LOS ANGELES, CA — Seconds before his team sprayed him with champagne Thursday night to the point of camera equipment damaged, Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy shouted to each Brewer goggled up in the visiting clubhouse of Dodger Stadium: 

“They got a bunch of Hall of Famers, we got a bunch of gamers.” 

“In my lifetime, I couldn’t be more proud of a group of players"#WinOurWay pic.twitter.com/IzvIZ2X1Qx

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 16, 2026

The party had begun right then in there, however for all of the Brewer faithful, the celebration kicked off as soon as Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, a 6-4 Milwaukee win, concluded. 

With Jackson Chourio securing the final out on a Kiké Hernández hard-hit line drive, the Brewers punched their ticket to the 2026 World Series, clinched the National League pennant and sent the Dodgers home packing—the same direction the back-to-back World Series champions sent Milwaukee a year ago via the same result—a clean 4-0 sweep in the NLCS. 

YOUR MILWAUKEE BREWERS ARE HEADING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/9wrVOIy54p

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 16, 2026

After trailing 4-0 after two innings, the Brewers fought back to score six runs and become the first MLB team ever to be swept in one postseason and then sweep the same opponent in the following one. 

Manager Dave Roberts thought it was a good idea to shake up his lineup for NLCS Game 4—installing Shohei Ohtani back at lead-off, Will Smith to cleanup, and October Kiké in the nine hole, who started at third base. 

Roberts, talking about Ohtani and LA’s lineup changes overall, stated pregame, “Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at. I think getting back to what we’ve done all year and how it’s been going recently as far as on the offense, I think it warranted just a little bit of a shakeup.”

And it worked as Ohtani clobbered a second inning three-run home run 428 feet into the right field pavilion to give the Dodgers a big 4-0 lead after Andy Pages had gotten Los Angeles on the board first on a one run single. 

SHOTIME. #NLCS pic.twitter.com/6VpCb0uU66

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 16, 2026

Dodgers NLCS Game 4 starter Tyler Glasnow, retiring the first ten Brewers until walking Brice Turang in the fourth, then gave up back-to-back ground-rule doubles to William Contreras and Jake Bauers, making it 4-2. 

In the next inning, Milwaukee did what they have done all year: manufacture a run. A walk to Sal Frelick, who stole second, and a run-scoring single by number-nine hitter David Hamilton pushed it to a one-run game, 4-3.

And that was it for Glasnow.

But not for the Brewers, who scored two more runs in the next inning on three walks, a stolen base, and one hit to tie the game at 4-4. Their next time up in the sixth, Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead 409-foot HR over the center field wall to hand Milwaukee the lead, 5-4. 

GARRETT MITCHELL WILL NOT BE DENIED pic.twitter.com/pTKyUKW7kM

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 16, 2026

The icing on the cake though was in the ninth, a 402-foot solo blast by Hamilton. The nail in the coffin on LA’s goal in extending the series and hope for a World Series three-peat. 

“There was never a doubt,” said Bauers, who was named the NLCS MVP, recording a hit in all four games and six RBI total—tying for the most ever by a Brewer in a single postseason series—Chourio (2026 NLDS & 2025 NLDS), Ryan Braun (2011 NLCS), Cecil Cooper (1982 World Series), and Robin Yount (1982 WS). 

“There was never a doubt what was going to happen in the dugout tonight. We knew we were going to win that game.”

The Dodgers had chances to score in four different innings with runners in scoring position and fewer than two outs, but couldn’t get it done because of Milwaukee’s powerful bullpen. 

And Los Angeles did play well enough to win, but just couldn’t adjust to any arm Murphy and the Brewers had opted to deploy out of the ‘pen. 

A theme in each of the four contests—2-1 (Game 1), 7-4 (Game 2), 6-2 (Game 3) and 6-4 (Game 4). 

“They just out pitched us, out hit us, played better defense and didn’t make any mistakes or walk many guys,” said Roberts.

“For me, there’s nothing to be ashamed of and it’s not from lack of care, want, preparation and that’s sport. That’s the great thing about what we do—you can try as hard as you want and want it as badly and there’s nothing guaranteed. That’s the thing, the uncertainty is what fans love, media loves and that’s what competitors love.”