NLDS Game 3s Tonight: Brewers Go for the Sweep, Dodgers and Braves Tied 1-1

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2026 — October baseball does not do quiet. Tonight the National League Division Series delivers a doubleheader of Game 3s, both on FS1, with two very different kinds of tension. In Atlanta, the Dodgers and Braves play a 1-1 pivot game behind a pair of aces — and the Dodgers have already shaken up their lineup in a way nobody saw coming. In San Diego, the Padres play for their season: down 0-2 to a Milwaukee team that has beaten them twice in Milwaukee and needs one more win to go home and rest. Dodgers-Braves starts at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT) at Truist Park; Brewers-Padres follows at 8:30 p.m. ET at Petco Park.

The acesYamamoto vs. Sale at Truist Park

This is the pitching matchup the postseason is supposed to be about. The Dodgers turn to right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-9, 2.53 ERA), making his first postseason start of 2026, per USA Today. If the name rings October bells, it should: Yamamoto was last year’s World Series MVP and owns a 2.25 ERA across 56 career postseason innings. He has not pitched since his final regular-season outing on Sept. 23, so rust and rest will be the debate until the first pitch.

Across from him stands Braves left-hander Chris Sale (14-9, 2.16 ERA) — the ace Atlanta deliberately held back in Game 2 rather than throwing on short rest, per USA Today and SportsbookWire. The Braves went with a bullpen game Sunday and still won. Now their best arm is on full rest, at home, in a series that has become a best-of-three.

The shakeupOhtani batting fifth? Read it again

The Dodgers’ lineup card for Game 3 is the story before the first pitch, USA Today reported. Shohei Ohtani is batting fifth — the lowest he has batted since 2020, back when he was with the Angels. He went 2-for-8 in the first two games of the series and has been hobbled by knee and triceps injuries in the second half, and manager Dave Roberts is reshuffling against the lefty Sale.

The full Dodgers order: 1. Mookie Betts SS, 2. Freddie Freeman 1B, 3. Teoscar Hernández LF, 4. Will Smith C, 5. Shohei Ohtani DH, 6. Miguel Rojas 2B, 7. Andy Pages CF, 8. Kyle Tucker RF, 9. Kiké Hernández 3B. That means Kiké Hernández starting at third base and batting ninth, with Miguel Rojas sixth at second — Max Muncy and Tommy Edman both out of the lineup against Sale. It is an aggressive lefty-mashing look from a team that has no margin for lineup pride in a 1-1 series.

The seriesHow Atlanta stole one back

The Dodgers took Game 1 at home on Friday, Oct. 3, winning 5-3 behind Tarik Skubal, per USA Today’s live coverage. Then Sunday’s Game 2 flipped the script: the Braves won 3-2 with that planned bullpen game, SportsbookWire reported, getting a huge afternoon from Michael Harris II, who went 3-for-5 with a double and a triple.

It was far from clean. In the ninth, Max Muncy hit a solo homer to cut the lead to a run, and the Dodgers brought the tying run to the plate. Raisel Iglesias slammed the door — getting rookie pinch-hitter Josue De Paula to pop out to end it — and the series traveled to Atlanta level. One-run baseball, a bullpen game that worked, and a closer escaping a ninth-inning threat: that is how you steal home-field advantage back.

The sweepBrewers go for the broom in San Diego

While Atlanta is a best-of-three, the other series is a potential funeral. The Brewers lead the Padres 2-0, and tonight at Petco Park is an elimination game for San Diego, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. First pitch is 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

The pitching matchup: Brewers right-hander Dustin May (7-9, 4.70 ERA) against Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta (3-2, 2.86 ERA). This is the team that won a franchise-record 103 games and earned a first-round bye — Milwaukee has looked every bit like it in the first two games, winning twice despite never having the night feel easy.

The walk-offHow Milwaukee got to 2-0

Game 1 was a 3-2 Brewers win, Reuters reported. William Contreras hit a go-ahead solo homer 406 feet to center with two outs in the seventh off reliever Adrian Morejón on a 3-2 pitch, after Jackson Chourio’s game-tying two-run homer in the third off Robbie Ray — Chourio’s fifth career postseason homer, the most in franchise history. Trevor Megill got the save with what Reuters described as a strange roof-assisted play in the ninth. San Diego went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position — the whole series in one stat line.

Game 2 was worse for the Padres — and louder for Milwaukee. The Brewers won 4-3 on Jackson Chourio’s two-run walk-off single in the ninth off All-Star closer Mason Miller, the Journal Sentinel reported, after Christian Yelich, Sal Frelick and Gary Sánchez all walked ahead of him. Two games, two comebacks, two gut punches. Now the Padres get one night at home to stop the bleeding, or their October is over.

What’s nextThe road to the NLCS

The winners of the two series meet in the National League Championship Series, so every October night from here is a seeding round for a pennant. If the Braves and Padres survive tonight: Dodgers-Braves Game 4 is Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Truist Park, and Brewers-Padres Game 4 is also Wednesday at Petco Park. The decisive Game 5s, if necessary, are Friday, Oct. 9 — Braves at Dodger Stadium, Padres at Milwaukee. The Journal Sentinel published the full series schedules.

One broadcast note for tonight’s opener in Atlanta: Kenny Albert will call Game 3 on Fox, filling in for Joe Davis, who is out with voice issues, per The Athletic via USA Today. It is a loaded Tuesday across sports in general — across the aisle, the Yankees face their own elimination game in the ALDS, Lamar Jackson’s ankle has Baltimore rethinking its season, and the 49ers just took the No. 1 spot in our NFL Week 5 power rankings. But October belongs to baseball. Two Game 3s, two aces, one sweep on the table — first pitch at 6 p.m. ET.