Dodgers vs. Brewers, Round Two: the NLCS Rematch Is Set and Milwaukee Gets the Death Star Again

MILWAUKEE — FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026 — The National League Championship Series is a rematch, and it's the one Milwaukee has been dreading and dreaming about for a year. The Dodgers closed out the Braves 4-1 on Wednesday night to win their division series 3-1, and hours later the Brewers survived a white-knuckle 3-1 win over the Padres at Petco Park to take their series 3-1. So now it's the two-time defending World Series champions against the 103-win Brewers, starting Sunday at American Family Field — a year after the Dodgers swept Milwaukee in this exact round and held them to four runs in four games.

01 How the Dodgers Got There

It was a pitchers' duel until it wasn't. The Dodgers and Braves were locked 1-1 in the seventh inning of Game 4 when Teoscar Hernández singled to chase Atlanta starter Tyler Mahle — who had been excellent over 6⅓ innings — and the Braves' bullpen promptly walked the bases loaded. Enter Andy Pages, who lined a two-run single up the middle off Robert Suarez to break the tie, as Pitcher List detailed. That was LA's first hit with runners in scoring position in the entire series after an 0-for-14 start, according to Reuters. Max Muncy added a no-doubt solo homer in the ninth — his 19th career postseason home run, per MLB — and Edwin Díaz slammed the door.

The Dodgers are now in their third straight NLCS, and they're chasing something no National League team has ever done: three consecutive World Series titles, as Reuters noted. For the full story of the clincher, read how LA finished off Atlanta.

02 How the Brewers Got There: The Garrett Mitchell Game

If the Dodgers' clincher was methodical, Milwaukee's was pure October theater — and it had one star. Garrett Mitchell drove in Sal Frelick with the Brewers' first run in the third, then led off the fifth with a triple just inside the first-base line off Robbie Ray and scored the go-ahead run on Jackson Chourio's single, per Reuters. Chourio's hit was his 17th career postseason RBI, breaking Ryan Braun's franchise record, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Then came the eighth. Manny Machado, with Fernando Tatis Jr. on first, crushed a 406-foot drive off Abner Uribe that looked like a game-tying two-run homer — until Mitchell tracked it to the wall in right-center and reached up to bring it back, as the Associated Press reported. "I knew the wall isn't as high as at other fields," Mitchell said afterward, cool as you like, amid the beer-soaked visitors' clubhouse celebration. Trevor Megill struck out two in a perfect ninth for his second save of the series, and Brice Turang ended the eighth with an acrobatic catch of a foul popup for good measure.

The Brewers won all four games against the Padres by a combined five runs, per the AP. For the full clincher recap, read how Milwaukee survived Game 4.

03 A Streak Eight Years in the Making Is Dead

Here's the number that tells you what Wednesday meant in Milwaukee: 12. The Brewers' win at Petco Park snapped a 12-game postseason road losing streak dating back to 2018 — tied for the longest in major-league history, according to Reuters. Their first road playoff win since the 2018 NLCS. In one of the most hostile road environments in the sport, per Fox Sports, the best regular-season team in baseball finally won away from home when it mattered.

And make no mistake about what this Brewers team is: 103 wins, the best record in the majors for the second straight season, and a 4-3 edge over the Dodgers in their seven regular-season meetings, per the Journal Sentinel. This is not the plucky underdog of years past. This is the best team in baseball by record, with home-field advantage in the NLCS, going up against the two-time defending champs who swept them a year ago.

04 The Rematch Nobody Forgets

Last October, the Dodgers swept this series in four games and the Brewers scored four runs total, as Reuters reported. That's the kind of humiliation that either breaks a team or forges it. Milwaukee responded by winning 103 games and earning the rematch on their own field. The Brewers haven't been to the World Series since 1982 and have never won one — or, for that matter, an NLCS, per the Milwaukee Business Times.

Game 1 on Sunday is lined up as a heavyweight pitching matchup: Tarik Skubal — the reigning Cy Young winner the Dodgers added at the deadline, out from under Milwaukee's own pursuit — against Brewers flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, with first pitch set for 8:08 p.m. ET on FS1, according to Pitcher List. For more on what this rematch means for both sides, read our NLCS rematch preview.

05 The Schedule

Games 1 and 2 are Sunday and Monday in Milwaukee, then the series shifts to Dodger Stadium for Games 3, 4 and 5 (Oct. 14-16), with Games 6 and 7 back in Milwaukee if needed, per USA Today. The winner goes to the World Series. The loser goes home to think about what might have been — and in Milwaukee's case, about whether last year's sweep was a fluke or a preview.