Can Milwaukee’s Underdogs Complete Baseball’s Greatest Reversal?

The Milwaukee Brewers have returned to the World Series after a 44-year absence, overcoming a four-run deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. The victory completed a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions and delivered Milwaukee its first National League pennant.

Milwaukee will open the World Series on October 23 on FOX. The franchise’s only previous appearance came in 1982, when the Brewers were still members of the American League and lost a seven-game series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

A Comeback That Finished in Hollywood

The Dodgers appeared to have control after building an early 4-0 advantage, but Milwaukee steadily chipped away before taking the lead for good. Garrett Mitchell’s solo homer in the sixth inning broke the tie, while David Hamilton added an important insurance blast in the ninth.

Los Angeles had been expected to hold the power advantage, yet the Brewers hit seven home runs during the NLCS compared with only one from the Dodgers. Their final victory also showcased the bullpen, which protected the narrow lead through the late innings.

• Milwaukee erased a four-run deficit in the deciding game.
• Mitchell supplied the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning.
• Hamilton’s ninth-inning homer created extra breathing room.
• Jackson Chourio caught the final fly ball on the left-field warning track.

As Chourio made the catch, Brewers radio broadcaster Jeff Levering delivered the emotional call. Levering had shared the booth with the late Bob Uecker, and his declaration that Milwaukee had won the pennant instantly became part of the franchise’s history.

The Sweep That Reversed Last Year’s Heartbreak

The result carried unusual historical weight. One year earlier, Los Angeles had swept Milwaukee in the NLCS. The Brewers then returned to the postseason and swept the same opponent, becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to answer a postseason sweep with a sweep of its own the following year.

Milwaukee also became the first club in 103 years to lose a postseason series by sweep and then defeat that same opponent in the next October. The reversal made the achievement more striking than a routine pennant win: the team had transformed its most recent playoff disappointment into its strongest possible response.

The Brewers had already built a remarkable postseason résumé before eliminating Los Angeles. Their six comeback victories through the first eight games represented another first in postseason history, underlining how often this club found a way to recover when it appeared to be in trouble.

Yelich’s Long Road Past Los Angeles

Christian Yelich had been present for several of Milwaukee’s most painful playoff exits against the Dodgers. Los Angeles ended the Brewers’ 2018 season in Game 7 of the NLCS, contributed to another postseason defeat in 2020, and then swept Milwaukee in 2025.

The 2018 loss remains especially memorable because Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor made a pivotal catch. The latest series finally gave Yelich and his teammates a different ending, one that the veteran described as a product of collective confidence rather than one individual moment.

Yelich joined the Brewers in 2018 as the organization entered its modern competitive era. This season, the club surprised him by naming him captain. As the longest-tenured hitter on the roster, he became a bridge between earlier playoff teams and a younger group determined to create its own identity.

His message throughout the season was straightforward: the current team should not be defined by what happened the year before. The sweep provided the clearest proof yet that Milwaukee had built something new.

A Different Kind of Milwaukee Offence

The 1982 Brewers were known as “Harvey’s Wallbangers” because they led the majors in home runs. The 2026 club followed a very different path. Milwaukee finished tied for second-last in regular-season homers, but still scored the second-most runs in baseball.

Instead of depending on constant power, the Brewers wore down opposing pitchers with difficult plate appearances, aggressive baserunning and repeated pressure. Outfielder Sal Frelick described the approach as dragging pitchers through an exhausting battle, an apt description of a lineup that rarely gave away an at-bat.

The sudden home-run surge against Los Angeles added another layer to the run. Milwaukee did not abandon its identity; it simply showed that its offence could win in more than one way when the stakes became highest.

Numbers Behind a Record-Breaking Season

Game 4 was Milwaukee’s 170th meaningful game of 2026. The Brewers had won 110 of those contests, including a franchise-record 103 victories in the regular season, three NLDS wins over San Diego and all four games of the NLCS.

• 103 regular-season victories: the best record in the majors and the highest total in franchise history.
• Three NLDS victories: a series win against the Padres, who had baseball’s strongest record after the All-Star break.
• Four NLCS victories: a complete sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions.
• Four World Series wins still needed: the number required to secure the franchise’s first championship.

The broader transformation is just as impressive. Over the previous 10 regular seasons, only the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees had posted better winning percentages than Milwaukee. Since Pat Murphy became manager three seasons ago, no team had won more often than the Brewers.

President of baseball operations Matt Arnold said the pennant felt real, but his attention immediately shifted toward the next challenge. Reaching the World Series had been the goal for years; now Milwaukee must prepare to finish the job.

From Rebuilding Doubts to a Pennant

The organization’s rise is easier to appreciate against the uncertainty of its past. After playoff appearances in 2008 and 2011, the Brewers endured a difficult stretch that included a second-half collapse in 2014, a managerial change early the next season and significant turnover throughout the roster and front office.

Following a couple of victories in early May during that downturn, one frustrated fan sent a cake to the club’s former Miller Park offices. Its blue icing congratulated Milwaukee for no longer being the worst team in baseball. Team officials did not view the gesture as praise, although some staff members were willing to eat it.

Assistant general manager Karl Mueller has seen the organization’s evolution from close range. He joined the Brewers in 2004 as one of Ned Yost’s analytically minded scouting assistants, studying players through VHS footage. Even after helping build a decade of sustained success, Mueller admitted that reaching the World Series was difficult to absorb.

A Franchise History Written in Number 44

After Milwaukee won Game 3, owner Mark Attanasio called 92-year-old franchise founder Bud Selig at 10:50 p.m. Central time. Selig was too energized to sleep and repeatedly described the team as remarkable.

When Attanasio’s ownership group purchased the club before the 2005 season, Milwaukee had completed 12 consecutive losing campaigns. A .500 record in that first season felt like a breakthrough, and the 2008 Wild Card appearance ended a 26-year postseason drought.

The 44-year wait also carried symbolic meaning. Hank Aaron wore No. 44, including during his two seasons in Milwaukee, and hit the final home run of his 755-homer career half a century ago. Aaron and Uecker later helped advocate for Miller Park, a project that helped preserve Major League Baseball in the country’s smallest media market.

Attanasio pointed to several moments that seemed to shape the championship chase:

• Ty France’s fly ball glanced off the roof before landing in Chourio’s glove during NLDS Game 1.
• Garrett Mitchell made a deep catch on a Manny Machado drive in the NLDS clincher.
• Jake Bauers postponed retirement in 2024 after learning that his wife was pregnant, then produced a breakout season at age 30.
• Bauers delivered several crucial at-bats during the NLCS.

Brewers Fans Made the Clincher Feel Like Home

Milwaukee supporters filled sections of Dodger Stadium and remained after the final out to watch the Brewers accept the Warren C. Giles Trophy. Their presence was especially meaningful for fans who travelled across the continent on short notice.

Joe Stolarczyk watched Game 3 at Hog Creek Bar & Grill in Mosinee. Around 1 a.m., he decided to fly to Los Angeles. When friends did not respond, his brother David Stolarczyk and sister Mary Pilz joined him. They purchased tickets while travelling toward a Minneapolis flight and reached seats behind home plate before batting practice ended.

Joe had been living in Alaska during Milwaukee’s 1982 World Series run. Lifelong friends Dave Wuest of Atlanta and Murray Williams of Orange County also made the trip. They have known each other since kindergarten and still remember the pain of the Brewers’ Game 7 loss to St. Louis.

Yelich called the travelling crowd electric. Milwaukee will need that same energy when the World Series begins, because four more victories now separate the Brewers from the first championship in franchise history.