Phillies

At Least the Dodgers Were Swept / The Brewers are Really Good

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 16th, 2026 · 10:12 AM EDT

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At least we have this:

The Brewers sweep the Dodgers and head to the World Series with the 19th-highest payroll in MLB@MLBONFOX pic.twitter.com/0LUZ9ZSUs6

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 16, 2026

Fun fact:

The last team to blow a lead in all 4 losses of a postseason series was the 2015 Mets (against the Royals).

Why would I mention that? Maybe because the Dodgers have melted away leads in all 4 games of this series.

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 16, 2026

That’s a great baseball team they have up in Milwaukee. Holy cow. A resilient club that does all of the fundamental things properly and continues to chip away throughout the course of a game.

The Game 4 clincher was a good example of that. They go down 4-0 in the second inning, on the road, after a Shohei Ohtani three-run bomb. But they don’t panic. They don’t feel like they need to claw it all back in one inning. They get a couple of runs in the fourth inning on a ground rule double. Then they add a third run on a single in the 5th inning before loading the bases with a two-out walk and then drawing another walk immediately after a pitching change. Phillies legend JoJo Romero then comes in and gets Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman to go 1-2-3, and Milwaukee comes back with a solo shot to start the top of the 6th. David Hamilton adds an insurance run in the 9th with a solo shot of his own.

It’s such a stark contrast after watching the Phillies. Feels like whiplash. Milwaukee led the league with a .258 team average and .341 on-base percentage. They were #1 with a 10.6 walk percentage and middle of the pack in strikeout rate. They stole 162 bases (5th most) and only hit 154 home runs, which was third fewest. They make contact and put the ball in play. They have solid gloves and high-IQ guys. Pat Murphy is a great manager. Jacob Misiorowski is fresh for Game 1 of the World Series. The bullpen has a 1.33 ERA this postseason. They’re absolutely better than the Rays and Guardians and will probably win the whole thing.

Of course, anything can happen. We didn’t expect the Dodgers to be swept. But that was a pleasant surprise.