One win from the World Series: Milwaukee's power surge has the Dodgers on the brink
The Brewers lead the NLCS 3-0 after a 6-2 Game 3 victory. The Dodgers are 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position, and only one team in history has climbed out of a 3-0 hole.
- Milwaukee beat Los Angeles 6-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS to take a 3-0 series lead, one win from the franchise's first World Series appearance in 44 years. m:…1133
- Jake Bauers hit a two-run home run off Blake Snell in the seventh inning after an 11-pitch at-bat; Jackson Chourio homered on the first pitch of the game. m:…1133
- Snell had not surrendered a home run in 10 prior starts this year but gave up three in Game 3, including back-to-back seventh-inning shots by Bauers and Garrett Mitchell; the Dodgers are 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position this postseason. m:…8391
- Milwaukee owns the highest three-true-outcomes rate of any team in League Championship Series history (31%), a 14.7% walk rate in the series, and a 1.74 postseason staff ERA, the lowest among the 12 playoff entrants; the club won a franchise-record 103 regular-season games. m:…7473 m:…9730
- The Oct. 15 odds board listed the Dodgers as moneyline favorites over the Brewers at -151 to -162, with a consensus total of 7.5 runs; Game 4 is set for 8 p.m. ET Thursday at Dodger Stadium with Tyler Glasnow starting for Los Angeles. m:…8574 m:…9730 m:…8391
Game 3
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS and now lead the series three games to zero. They are one win away from reaching their first World Series in 44 years. m:…1133
The decisive blow came in the seventh inning, when Jake Bauers hit a two-run home run off Blake Snell after an 11-pitch at-bat. Jackson Chourio had opened the game by homering on its very first pitch. m:…1133
How Milwaukee wins
This is not supposed to be a power team, which is what makes the series strange. Milwaukee won a franchise-record 103 games in the regular season, and in this series it is winning with the highest three-true-outcomes rate of any team in League Championship Series history: 31 percent, alongside a 14.7 percent walk rate. The Brewers have outhomered the Dodgers 5-0 in the series. m:…7473
The pitching has been just as responsible. Milwaukee's staff owns a 1.74 ERA this postseason, the lowest among the 12 playoff entrants, and Chourio has 18 career postseason RBIs. The small-ball instincts survive too: Milwaukee used two sacrifice bunts in Game 1, and William Contreras became the first Brewer with 10 hits in the 2026 postseason. The Brewers are beating the Dodgers at the Dodgers' own game: waiting for mistakes and punishing them. m:…9730 m:…7473
How Los Angeles loses
Snell had not surrendered a home run in 10 prior starts this year. He gave up three in Game 3, including back-to-back seventh-inning shots from Bauers and Garrett Mitchell. The Dodgers' bigger problem is the bats: Los Angeles is hitting 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position this postseason, and the Brewers' team site notes the Dodger stars have underperformed their usual impact. m:…8391 m:…3293
The Dodgers did get one brief rally. Will Smith delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning of Game 3, and Shohei Ohtani followed with a 113.5 mph single in the eighth. Manager Dave Roberts had moved Smith to seventh and Ohtani to sixth in the lineup to lengthen it and disrupt Milwaukee's bullpen matchups. It was not enough, and the Dodgers have yet to hit a home run in the series. m:…4657
The history is unforgiving. Teams leading a best-of-seven 3-0 have won 41 of 42 series; the only comeback was the 2004 Red Sox, a team Dodgers manager Dave Roberts played for. The Dodgers now need to become the second. m:…8391
What the market said
Game 4 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Thursday at Dodger Stadium, with Tyler Glasnow the Dodgers' scheduled starter and closer Edwin Diaz expected to be available, the only reliever who had not pitched in the series. The Brewers had not named a starter. The Brewers' Game 4 preview notes Ohtani is dealing with biceps and knee issues, and the Dodgers do not expect Tarik Skubal or Yoshinobu Yamamoto to be available. m:…9730 m:…8391
The betting market, for what it is worth as data rather than advice, had the Dodgers as moneyline favorites at -151 to -162 on the Oct. 15 board, with a consensus total of 7.5 runs. The implication is that the board priced the brand while the series so far has priced the at-bats. m:…8574
What is still unresolved
- The outcome of Game 4 and whether the Brewers complete the sweep.
- Who starts Game 4 for Milwaukee, which had not named a pitcher.
- Whether Ohtani's reported biceps and knee issues affect the rest of the series.
- Whether the Dodgers' lineup changes produce offense in time.
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