The National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers moved to LA and Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
The Dodgers came home with a commanding 2-0 series lead, even after a stunning fly-ball double play in game one. Winning the first two games is already a massive advantage; teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-7 win the series roughly 84-85% of the time. But winning the first two on the road provides an even bigger advantage.
Only three teams in the history of baseball have come back from losing the first two games at home to win a best-of-7 series; The 1985 Kansas City Royals, the 1986 New York Mets and the 1996 New York Yankees. All three of those comebacks happened in the World Series.
Milwaukee, despite having the best record in baseball, headed into Thursday facing an uphill battle. The Dodgers, finally clicking on all cylinders after a sea of injuries during the regular season, had relied on two of the best postseason pitching performances in recent memory. Blake Snell was nearly unhittable in game one over eight innings. Then Yoshinobu Yamamoto did him one better and went nine innings in game two. But thanks to their impressive depth,the Dodgers still had Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani waiting in the wings for games three and four.
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman (25) hits an RBI single against the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth inning during game three of the NLCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Dodgers Continue To Dominate Brewers, Take Commanding 3-0 Series Lead
Tyler Glasnow put up a scoreless inning to start the game, continuing the trend of quality Dodgers starting pitching. And immediately afterward, a struggling Ohtani made his presence felt.
Against opener Aaron Ashby, Ohtani laced a ball into the right field corner for a triple, brought home immediately by Mookie Betts. The Brewers battled back though, as rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski took over, stopping the rally. Milwaukee tied it up in the second, though an excellent defensive play by Max Muncy at third prevented them from taking the lead. Misiorowski though, turned in dominant inning after dominant inning.
But in the sixth inning, the Dodgers finally broke through. With “The Miz’s” velocity dipping slightly, Will Smith roped a single to left center. Freddie Freeman walked, and on the first pitch, Tommy Edman drove in the go-ahead run.
After closer Abner Uribe struck out Teoscar Hernandez with Freeman at third and one out, he threw a pickoff attempt about 20 feet off line, allowing a third run to score.
Things got worse in the 7th. With the game still close at 3-1, Milwaukee’s superstar outfielder Jackson Chourio appeared to re-injure his hamstring during an awkward swing.
Milwaukee’s offense went quietly in the 8th and 9th against the beleaguered Dodgers bullpen, with Roki Saski striking out Caleb Durbin to end it and officially put the Dodgers ahead three games to none.
The Brewers were already significant underdogs in this series. Losing the first two games is difficult to overcome. Losing the first two games, at home, is even harder. Losing those first two games, and then losing a third makes it necessary for a historic comeback. Losing three in a row, with two more games left on the road, missing arguably your best and most consistent offensive player…well, that’s as tough as it gets.
Milwaukee was the best team in baseball this year for a reason. Their offense was relentless, refusing to give the opposition easy outs by chasing pitches. The pitching, especially the relievers, were consistently able to keep the Brewers in games late. For the most part, their pitching has held up their end of the bargain.
The vaunted Dodgers offense has scored just 10 runs in three games. But the Brewers offense, so consistent and pesky in the regular season, has scored just three. It’s a remarkable pitching series from the Dodgers pitching staff. And it’s put Milwaukee’s incredible season on the brink of yet another disappointing finish.
There’s been just one team to ever come back from down 3-0. And they started that run at home. Milwaukee needs to win two straight in LA, then two more in Milwaukee. And to do it, they have to beat Shohei Ohtani, who starts Friday, Blake Snell, Yamamoto, and then Glasnow again, with Ohtani available in relief.
There are uphill battles, then there’s that.
For LA, the Dodgers are just one more win away from returning to the World Series for a second straight season. From the opportunity to become the first repeat champion since the Yankees in 1998-2000. Though there is, of course, a long way to go from going up 3-0 in the NLCS to winning the next series. But if the pitching staff continues this form, it’s hard to see anyone beating them.
