In the long arc of baseball's postseason drama, the Milwaukee Brewers — a team built on craft rather than celebrity — stand at the threshold of history, needing one more victory to eliminate the storied Los Angeles Dodgers from the National League Championship Series. What has unfolded at Dodger Stadium is a quiet reckoning: a roster of fundamentals overwhelming a constellation of stars, with Shohei Ohtani struggling and the ghost of 2004 looming over the only manager who lived it. Thursday night, the Brewers seek to close the door; the Dodgers must find something they have not yet shown.
Brewers seek NLCS sweep of Dodgers in Game 4 Thursday
The Brewers have mopped the floor with the star-studded Dodgers.
Mark
So the Brewers are one win away from the World Series. What makes them different from the Dodgers, who have all the star players?
Mimi
Milwaukee doesn't rely on one or two superstars. They win with pitching, defense, and timely hitting. In Game 3, they showed they can hit for power too—three homers in one night.
Luke
But let's be careful here. Three homers in one game doesn't mean they're a power team. That's an outlier performance. The real story is they've been disciplined and the Dodgers have been sloppy.
Mark
What about Ohtani? He's supposed to be the best player in baseball.
Mimi
He's been invisible this postseason. .150 average, no extra-base hits through six games. He's not the player the Dodgers paid for.
Luke
One thing to note: we don't know why. Is he injured? Is he pressing? The reporting doesn't tell us. We just know the numbers.
Mark
Only one team has ever come back from 3-0 down. That's the 2004 Red Sox, right?
Mimi
Yes, and their manager was Dave Roberts. He's now managing the Dodgers. So he knows what it takes to come back, but he's also the only person who's lived through it.
Luke
That's a neat detail, but it's also just history. It doesn't predict Thursday. The odds favor Milwaukee, and for good reason.
Mark
What's the pitching matchup look like?
Mimi
Drohan is a rookie making his postseason debut. May will come in after him. Glasnow has been shaky in the playoffs his whole career.
Luke
Drohan has never pitched in October before. That's a real unknown. And Glasnow's postseason ERA is 4.27. Neither starter inspires confidence, but we're comparing two unproven or underperforming arms.
Mark
So it comes down to which team wants it more?
Mimi
It comes down to which team executes. The Brewers have been executing. The Dodgers haven't.
Luke
And which team's bats stay hot. Milwaukee's power surge in Game 3 was real, but can they repeat it? That's the question nobody can answer yet.
The Pulse
- Milwaukee needs just one win to reach the World Series, and only a single team in MLB history has ever clawed back from a 3-0 deficit — making the Dodgers' situation nearly unprecedented in its desperation.
- Game 3 turned on a stunning seventh-inning eruption: back-to-back home runs by Bauers and Mitchell shattered Blake Snell's perfect stretch and flipped a deficit into a commanding lead, exposing the Dodgers' fragility at the worst possible moment.
- Shohei Ohtani, the franchise's $700-million symbol of hope, is batting .150 in the postseason with no extra-base hits — a silence that echoes loudly through a lineup that cannot afford it.
- The cruelest irony hangs over Dodger Stadium: Dave Roberts, the manager who must now orchestrate the impossible comeback, is the same man who pulled it off as a player with the 2004 Red Sox against the Yankees.
- Game 4 pits a rookie Brewers opener against a Dodgers starter with a troubled postseason record, and betting markets have already tilted toward Milwaukee — the Brewers are playing loose, the Dodgers are running out of answers.
In the long arc of baseball's postseason drama, the Milwaukee Brewers — a team built on craft rather than celebrity — stand at the threshold of history, needing one more victory to eliminate the storied Los Angeles Dodgers from the National League Championship Series. What has unfolded at Dodger Stadium is a quiet reckoning: a roster of fundamentals overwhelming a constellation of stars, with Shohei Ohtani struggling and the ghost of 2004 looming over the only manager who lived it. Thursday night, the Brewers seek to close the door; the Dodgers must find something they have not yet shown.
The Milwaukee Brewers came to Los Angeles on Thursday night carrying a 3-0 series lead and the quiet confidence of a team that has already proven something. Built on pitching and fundamentals rather than marquee names, they have methodically taken apart a Dodgers roster full of recognizable stars, and one more win would send them to the World Series.
