“Chourio back and he makes the catch; The Brewers win the pennant. Oh my God, the Brewers win the pennant. The world series will go through Wisconsin.”
Those are the words of Jeff Levering, the Brewers play-by-play announcer as the Brewers advanced to the world series for the first time in 44 years. 44 long, gut-wrenching years since the Brewers won the pennant and the last time they won the pennant, they were in the American League.
The Brewers have made the National League Championship series three times before this year. Posting a 5-12 record, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 in six games. The Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 in seven games, and the Dodgers again in 2025 in brutal fashion, getting swept.
This year, after a historical 103-win campaign, something felt different. Something magical was brewing in Milwaukee.
NLDS
To begin, the quest for the very first NL Pennant, we first had to go through the hottest team in baseball, the San Diego Padres. After sweeping the Chicago Cubs in dominating fashion, the Padres were primed to compete with the Brewers. This entire series was one of the tightest and closest series I can remember.
Every game being decided by one except for game four when the Brewers won 3-1, and no one had a larger lead than two runs. Game one was magical when the Brewers came back and won 3-2 with the power of the longball, even though they were 29th in home run hits with 154 this season.
This magical game was overshadowed by a pop out by Ty France that hit the roof of American Family Field (Miller Park) and was caught by Jackson Chourio. Game two was stressful as the Padres held a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning when the game’s best closer (Mason Miller) came back out after a dominant 8th inning.
The Brewers wouldn’t go down without a fight and fight they did. Three walks by Miller loaded the bases to get Chourio up to bat. After Chourio had the count at 2-2, he sizzled a base hit past Ty France which brought in two to lead the brewers past the Padres 4-3.
The series headed to San Diego where the Brewers lost game 3, 4-3. In game four, with the Brewers up 3-1 in the 8th inning. Manny Machado (Boo), with Tatis on first, scorched a ball into the outfield as the game appeared to be tied. Except, Garrett Mitchell made sure the Brewers would stay up 3-1 with the best play in the postseason so far, robbing Machado of a game tying 2-run home run.
Megill would take the hearts of the Padres fan and tear them to pieces as the Brewers advanced to the NLCS for the second straight year. Facing the daunting Los Angeles Dodgers again who beat the Atlanta Braves in four games as well.
With the addition of Kyle Tucker and Tarik Skubal, the dodgers who looked even better than last year, was looming over the Brewers as last year. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in embarrassing fashion, as the Brewers only scored four total runs in the entire series.
NLCS
This year something was indeed different. After a close game one, where the Brewers won 2-1, tagging 2-time Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal. The Brewers won their first NLCS win in eight years. Turang went deep in the 4th inning and Luis Lara brought in the winning run the very next inning.
Megill struggled a little in the 9th but ended up closing out the game. The Brewers were up 1-0 on the Dodger’s. In game two, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound for the Dodgers, who has historically been one of the best postseason pitchers recently. The Brewers however, made sure to get him out in frustrating fashion, as long as it takes at bats (especially Jake Bauer’s 12 pitch walk), timely hits, (Yelich’s 2-run double).
Yamamoto would leave the game in the 3rd inning in what was his shortest postseason outing. What really set the pace was William Contreras, who showed out in game two, going 3-4 with a home run, two singles, and 3 RBI’s. Leading the Brewers to a 7-4 win and giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the NLCS. The Brewers had more than doubled the number of runs scored in the NLCS in just the first two games.
Now, the Brewers head to LA for games three and four in a very different position than last year. With Blake Snell on the mound, the Brewers look to get back at him after not being able to get any momentum last year. Chourio would put the Brewers on the board with a first pitch home run, Already did better than last year.
It would be a pitcher’s duel until Abner Uribe struggled in the 6th inning, walking the bases loaded as Will Smith (not that Will Smith), hit a 2-run double to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. DL Hall would be put in the game and get the last two outs with no more damage.
After a leadoff walk to Andrew Vaughn, the marathon man Jake Bauers, was up to bat and another marathon indeed took place. Bauers worked the count full in 10-pitches before crushing the 11th pitch of the at-bat to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. The marathon man was at it again.
The very next batter was Garrett Mitchell, who saved game four of the NLDS, who crushed a home run to give the Brewer’s a 4-2 advantage as boos rained down in LA. This was the first time the Brewer’s went back-to-back all season, and it came at the perfect time. A couple more runs for the Brewers and a failed offense by the Dodger’s put the Brewers one win away from a dream that has been 44 years in the making. The Dodger’s, who won back-to-back world series titles, were on the verge of their first series loss in three years.
In game four, the Dodgers were desperate to get any sort of momentum against the freight train team in the Milwaukee Brewers. Glasnow started and did well for the first few innings as Shane Drohan and Dustin May struggled as Ohtani hit his first home run, to put the dodgers up 4-0, since August 18th. It was a soul crushing home run for most teams but the Brewers are not the most teams.
The Brewers had been in this situation in every game in this series, being down to the Dodgers. Good at-bats and timely hits had the game tied by the 5th inning. At the very next inning, Garrett Mitchell took Tanner Scott deep to center to give the Brewers a 5-4 lead.
Now the Dodgers faithfully witnessed something they thought couldn’t happen. A team full of MVP’s, Cy-Young winners, and All-Stars were on the ropes against a team they so easily dismantled a year ago. Jojo Romero and Aaron Ashby would let a runner reach third base with two outs or less in three straight innings.
The Dodgers did what they’ve done all series, fail to bring them in. Edwin Diaz, who was doing well for the Dodgers, failed to place a pitch where he wanted it and threw a pitch right down the middle where David Hamilton did not miss. The Brewers now led 6-4 in the 9th and were three outs away from winning the NL Pennant for the very first time.
