Dodgers eliminated as Brewers complete NLCS sweep

LOS ANGELES — It was the kind of Game 4 the Los Angeles Dodgers never expected to play, especially not with their season hanging by a thread.

Facing elimination Thursday night at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers needed a victory to keep their three-peat dreams alive. Instead, they watched a four-run lead disappear, missed three consecutive opportunities to tie the game and ultimately surrendered their season to a Milwaukee Brewers team that refused to let them breathe.

The Brewers defeated the Dodgers 6-4 to complete a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series, ending Los Angeles’ historic championship run and sending Milwaukee to the World Series for the first time in 44 years.

For the Brewers, it was revenge served cold. A year after the Dodgers swept Milwaukee out of the postseason, the Brewers returned the favor on baseball’s biggest stage, dismantling the defending champions with relentless pressure, timely hitting and a refusal to go away.

For the Dodgers, it was an abrupt and painful ending to a season that began with dreams of history.

Instead, the Dodgers are left wondering how a team with so much talent could fall so completely short when everything was on the line.

“We all know we didn't play well,” Max Muncy said. “But for three years straight we left it all out there. The train finally ran out of steam I guess. It just sucks.”

A four-run lead disappears

For a brief moment, the Dodgers appeared ready to extend their season.

Shohei Ohtani, moved back into the leadoff spot after batting sixth in Game 3, provided the early fireworks. After striking out in his first at-bat, Ohtani crushed a three-run home run to right field, igniting the home crowd and giving the Dodgers a commanding 4-0 advantage.

The Dodgers had their cushion. Tyler Glasnow had been nearly untouchable through the opening three innings, retiring his first 10 batters and keeping Milwaukee's offense quiet.

But the Brewers had spent the entire series demonstrating that no deficit was safe and no Dodgers lead was comfortable.

That lesson became painfully clear in the fourth inning.

Glasnow issued a walk to Brice Turang before William Contreras and Jake Bauers followed with consecutive ground-rule doubles, cutting the deficit to 4-2. The Dodgers suddenly looked vulnerable, and Milwaukee sensed an opening.

The decision to send Glasnow back out for the fifth inning proved costly.

After walking Sal Frelick, Glasnow watched him steal second before David Hamilton lined an RBI single into center field. Milwaukee had trimmed the lead to 4-3, and the momentum had shifted decisively.

Glasnow's night ended after 4⅓ innings, allowing three hits, four runs and two walks while striking out six on 79 pitches.

It was an efficient start until it wasn't. With a four-run lead in an elimination game, the Dodgers needed their starter to stabilize the game. Instead, Milwaukee chipped away until the advantage was gone.

“They played a lot better than us,” Glasnow said. “They were hitting on everything.”

Milwaukee delivers the knockout blow

The Brewers completed their comeback in the sixth.

Tanner Scott entered with the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead, but Mitchell wasted little time changing the scoreboard. He opened the inning by launching a solo home run, sending the ball out and putting Milwaukee ahead 5-4.

Five unanswered runs had erased the Dodgers' early advantage.

The Dodgers still had opportunities to respond, but its offense repeatedly failed to deliver in the moments that mattered most.

In the bottom of the sixth, Kyle Tucker doubled and advanced to third, giving the Dodgers a chance to even the score. But JoJo Romero struck out Muncy on four consecutive sweepers, ending the threat and leaving the tying run stranded 90 feet away.

It was the beginning of a devastating pattern.

In the seventh, Andy Pages opened with a double before Kiké Hernández laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to third with one out. The Dodgers were once again one productive at-bat away from tying the game.

Ohtani, however, struck out on three pitches, chasing a ball low and away. Mookie Betts then grounded out to end the inning.

For a team built around star power, the sequence was difficult to comprehend. The Dodgers had the runner, the opportunity and the home crowd behind them. They simply could not find the swing they needed.

Then came the eighth inning.

Will Smith ripped a triple down the first-base line, putting the tying run on third with one out and bringing Tucker to the plate. But Tucker lifted a shallow fly ball that could not bring Smith home. Teoscar Hernández then struck out swinging, leaving another runner stranded at third.

Three consecutive innings. Three runners at third base. Three failures to bring the tying run home.

The Dodgers had spent the series struggling to sustain offensive momentum, and their final innings offered a fittingly frustrating conclusion. At the plate, they looked increasingly impatient, unable to capitalize on Milwaukee's mistakes or manufacture the one hit that could change everything.

One final blow ends the dynasty's pursuit

The Dodgers' last hope disappeared in the ninth.

Edwin Díaz surrendered a solo home run to Hamilton, extending Milwaukee's lead to 6-4 and delivering another blow to a Dodgers team that had run out of answers.

The Dodgers could not recover.

When the final out arrived, the Brewers had completed the sweep, winning four straight games and ending the Dodgers' bid for a third consecutive championship.

The defeat also marked the end of the road for Miguel Rojas, who is retiring after the season. His departure adds another emotional layer to a night already filled with disappointment.

“This is it, this is it as a player,” Rojas said. “I want them to remember me as a guy who always did everything possible to help my teammates win and to help the team get better every single day, so I'm really proud because of that.”

For Rojas, the ending was personal. For the Dodgers, it was a reminder that even the most accomplished teams eventually face the uncertainty that defines baseball.

Money can't guarantee October

The Dodgers entered the postseason with a roster loaded with elite talent and expectations of another championship parade. But money, star power and past accomplishments offered little protection against a Milwaukee team that played better baseball when it mattered most.

Asked whether money buys everything in baseball, Freddie Freeman offered a simple answer.

“Sport isn't guaranteed,” Freeman said. “It's a hard game no matter what the name on the back says. The Brewers played really good baseball. They beat us.”

That was the reality the Dodgers had to confront.

The Dodgers struggled with lineup decisions and roster management throughout the series, while Milwaukee consistently exploited openings and prevented the Dodgers from establishing any sustained momentum. Ohtani's placement at the top of the lineup in Game 4 underscored the search for answers, but no adjustment could reverse the series' direction.

The Brewers were the better team. They executed under pressure, took advantage of mistakes and refused to surrender when the Dodgers appeared to have control.

Ohtani, visibly disappointed after the loss, was already looking toward the future.

“I'm just very disappointed,” he said. “Looking forward to having a better season next year.”

Hernández offered a similar sense of resignation.

“These moments don't get easier, no matter how much you win,” he said. “These moments suck. At the end of the day, we got beat.”

That was the truth of Thursday night.

The Dodgers were not simply denied another championship. They were swept out of the postseason by a team with unfinished business, a team that remembered last year's disappointment and returned determined to write a different ending.

For Milwaukee, the sweep ends a 44-year wait to return to the World Series and opens the door to the ultimate prize.

For the Dodgers, the dream of a three-peat is over.

The stars will remain. The expectations will return. Another season will eventually begin.

But Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, the dynasty's latest chapter ended not with a celebration, but with a four-run lead erased, three runners stranded at third and a Brewers team celebrating on the field.