Game 3 told the story cleanly. Jackson Chourio homered on the very first pitch of the game, and Milwaukee absorbed a 2-1 deficit into the seventh inning before Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell went back-to-back off Blake Snell — the first home runs the veteran left-hander had surrendered all season. Those two swings turned the game, and Milwaukee walked away with a 6-2 road victory. Cooper Pratt, a shortstop with modest regular-season numbers, went 3 for 4 and added a stolen base. The Brewers looked like a team playing without fear.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, are searching for answers they haven't found. Shohei Ohtani — the franchise's defining acquisition — is hitting .150 through six postseason games, with no extra-base hits and a quiet presence where thunder was expected. The historical shadow over the series is almost poetic: the only team ever to overcome a 3-0 deficit was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and the man who must now engineer that same miracle for Los Angeles is Dave Roberts, who was on that very Red Sox team.
Thursday's Game 4 sends rookie Shane Drohan to the mound in an opener role for Milwaukee, with Dustin May expected to carry the bulk of the innings. The Dodgers counter with Tyler Glasnow, whose postseason record — 2-6 with a 4.27 ERA — offers little comfort. Betting markets opened favoring Milwaukee. The Brewers are loose and playing with momentum; the Dodgers face the kind of night that, if it goes wrong, will echo for years.
The Milwaukee Brewers arrived at Dodger Stadium on Thursday evening with a chance to end one of baseball's most storied franchises' season in a single night. They held a 3-0 series lead in the National League Championship Series, needing just one more victory to advance to the World Series. First pitch was scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
What has unfolded over the first three games reads like a reckoning. The Brewers, a team built on fundamentals and pitching rather than star power, have methodically dismantled a Dodgers roster loaded with recognizable names. In Game 3 on Wednesday, Milwaukee won 6-2 in Los Angeles, a victory that came as a road underdog at +156 odds. The Brewers' power stroke was the story: three home runs that turned the game on its head. Jackson Chourio, the left fielder, connected on the first pitch of the game—his second postseason homer. Then in the seventh inning, first baseman Jake Bauers and center fielder Garrett Mitchell went back-to-back, a two-run shot followed by a solo blast that transformed a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Shortstop Cooper Pratt, who batted just .281 in 228 regular-season at-bats, finished 3 for 4 with a run and a stolen base.
The Dodgers' starting pitcher, Blake Snell, had been nearly untouchable until that seventh-inning collapse. The veteran left-hander had retired 14 consecutive batters before Bauers and Mitchell ended his night. Those three Milwaukee homers marked the first home runs Snell had allowed all season—a notable detail given that injuries limited him to just 10 regular-season starts and one playoff appearance before this series. Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers' marquee acquisition, batted sixth in Game 3 and went 1 for 2. Through six postseason games heading into Thursday, Ohtani was hitting .150 with three hits in twenty at-bats and no extra-base hits.
The historical weight of the moment cannot be overstated. Only one team in Major League Baseball history has recovered from a 3-0 series deficit to win: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who rallied against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. That Red Sox team was managed by Dave Roberts, who now manages the Dodgers. The irony is not lost on anyone paying attention. If Los Angeles loses Thursday, that historical precedent remains untouched.
The Dodgers are not without hope, though the path is narrow. They have Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto lined up for the next two games if they can force a Game 5. But first comes Thursday's matchup: the Brewers will start Shane Drohan in an opener role, with Dustin May expected to follow and pitch the bulk of the innings. Drohan, a 7-5 rookie left-hander with a 4.19 ERA in 33 regular-season games, has never appeared in the postseason. His career numbers against the Dodgers show a 4.66 ERA across three games, including one start. The Dodgers counter with Tyler Glasnow, who was 5-2 with a 3.53 ERA in 13 regular-season starts. Glasnow's postseason resume is troubling: he is 2-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 17 career playoff games.
Betting markets reflect Milwaukee's dominance. The Brewers opened as +130 favorites on the moneyline, meaning a $100 bet would return $130 in profit. The Dodgers sat at -155, requiring a $155 wager to win $100. Over the last two games, the combined score has been 13-6 in Milwaukee's favor. The Brewers are playing with house money, loose and confident. The Dodgers, by contrast, look to many observers like a team running out of answers. A sweep would send the Brewers to the World Series and leave Los Angeles facing the kind of collapse that haunts franchises for years.
Notable Quotes
Drohan is expected to take the mound in an opener role— Tom Verducci, SI.com
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