Two quick outs left the Dodgers with one out remaining for not just the game, but their season. Enrique Hernandez, took a pitch, hit it well but, the World Series will now go through Wisconsin.
A year of historical firsts for the Brewers continued to roll on as they were the first team to sweep a team that swept them the year prior in the NLCS. This was the first NLCS where a team lead in every game and lost every game. The Brewers, who were 29th in home run hits, limited the seventh best team in home runs to a measly one and out powered them in that category 7-1.
The Brewers currently lead in home runs (as a team) with 10 home runs this post season. In LA, the Brewers celebrated on the field and in the locker room while tears filled the home dugout. Seeing your team try for the first three peats since 1998-2000 by the New York Yankees, history was so close but so far away for the Dodgers.
NLCS MVP Controversy:
Jake Bauers won the NLCS MVP after getting timely hits, clutch hits, and wearing down the opposing pitcher. He won over Aaron Ashby (who was one of the X-factors I pointed out), and William Contreras, much to the chagrin of red sox 1st baseman, Wilison Contreras, who happens to be his brother.
He posted to his Instagram to vent his grievances that his brother didn’t win NLCS MVP. He posted his numbers and a post with a quote, “Tell me where you are from and I’ll give you the MVP.” To me, it seems as if Willson Contreras cared more about this award than William as he has been more focused on nothing else but to win the world series with a group of guys.
He has been animated this entire series celebrating every out, every hit, every ball, yelling and screaming to the dugout and the crowds at American Family Field or flopping like dropping to the ground to cheer on the game winning slide in game 2 of the NLDS. Could Ashby or Contreras have won the MVP? Absolutely, but Bauers who took some of the best pitchers out this postseason with long at bats and timely hits, was arguably our most patience timely hitter in three of the four games in the NLCS.
This was also an incredible moment for Jake Bauers who almost quit baseball in 2024. “To be completely honest with you, the only thing that brought me back was that my wife got pregnant,” Bauers said in a recent interview. “I’m like, ‘Well alright, we need health insurance for these kids.’ So that’s what brought me back.” A crappy U.S. healthcare system brought back the future 2026 NLCS MVP.
Commentary and Media Controversy:
Joe Davis, the normal play-by-play commentator for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was calling the games for the NLCS which annoyed most everyone who wasn’t a Dodger fan because his calls were rather biased.
Screaming and jumping for joy when the Dodgers would get a hit or an RBI but would be rather monotone when the Brewer’s had clutch hits or home runs. If you search for Joe Davis, you will see many articles that criticize him for being Bias towards the Dodgers.
John Smoltz wasn’t any better as his mic picked up an “oh no” when Mitchell hit the second of back-to-back home runs. This was not a random game in April; this was the championship series to see who goes to the world series. For example, Brian Anderson, our play-by-play commentator, was commentating on last year’s NLCS series when the Dodgers won but he never showed much, if any, bias towards the Brewers.
This wasn’t the only issue that Brewers and almost every baseball fan who weren’t Dodgers’ fans, noticed yet again. The Brewers were an afterthought as not one analyst on Fox picked the Brewers, even when they showed that this team was able to compete with anyone. On MLB Network, after game four ended, they didn’t talk about how the Brewers adjusted last year to win the pennant or the history behind it.
They talked about the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers got almost all media attention even though they lost the series and were bounced by the team who they bounced last year. Every analyst picked the Dodgers to win every game, even when Wisconsin showed they could win against anybody. The postgame show would have to first discuss the Dodgers before mentioning the Brewers, even though they won every game in the NLCS.
Joe Davis quoted, “You really can’t win,” when commenting on a national televised game. My response to that is don’t commentate. If you cannot be neutral during the postseason, then you should not be able to comment until you put your biases aside. I understand that it can be hard, but you are a professional.
For media analysts and talk show hosts, if you struggle to talk about a team who just won the pennant for the first time in 44 years, you need to reevaluate your position, especially if you’re nationally televised. If you have too much bias, step aside because it is completely unacceptable to watch a magical season and a magical series be overshadowed and under talked about, the team going to the world series because these analysts can’t talk about anything but the Dodgers.
It’s infuriating as a fan to only hear about the Dodgers when your team won the pennant for the first time in 44 years. The Brewers finally got over the Dodgers but instead of flowers, they got left behind so that everyone could talk about the Dodgers.
A Magical Moment:
Even after all the terrible commentator calls from Joe Davis, the Fox crew and the terrible analysts for this postseason (at least for the NL), The Brewers did achieve the dream that was 44 years in the making. American Family Field (Miller Park), who hosted a watch party for game four, roared into the Milwaukee night as the Brewers have finally done it.
They won the NL Pennant. Streamers floated onto the field, everyone cheering, high-fiving, and hugging as the dream to win a world series passed its biggest test to date, winning a pennant. Tears flowed down patrons in the stadium who have waited their whole life to see this moment, me included.
To be able to witness a World Series that includes the Brewers, but also running through Wisconsin is something special, something that I didn’t know if I would ever be able to witness. The first 21 years of my life have been filled with heartbreak and failure to compete throughout my life, yet others have waited for the full 44 years to see the NL pennant finally come to Milwaukee.
This year was finally our year to at least make the World Series, but the Job is not done. I know that these group of guys have it in them to win it all for the first time in franchise history and to win it all for the city of Milwaukee.
To win it all for the state of Wisconsin. To win it all for the doubters. To win to shut up the commentators and media analysts. To win it all for the believers. To win it all for those who waited 44 years to see this dream come to fruition. To win it all for the Brewers fans who aren’t able to witness this world series.
To win the whole damn thing for Bob Uecker (May He Rest in Peace).