A Night Defined by One Catch
The Milwaukee Brewers are headed back to the National League Championship Series, and center fielder Garrett Mitchell is the biggest reason why. Garrett Mitchell tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the fifth inning before making a pivotal catch on Manny Machado's drive to the wall in the eighth, and the Milwaukee Brewers advanced to the National League Championship Series for the second straight season with a 3-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night, winning their best-of-five Division Series in four games.
Machado nearly tied the game with a 406-foot drive, but Mitchell tracked it down and reached just above the wall in right-center to keep it in the yard. The win clinched the series and sent Milwaukee into the MLB Playoffs' final four for a second straight October, this time against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had already dispatched the Atlanta Braves earlier that same day.
Chourio Keeps Rewriting Milwaukee's Record Book
Mitchell wasn't the only Brewer making history in Game 4. After Fernando Tatis Jr. tied the game with a solo home run, the Brewers answered with a triple by Mitchell and an RBI single from Chourio — his sixth in four games and the 17th of his postseason career, setting a franchise record and tying Andruw Jones for the most by a player younger than 23.
Milwaukee added insurance later in the game as Sal Frelick's sixth-inning sacrifice fly made it 3-1, with the game belonging to the Brewers' bullpen, starting with left-hander Aaron Ashby. That victory came just one night after the Brewers nearly saw their season slip away, a tense stretch covered in the aftermath of their Game 3 defeat in San Diego.
A Familiar, Daunting Name Waiting in October
For all of Milwaukee's regular-season dominance, the opponent on the other side of the NLCS has owned every previous October meeting between the two franchises. This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the two clubs, and the Dodgers have won all three: the 2025 NLCS, the 2020 Wild Card Series and the 2018 NLCS.
Season Series and Last Year's Sweep
There is at least one encouraging data point for Milwaukee: the Brewers won a tight season series against the Dodgers, four games to three, with three of those wins coming during a key four-game set in mid-August in Los Angeles. Still, the most recent postseason history stings. Last year the Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS en route to winning their second consecutive World Series title.
Misiorowski Gets the Ball for Game 1
Manager Pat Murphy has already signaled one change from a year ago. If you're wondering what's different about this Brewers team compared to the others, it starts with this: Jacob Misiorowski will be on the mound for the opener. Milwaukee arrives having posted a franchise-record 103 wins in the regular season and taking down baseball's hottest second-half team in the National League Division Series.
NLCS Schedule: Dates, Times and Where to Watch
The series format is set, even if exact start times are still being finalized.
- Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 11, at American Family Field, with the Brewers also hosting Game 2 on Monday.
- Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 15, both at Dodger Stadium.
- If needed, Game 6 is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 18, back at American Family Field, which would also host a potential Game 7 on Oct. 19.
Fans can watch the entire Dodgers-Brewers NLCS on FOX and FS1, with Spanish-language coverage available on FOX Deportes. The rest of the bracket, including the ALCS, can be followed through the MLB postseason coverage.
Chasing a Franchise-First Pennant
Beyond the immediate rematch, Milwaukee is still hunting a championship that has eluded the franchise for more than half a century. The Brewers have never won a World Series; they first made the postseason in 1981, then lost in the World Series in '82.
With Mitchell's glove, Chourio's bat and Misiorowski's arm fronting this year's group, Milwaukee will try to write a different ending against the Dodgers, starting Sunday at a sold-out American Family Field.