After 44 years of waiting, the Milwaukee Brewers are returning to the World Series. Their ticket to baseball’s final stage came through an unforgettable 6-4 comeback over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, completing a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions.
Milwaukee trailed by four runs before gradually turning the game around. Garrett Mitchell’s sixth-inning home run put the Brewers in front, David Hamilton added breathing room in the ninth, and Jackson Chourio made the final defensive play on the warning track in left field. The Brewers will open the World Series on October 23 on FOX.
As Chourio settled beneath the last fly ball, Milwaukee radio broadcaster Jeff Levering delivered the emotional call. Levering, who once shared a booth with the late Bob Uecker, announced that the Brewers had captured the pennant and that the World Series would soon be played in Wisconsin.
A Comeback Built on Timely Power
The Dodgers entered the series with a clear reputation for overwhelming offence, but Milwaukee repeatedly found answers. Across the four NLCS games, the Brewers hit seven home runs to Los Angeles’s one, turning the matchup’s expected power advantage completely on its head.
- Garrett Mitchell launched the go-ahead solo shot in the sixth inning of the clinching game.
- David Hamilton drove a ninth-inning homer to make the Brewers’ lead more comfortable.
- Jackson Chourio completed the sweep by catching a deep drive near the left-field warning track.
The result also ended Los Angeles’s attempt to win three consecutive World Series titles. A year after the Dodgers swept Milwaukee in the NLCS, the Brewers delivered the exact opposite result with four straight victories.
Yelich Finally Clears Milwaukee’s Biggest Postseason Barrier
Christian Yelich has been one of the defining players of Milwaukee’s modern era, but the Dodgers repeatedly stood between him and a World Series appearance. Los Angeles had eliminated the Brewers in 2018, 2020 and 2025, giving the veteran hitter plenty of painful postseason memories.
- 2018: Milwaukee lost Game 7 of the NLCS, with Chris Taylor making a key catch for Los Angeles.
- 2020: The Dodgers again ended the Brewers’ playoff run.
- 2025: Los Angeles completed a four-game NLCS sweep.
Yelich joined Milwaukee in 2018, the season that launched the club’s current competitive stretch. This year, the organization named him captain, a recognition that reflected both his seniority and his importance inside the clubhouse.
Throughout the season, Yelich argued that the new group should not be defined by what happened the year before. The players eventually proved that point against the same opponent that had caused the previous disappointment. After the clincher, he pointed to the team’s trust, composure and shared conviction that a comeback remained possible even when the scoreboard looked bleak.
A Different Kind of Milwaukee Offence
Milwaukee’s 1982 club became known as “Harvey’s Wallbangers” because it led the majors in home runs. The 2026 Brewers reached the World Series by taking an almost opposite route during the regular season.
They finished tied for second-last in the majors in home runs, yet scored the second-most runs in baseball. Their attack depended on grinding out plate appearances, extending at-bats and forcing opposing pitchers to work. Outfielder Sal Frelick described the approach in especially colourful terms, saying Milwaukee’s hitters wore pitchers down until they had nowhere left to go.
The sudden burst of power against Los Angeles made the achievement even more remarkable. A club that was not built around the long ball used it at precisely the moments when the pennant was within reach.
Numbers That Explain the Brewers’ Historic Run
Thursday’s victory was Milwaukee’s 170th meaningful game of the 2026 season. The Brewers have won 110 of those contests, including a franchise-record regular season and two rounds of postseason success.
- 103 regular-season victories: the best record in the majors and the highest total in franchise history.
- Three NLDS wins: a series victory over San Diego, which had baseball’s strongest record after the All-Star break.
- Four NLCS victories: a complete sweep of the defending champions.
Milwaukee also produced a postseason reversal that had never previously occurred. The Brewers became the first team in 103 years to be swept by a club one October and then sweep that same opponent the following October. No team had ever responded to a postseason sweep with a sweep of its own until Milwaukee did it against Los Angeles.
The franchise now stands four wins away from its first World Series championship.
From Rebuilding Doubts to a Pennant Celebration
The road to this moment was not always smooth. Team officials still remember a mocking cake delivered to the receptionist at the former Miller Park after Milwaukee won a couple of games in early May during a difficult period. Blue icing reportedly congratulated the Brewers for no longer being the worst team in Major League Baseball.
The joke followed several years of frustration. A promising playoff appearance in 2008 and another strong run in 2011 had raised expectations, but the organization later endured a second-half collapse in 2014, a managerial change early in 2015 and significant turnover among both players and executives.
Assistant general manager Karl Mueller has been part of the organization since 2004, when he joined Ned Yost’s group of analytically inclined young scouts who were known for studying players through VHS recordings. Even he acknowledged that reaching the World Series was difficult to absorb.
The long-term record shows how substantial Milwaukee’s transformation has been. Over the past 10 regular seasons, only the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees have posted better winning percentages. Since Pat Murphy became manager three seasons ago, no team has won more often than the Brewers. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold celebrated the achievement but immediately emphasized that the club’s work was not finished.
The Meaning Behind the Number 44
Owner Mark Attanasio called franchise founder Bud Selig after Milwaukee won Game 3. Selig, now 92, was too excited to sleep and repeatedly described the team as remarkable.
When Attanasio’s ownership group purchased the Brewers before the 2005 season, the club had just completed its 12th consecutive losing campaign. A .500 record in that first season felt almost like a playoff berth. In 2008, Milwaukee ended a 26-year postseason drought, and that Wild Card appearance carried the emotional weight of a championship for many supporters.
The 44-year gap between World Series appearances also carried special meaning because Hank Aaron wore No. 44, including during his two seasons in Milwaukee. Aaron hit the final home run of his record-setting 755-homer career 50 years ago. Alongside Uecker, he later helped encourage Wisconsin lawmakers to build Miller Park and protect the Brewers’ place in the smallest media market in Major League Baseball.
Attanasio saw several moments during the 2026 postseason as signs that the season might be different:
- Ty France’s fly ball bounced off the roof and landed in Chourio’s glove during NLDS Game 1.
- Garrett Mitchell ran down a deep Manny Machado drive to finish the Division Series.
- Jake Bauers, who decided not to retire in 2024 after learning his wife was pregnant, produced a breakout season at age 30 and delivered several major NLCS at-bats.
- The Brewers became the first team to win six comeback games in the opening eight games of a postseason.
Supporters Turned Los Angeles Into Milwaukee for a Night
Brewers fans filled sections of Dodger Stadium for the clincher, and thousands stayed after the final out to watch the team receive the Warren C. Giles Trophy. The travelling support reflected how much the moment meant to a fan base that had waited since 1982.
Joe Stolarczyk watched Game 3 at Hog Creek Bar & Grill in Mosinee. Around 1 a.m., he decided to fly to Los Angeles for the decisive game. When friends did not respond, his brother David Stolarczyk and sister Mary Pilz joined him. They bought tickets while driving toward a flight from Minneapolis and reached seats behind home plate before batting practice ended. Joe had been living in Alaska during Milwaukee’s previous World Series run.
Longtime friends Dave Wuest of Atlanta and Murray Williams of Orange County also made the journey. They have known each other since kindergarten and still remember the disappointment of Milwaukee’s 1982 Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Yelich described the visiting Brewers crowd as electric. That energy will be needed again when Milwaukee hosts the opening game of the World Series, its first appearance on baseball’s biggest stage since 1982.