The Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in the National League Championship Series for a second consecutive year, and they’re set to face off against the Milwaukee Brewers.
In terms of the postseason, the Dodgers most recently swept the Brewers in the 2020 Wild Card Series. And the two clubs also met in the 2018 NLCS, when the Dodgers won in seven games. The Brewers now look for some revenge, while the Dodgers aim to continue their postseason dominance over Milwaukee.
After going 93-69 in the regular season, the Dodgers finished as the third seed in the NL and did not receive a bye. To get to this point, the Dodgers knocked the Cincinnati Reds out in the Wild Card Series before taking down the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series.
Meanwhile, the Brewers finished with the best record in baseball at 97-65, securing home-field advantage through the World Series. They advanced to the NLCS by defeating the Chicago Cubs in five games during the NLDS and bypassing the Wild Card Series thanks to their record.
The Dodgers and Brewers met six times during the regular season, with those coming just before and after the All-Star break. The Dodgers ended up going 0-6 against their NLCS opponent.
“I don’t think I need to bring it up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before finding out who would advance between the Brewers and Cubs. “I think it’s pretty apparent the Brewers kicked our tails and the Cubs had their way with us once we came back from Tokyo.
“The players are motivated, but again, regardless of opponent, we’ve got to win this next series. But I do think learning from what those guys did against us to beat us, behooves us. So that’s something I’m personally mindful of and how we can kind of flip that script.”
Thankfully for the Dodgers, there are countless examples in MLB history of one team struggling against another during the regular season, only to change the course in the playoffs. The Dodgers are also involved in many of those.
2025 season review: Dodgers vs. Brewers
July 7-9, Brewers sweep Dodgers in three games at American Family Field
The Dodgers began their season series against the Brewers with a 9-1 loss in Milwaukee on July 7. The game featured Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s worst start of his career, as he recorded just two outs and allowed five runs before exiting the game.
After Yamamoto was out, Will Klein and Julian Fernández went on to allow four more runs. Meanwhile, Freddy Peralta shut out the Dodgers over six innings, but they finally got one run off Aaron Ashby with an RBI from Esteury Ruiz.
The Dodgers had significantly better pitching in the second game, with Clayton Kershaw allowing just two runs over six innings. Kirby Yates also allowed a run, but that was all the Brewers could muster.
It was enough as the Dodgers’ offense struggled for the second consecutive game, while Jacob Misiorowski struck out 12 over six innings. The Dodgers scored one run off Misiorowski, but lost 3-1 after the Brewers’ bullpen shut them down for three innings to secure the 3-1 victory.
The Brewers completed the sweep with another low-scoring game from both sides, this time winning 3-2. Tyler Glasnow, Tanner Scott and Yates each allowed one run, while the Dodgers scored one off José Quintana and one against Ashby.
The Dodgers’ offense went 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position over the three games.
July 18-20, Brewers sweep Dodgers in three games at Dodger Stadium
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Dodgers still couldn’t hit as they were shut out in their first game, which was against the Brewers on July 18.
Quinn Priester tossed six scoreless, and then Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig and Trevor Megill combined to complete the shutout. For the Dodgers, Glasnow allowed one run over six innings but took the loss, while Yates allowed another.
The Dodgers’ offense finally woke up in the second game of the series, but the pitching let them down this time in an 8-7 loss. Emmet Sheehan allowed five runs over three innings, Ben Casparius allowed two more, and Lou Trivino gave up another.
The Dodgers got to Peralta this time, tagging him for four runs over five innings, and scoring another off Ashby. They later added two more against Koenig before being shut down by Megill.
Shohei Ohtani, who drove in three runs, Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas all homered.
The Dodgers were unable to avoid losing the final game, as they fell 6-5, giving the Brewers the season sweep.
Kershaw allowed three runs over 4.1 innings, and Vesia allowed one as well. However, Trevino was credited with a blown save and loss after allowing two with only one out recorded.
The Dodgers scored four runs off Quintana and another off Uribe, who earned the save.
Ohtani homered in this game, and so did Ruiz, but they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Overall, the Dodgers were 2-for-11 with the chance to drive in runners during the series.
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