Brewers Continue to Punch Back Against the Big, Bad Dodgers, Now Have Champs on the Ropes

Do you remember the scene from “A Christmas Story” where something possessed Ralphie to beat the ever-living snot out of Scut Farkus, the neighborhood bully?

Ralphie was walking dejectedly, when he was smucked in the face with a snowball from Farkus. As Farkus and his toady, Grover Dill, sat atop the abandoned body of an automobile, Ralphie removed his glasses and wiped the snow from his right eye. Tears were welling up in Ralphie’s eyes as Farkus hopped down and approached his helpless victim, ready to hurl more insults and do more damage.

Farkus’ taunts continued. Then, Ralphie snapped into puncher’s mode, jumping Farkus and landing haymaker after haymaker until the table was turned. Farkus was the one crying as Ralphie let loose a few bad words as the pummeling continued.

Well, the Milwaukee Brewers were sick and tired of taking punches from baseball’s bully in recent years. Their egos were left battered by the Dodgers’ sweep in the 2025 NL Championship Series.

This year, they punched back. And how. Now, the Brewers lead the 2026 NL Championship series three games to none following a 6-2 victory in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, the site of the final two games of last year's sweep.

You hear baseball people talk about shutdown innings. That is when a pitcher needs to shut down the opposing team’s offense after his team scores a run. The thought is that it provides momentum for the offense to score more. It might be something from the great baseball book of things that might be true, but the Brewers didn’t want to test that theory.

With every punch the Dodgers have landed in the first three games, the Brewers have hit back. They weren’t always body blows, but they prevented a shutdown inning.

The only time it didn’t happen was Game 1. After the Dodgers scored in the second inning for a 1-0 lead, the Brewers didn’t score until the fourth inning, then again in the fifth for a 2-1 win. But after that, each time the Dodgers crossed the plate in Games 2 and 3, the Brewers did so the next half-inning.

In Game 2, that was William Contreras answering the Dodgers’ run in the top of the first with an RBI single. Christian Yelich following Jake Bauers’ epic walk with a two-run bases-loaded single after the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. After Los Angeles got two in the fifth, the Crew bounced back with Contreras’ big solo homer to tie it 4-4, then took the lead in the sixth thanks to Contreras and went on to record a 7-4 victory.

But Game 3 was the biggest punch yet. This time, it was the Brewers who struck first on Jackson Chourio’s first-pitch homer. After being held scoreless for five innings by left-handed starter Robert Gasser, the Dodgers took advantage of a wobbly Abner Uribe to score twice in the bottom of the sixth.

The thought was everywhere. This is when the mighty Dodgers were about to step on the throat of the small-market Brewers.

There was another punch left in the Brewers.

Andrew Vaughn drew a seven-pitch leadoff walk against Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell, who had been tremendous up to this point, allowing just two hits while missing a lot of bats en route to nine strikeouts.

Christian Yelich ran for Vaughn and had a front-row seat for another fantastic plate appearance by Bauers. This time, it was only 11 pitches and five foul balls in six pitches before the decisive one was thrown. This time, it wasn’t a curveball in the dirt and a walk. Bauers got a four-seamer in every batter’s happy spot, right down the middle and a bit up. Bauers turned on it and deposited it in the right-field bleachers, giving a look into the Brewers’ dugout as he flipped his bat away. A 2-1 deficit was now a 3-2 lead with the two-run shot. For good measure, Garrett Mitchell, two pitches later, did the same thing and a 4-2 advantage.

The team that doesn't hit homers went back-to-back to send the champs to the ropes. The Brewers made it 5-2 in the eighth and added another in the ninth.

The Dodgers haven’t struck back once after the Brewers scored in any inning of these three games. The Brewers have scored in 10 innings without being hit back. Brewers pitching has complemented the offense and turned in shutdown innings.

Because of that, the Brewers are now one victory away from making history. Not only would they be going back to the World Series for the first time since that memorable 1982 team, but they would be ending the reign of the best team money could buy, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers who were looking to become the third franchise to win three in a row.

But they need to keep their guard up for one more game. You never know when a champion is going to get up off the mat.

Do you approve of Brewers' ownership?

Do you approve of Brewers' ownership?

• Do you approve of Brewers' ownership? Required
  

  
• Save

See All Brewers Polls >