The Brewers Dodgers NLCS tilted sharply toward Milwaukee on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, when the Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 at Dodger Stadium and went ahead 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. One more win would send Milwaukee to the World Series.
Three Brewers hitters homered against Dodgers starter Blake Snell, and a bullpen led by DL Hall and Trevor Megill held on after Los Angeles scored its only two runs in the sixth inning. Milwaukee finished with nine hits to the Dodgers’ five.
Brewers Dodgers NLCS: home runs decide Game 3
Garrett Mitchell, Jake Bauers and Jackson Chourio each went deep against Snell, who struck out nine and walked two over six innings and 101 pitches but was charged with four runs. Bauers drove in two runs. Mitchell, Chourio and Joey Ortiz added one RBI apiece, and shortstop Cooper Pratt collected three hits.
Milwaukee starter Robert Gasser set the tone early. He pitched five scoreless innings on 72 pitches, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out three. The Brewers scored once in the first inning, added three runs in the seventh, and put single runs on the board in the eighth and ninth, turning a close game into a four-run margin.
The Dodgers’ lone rally came in the sixth. Reliever Abner Uribe walked three batters in a third of an inning, and Will Smith doubled home two runs, which were the only RBIs Los Angeles recorded all night. Hall then took over, worked 2⅓ scoreless innings and earned the win. Megill pitched 1⅓ hitless innings for the save.
A Dodgers lineup that never found a rhythm
For a team built around some of the best-known hitters in baseball, the Dodgers’ night was quiet. Los Angeles batted .156 as a team. Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a walk, Freddie Freeman was hitless in four at-bats, and Mookie Betts had one hit in five trips to the plate. Kyle Tucker had a hit and a walk, and Miguel Rojas also reached base twice.
Los Angeles used four pitchers behind Snell’s start, including Roki Sasaki, Evan Phillips and Justin Wrobleski, who struck out three in 1⅔ innings. The Brewers answered by working counts and hitting mistakes, producing three extra-base hits to the Dodgers’ one.
How Milwaukee built a 3-0 series lead
The Brewers took control of the series at home. According to a game report, they won Game 1 on Sunday, October 11, by a 2-1 score. They followed with a 7-4 win in Game 2 on Monday, October 12, at American Family Field. That report said Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto lasted only 2⅔ innings in Game 2, his shortest postseason start.
The result is an unusual reversal of last year’s matchup. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in the 2025 NLCS and went on to win a second straight World Series title, and they are now chasing a third in a row. Milwaukee, which had the best regular-season record in the majors by one account, finished 103-59 and reached this round by beating the San Diego Padres in the division series. BizTimes reported that the Brewers have never won an NLCS or a World Series and are trying to return to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982.
What the 3-0 lead means
A 3-0 lead does not end a series, but the history is lopsided. The 2004 Boston Red Sox, who rallied against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, remain the best-known team to recover from that position. For the Dodgers, the task is to win four straight games against a Milwaukee staff that has now held them to a single run in one game and four in another, and has beaten two of their starters.
Milwaukee’s depth has also been a quiet advantage. Gasser, Hall, Megill and the rest of the relief group kept Los Angeles from building a rally after the sixth, and the lineup supplied power from different spots in the order rather than relying on one hitter.
What happens next
Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, at 5 p.m. Pacific time at Dodger Stadium. A Brewers win would end the series and send them to the World Series. If the Dodgers win, Game 5 would be played in Los Angeles on Friday, October 16. Games 6 and 7, if needed, would return to Milwaukee on October 18 and 19. The Dodgers had not announced a Game 4 starter in the material reviewed for this report.