fifth, David Hamilton singled in a run to make it 4-3, and Bauers later drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game 4-4.
The lead changed for good in the sixth. Garrett Mitchell, a Southern California native and UCLA alumnus, led off against Tanner Scott with a home run that put Milwaukee ahead 5-4, according to Reuters. Hamilton added insurance in the ninth with a home run off Edwin Diaz for the final 6-4 margin.
Just as important was what Los Angeles did not do after the second inning. Reuters reported that four Milwaukee pitchers held the Dodgers scoreless over the final seven innings in a bullpen game guided by catcher William Contreras. JoJo Romero earned the win with two innings of work, and Aaron Ashby closed the final three innings for his second save of the postseason.
Los Angeles still had chances, wasting doubles by Kyle Tucker in the sixth and Pages in the seventh, per Reuters. In the eighth, Will Smith reached third as the potential tying run with one out, but Ashby retired Tucker on a shallow fly ball and struck out Teoscar Hernandez.
Bauers was named NLCS MVP after going 4-for-14 (.286) with one home run and six RBIs, according to Reuters. Ohtani also struck out three times while playing through knee and biceps discomfort that will be addressed in the offseason, per Reuters.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy framed the upset in roster terms at the trophy presentation, telling reporters, per Reuters: “They have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we have a bunch of gamers.”
CNN noted the financial contrast behind that line, reporting Milwaukee’s roster cost about $143 million, 19th in MLB this year. Now the Brewers get rest and home field to start the Fall Classic. According to Reuters, Milwaukee will open the World Series at home on October 23 against the winner of the American League Championship Series between Cleveland and Tampa Bay. Cleveland holds a 2-1 lead in that series after a 3-2 win on Thursday.
For Milwaukee, the job is not finished — the franchise has never won a World Series. But after being swept by Los Angeles in last year’s playoffs, per CNN, the Brewers returned the favor in Los Angeles, and they did it from 4-0 down with the season’s biggest prize now four wins away.
