Clutch homers have Brewers 1 win away from 1st World Series appearance in 44 years

LOS ANGELES -- Just when Dodger Stadium started to believe again. Just when Will Smith’s two-run double had gotten Los Angeles off the mat. Just when the two-time defending champions were starting to look the part.

There was Jake Bauers, at the plate again, fouling off one pitch after another, refusing to die.

The Brewers really might do this. They’re now just one win away from advancing to their first World Series in 44 years, after beating the Dodgers, 6-2, in Game 3 on Wednesday night. And if they do, the defining image from this 2026 National League Championship Series is going to be Bauers at the plate -- embodying his team and his organization -- never, ever giving in.

Bauers, who turned in an epic 12-pitch battle with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, saw 11 pitches from Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell in the top of the seventh inning on Wednesday. He fouled off the eighth, ninth and 10th of them. The 11th was a fastball that caught too much plate. Bauers turned on it and sent it to the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium for a two-run homer. His dugout erupted -- just about the only noise in an utterly stunned ballpark.

The Brewers had a lead, 3-2, and one batter later, Garrett Mitchell doubled it, with homer of his own. Cue the same scene. The Brewers were on their way to a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven NLCS.

It was their fifth comeback win this postseason. That's tied for the most in a team’s first seven games of a postseason, with the 1996 Yankees and 1980 Phillies.

“I mean, what more can you say about the at-bat?" Mitchell said of Bauers' at-bat. "Same thing in Game 2, as well. My thought as I was getting prepared [on deck] was the potential if he gets on there, laying down a bunt. He puts together a heck of an at-bat and hits a homer. So, I was just stoked I got to go up there and just swing.”

Did Mitchell sense Snell was vulnerable?

“Not really," said Mitchell. "He’s such a great pitcher. He throws hard. Nothing’s really straight. So, for me in that at-bat, I’m just trying to get something over the heart of the plate and try to make contact. Obviously, [hitting a home run] isn’t what I’m trying to do, but I got a good pitch to hit.”

The Dodgers’ bid for a third straight World Series title is fading. By Thursday night, it might be fully extinguished.

In MLB history, 42 teams have fallen behind, 3-0, in a best-of-seven postseason series. Thirty-two of them have gone down quietly, via sweep. Only two have ever managed to even force a Game 7 after trailing 3-0. The Astros won Games 4, 5 and 6 vs. the Rays in the 2020 ALCS but ended up losing Game 7. Only the 2004 Red Sox, in the ALCS against the Yankees, have come all the way back to win.

The Dodgers will need that level of miracle.

At this point, it seems far likelier that Milwaukee could make a bit of baseball history instead. A year ago, in the very same round, facing the very same team, the Brewers were swept. If they can return the favor, they would become the first team to be swept out of the playoffs one year, only to sweep the same team -- in any postseason series -- in the following year.

It took all of one pitch for the Brewers to announce their intent on Wednesday night. Could they handle the moment? Could they handle the pressure that came with having the champs on the ropes?

Jackson Chourio’s answer was emphatic. Yes, they could.

Since 1988, when pitch count data was first fully kept, only five hitters had previously homered on the very first pitch of a postseason game. Chourio made it six. He ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Snell and launched it the other way. Milwaukee led, 1-0.

From there, Snell settled in and kept the game within reach. He retired 14 straight at one point and wouldn't allow another run until that fateful seventh. He gave the Dodgers a chance, if only their offense could just come to life. In the bottom of the sixth, it did.

Brewers starter Robert Gasser held Los Angeles scoreless through five. But Gasser was lifted for Abner Uribe in the sixth and Uribe just didn’t have it. He walked three Dodgers, then surrendered Smith’s two-run double off the top of the left-center-field wall.

Smith cruised into second base and let loose a roar. The entire stadium seemed to do the same. It felt like the moment that might swing the series. The champs had arrived. The Dodgers had thrown the requisite counterpunch.

But the Brewers had an answer. They always do.