A week ago, after a grueling five-game battle with their archrival Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers’ celebration took a playful — and pointed — turn. In their team photo, players held up a “W” flag, the Cubs’ own victory symbol, as they advanced to the NLCS. Many reports later revealed the flag had been borrowed from a Brewers fan in the stands, but the viral image quickly became a stinging reminder of Chicago’s elimination. For many Cubs fans, it sparked a dilemma: root against their NL Central rival or back the Brewers as the league’s representative against the hated Dodgers. Milwaukee carried that swagger and divisive energy into the next round, determined to turn mockery into momentum on their path to the World Series.
The NLCS opened with high expectations for Milwaukee because they had swept the Los Angeles Dodgers twice during the regular season going a perfect 6-0. And set a franchise record with 97 wins, rallied from an 0-4 start to reach .500 by late May, and thrilled fans with a midseason surge that included a 14-game winning streak. Yet when the most critical moment arrived — a chance to reach the World Series — karma delivered a soul-crushing reversal in the form of Shohei Ohtani’s transcendent performance and a four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium that ended Milwaukee’s dreams and rewrote baseball history.
There were two contrasting Dodgers storylines in this years NLCS: Shohei Ohtani’s postseason rise and Clayton Kershaw’s farewell tour. In Game 1, Kershaw turned back the clock, striking out eight over seven innings and silencing Milwaukee’s bats one last time in what is his final playoff run. Then in Game 2 Ohtani took center stage, delivering clutch hits and setting the tone for a Dodgers sweep that underscored a changing of the guard so to speak. While the Brewers’ high-powered offense collapsed — scoring just four runs and hitting .118 in the series — the Dodgers, led by Ohtani’s brilliance and inspired by Kershaw’s swan song, advanced with the look of a team carrying both history and destiny on its side.
Yet none of those four games will be remembered like Game 4. The Dodgers sent Shohei Ohtani to the mound on twelve days’ rest, knowing his talent could close out the series. What followed exceeded even the wildest expectations. In the bottom of the first, Ohtani became the first pitcher ever to hit a leadoff home run in a game he started, launching a 98-mph fastball into the right-field pavilion. On the mound, he was just as untouchable—mixing 100-mph heaters with a wicked splitter that baffled Brewers hitters. Over six scoreless innings, he allowed only two hits, no walks, and struck out ten.
After giving up a run in the seventh, Ohtani returned to the plate and crushed his third homer of the game — this one was a solo shot causing him to finish with four RBIs, and ten strikeouts on the mount. No player in baseball history had ever combined three home runs with double-digit strikeouts in a single game.
The Dodgers sealed a 5-1 win, the series sweep, and there second consecutive trip to the World Series. Manager Dave Roberts called it probably the greatest postseason performance of all time, while Brewers starter José Quintana could only say, That guy is from another planet. Writers reached for comparisons — Ruth, Gibson, Jackson — but none matched Ohtani’s unprecedented display of two-way dominance.
For the Brewers, the sweep was a devastating end to a season filled with hope. They had rebounded from the worst possible start, surged to the best record in baseball, and captured a fan base hungry for October glory. Instead, their offense, which had produced power and consistency all year, was silenced. Christian Yelich, often the team’s most reliable bat, struck out eight times and batted just .067 in the series. Willy Adames, the team’s catalyst, went 1-for-16. Their collective slump underscored the merciless nature of postseason baseball.
Here’s the thing, folks: The Brewers have nothing except a beast named Karma to thank for their season being over. Because while they were 6-0 agains the Dodgers in the regular season all of those games were during their mid-season surge which saw them win the Central.
Game 4 will be remembered as the Ohtani Game after he defied the history books and the sweep marked the third time since 2018 that the Dodgers ended Milwaukee’s season, extending the Brewers’ World Series drought to 43 years. Their only Fall Classic appearance came in 1982, when Harvey’s Wallbangers — featuring Robin Yount, Ted Simmons, and Rollie Fingers — fell in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. That team’s power-hitting spirit resonated with this year’s club, but even their collective might couldn’t eclipse the brilliance of one player.
With that… The baseball fans around the world await the outcome of the ALCS as they decide whether or not they will be rooting for the hated Dodgers or their American League opponent.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them.