LOS ANGELES -- For the first time since 1982, the Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series.
Garrett Mitchell hammered a go-ahead sixth-inning solo homer off Dodgers left-hander Tanner Scott as Milwaukee capped a rally from a four-run deficit against Los Angeles on Thursday. The Brewers beat the Dodgers 6-4 to complete a National League Championship Series sweep of the two-time defending champions.
Milwaukee's next stop is one it hasn't made since the heyday of Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Cecil Cooper: the Fall Classic against either the Cleveland Guardians or Tampa Bay Rays.
"I couldn't be happier for our group," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "You guys talk to me all the time and hear my nonsense, but the truth is these guys are a special group. They're together. They care about each other."
It was just under a year ago that the roles were reversed as the Dodgers swept the Brewers en route to a championship. This marks the first time in MLB postseason history that a team has swept an opponent that swept it in the preceding season.
"I respect the hell out of them," Murphy said. "Those are all people that I know well. But we can't just be their whipping boy all the time. We have to break through."
The Brewers captured their first NL pennant, as Milwaukee was still in the American League when it went to its only previous World Series 44 years ago. The Brewers were the only one of the 15 current NL franchises that had never won a pennant.
The Brewers checked that box, and now an even bigger one looms: Milwaukee could erase its name from the list of five active MLB franchises without a World Series championship.
It looked as if the Brewers' long wait would endure for at least another day early in the contest when slumping Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani launched a 428-foot three-run homer off right-hander Dustin May in the second inning, giving the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.
But the Brewers are, among other things, relentless. Milwaukee plated four runs to tie the score by the top of the fifth, all credited to Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow, who was dominant during a perfect first trip through the Milwaukee lineup.
"They played flawless," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the Brewers. "They really did. I think for me, it never feels good to lose, but when you get beat, you can handle it a little bit better."
There were no big blasts during the Brewers' rally. William Contreras and Jake Bauers stroked back-to-back ground-rule doubles. There were five walks and two stolen bases. It was, in other words, precisely the style of play that allowed the Brewers to roll up a franchise-record 103 wins during the regular season. However, the Brewers showed that, when needed, they could muscle up, outhomering the powerful Dodgers 7-1 over four games.
"As soon as we tied the game, there was just this feeling," said Bauers, who was named the NLCS MVP. "There was just this feeling that we're going to win this game and we're going to go play in the World Series. No, this doesn't feel real. This definitely feels like a movie. I don't even know where I'm at right now."
Once Milwaukee seized the lead, Murphy unleashed a high-leverage bullpen contingent that has been all but impenetrable during the Brewers' 7-1 run through the NL bracket.
JoJo Romero threw two scoreless innings, and Aaron Ashby worked out of jams in the seventh and eighth on his way to a three-inning save. After David Hamilton's solo homer in the ninth off Edwin Diaz gave Milwaukee a late insurance run, Jackson Chourio made a fine leaping grab on an Enrique Hernandez fly ball for the final out. The Brewers raced from the bullpen, dugout and all the positions on the field to gather in a euphoric group hug 44 years in the making.
"They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we got a bunch of gamers," Murphy said on the podium during the trophy presentation. "And the gamers won this week."
With the win, the Brewers exorcised the demons stemming from NLCS losses to the dynastic Dodgers in 2018 and last season. And the Dodgers' quest to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series titles ended.
Now, the Dodgers head into a longer-than-expected winter, and the Brewers will try to win the franchise's first championship. The World Series begins Oct. 23, with the first-ever Fall Classic game at American Family Field in Milwaukee.