DODGER STADIUM (LOS ANGELES) – Twenty-four minutes after the Milwaukee Brewers’ last-gasp push pushed the defending champions, Kiké Hernández remained in full uniform Wednesday night. One game into this golden era of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball, Hernández sat in front of his locker with his face in his hands, staring silently ahead, still grappling with the unforeseen reality of his superteam.
In an adjacent corner of the home club sat ACE extension Tarik Skubal, an example of the excess talent expected to keep this dynasty alive. The Dodgers are experienced and expensive. They are star-studded and steadfast, featuring a variety of All-Stars and a fusion of fresh faces and longtime franchise luminaries.
But they are neither invincible nor inescapable, certainly not as they seemed just a few days ago.
“We didn’t expect to be in this position,” Hernández said after Wednesday night’s 6-2 loss put the Dodgers in a 3-0 hole in the National League Championship Series. “This one is bad.”
A year after the Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS, Milwaukee is one win away from turning the favor. The Brewers haven’t simply cruised their way to three straight wins to start the streak; they have taken it to the Dodgers in every aspect.
Milwaukee is hitting .281 with five home runs and 15 runs scored in three games. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is hitting .165 with no home runs and just seven runs.
Rather than get into the details of how the Brewers’ pitching staff — specifically a big bullpen that’s 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in the NLCS — is neutralizing the Dodgers’ sluggers, third baseman Max Muncy decided not to overcomplicate the reasoning.
“It’s a pretty simple answer,” Muncy said in a postgame press conference. “We’re playing like s—. They’re playing great. It’s that simple.”
The Brewers beat Skubali, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, in Game 1. Then they got Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the reigning World Series MVP, in Game 2.
And in Game 3, as the series shifted to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers were 51-30 this season, the Brewers launched a three-run home run against two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who hadn’t allowed a single homer all season, to put the defending champs’ dreams of a three-peat on life support.
“At the beginning of the year, we decided to do something historic,” Muncy said. “It looks like we’re going to have to do a little more history along the way if we’re going to pull this off.”
No team has won three consecutive World Series championships since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees. No National League team has ever accomplished the feat.
If the Dodgers are going to be first, they must dig out of a hole only one MLB team has ever survived in a best-of-seven series.
That team, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, swept the Yankees in the ALCS en route to winning the World Series. They were fueled by Dave Roberts’ iconic steal in Game 4. The Dodgers manager hasn’t been tempted to pull that game tape for his team.
“I don’t know if some of those guys know I’ve been playing,” Roberts said before Game 3. “No, absolutely not. When times get tough, I just go the other way and get leaner and have fun with the guys.”
This will be more of a challenge after Wednesday night’s demoralizing loss.
In the sixth inning of Game 3, after five scoreless innings by Brewers starter Robert Gasser, the Dodgers finally got a shot at Milwaukee’s pristine bullpen. Three walks loaded the bases against reliever Abner Uribe to bring in Dodgers pitcher Will Smith, who snapped out of a 1-for-25 October funk with a double allowed.
The euphoria for the 50,708 fans in Dodger Stadium was short-lived.
The Dodgers, who are 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position, failed to muster any insurance runs after Smith’s extra-base hit.
“To be able to win championships, you have to win moments,” Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “And we haven’t been able to do that in this series.”
Two batters before Smith’s hit, Roberts pinch hit Andy Pages — who had the team’s only two hits with runners in scoring position this October entering Game 3 — for Muncy, who struck out.
The move signified the urgency Roberts felt with his offense struggling to deliver and Uribe on the ropes.
After Smith’s double, Roberts could have left Rojas in the game to face Uribe with two runners in scoring position and one out. Instead, he singled to lefty Josue De Paula for another platoon leadoff. Brewers manager Pat Murphy countered with southpaw DL Hall. Roberts then made another change, bringing Hernández off the bench. Again, the result was an attack. Tommy Edman then came down looking to end the threat.
The Dodgers nearly emptied the bench, going all in for that line.
“That was the game right there,” said Hernández, who has so often been the team’s hero during their run in October. “I had two of the biggest at-bats in the series for our team and I wasn’t able to get through.”
Their lead lasted minutes.
“It’s really hard to put into words,” Rojas said of the emotional swing.
Snell had retired 14 straight when he returned for the seventh inning. He walked leadoff hitter Andrew Vaughn, gave up a two-run shot to Jake Bauers on the 11th pitch of another marathon at-bat from the Brewers slugger. Snell then hit his 101st pitch of the night in the zone to shortstop Garrett Mitchell, who sent the pitch 428 yards to right field for the next two home runs.
Snell threw his hands in the air after the Mitchell bomb, either in frustration or disbelief. It’s an all-too-common reaction for any opponent standing in Milwaukee’s way.
Wednesday’s win marked the Brewers’ fifth comeback win this postseason, tying the 1996 Yankees and 1980 Philadelphia Phillies for the most in a club’s first seven games in playoff history.
It also put the Dodgers in unfamiliar territory.
They won two elimination games in the 2024 NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres en route to winning the World Series. They did it again in last year’s Fall Classic against the Toronto Blue Jays.
But they have never faced a challenge like this.
It is the first time since the 2023 NLDS that the Dodgers have lost each of the first three games of a series. Unlike that best-of-five series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, this deficit hasn’t ended their season yet.
With the Red Sox trailing, Dave Roberts stole second base in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS with Boston also down 3-0 in the series; The Red Sox went on to win the game and the series. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Aside from Roberts’ 2024 Red Sox team, the other 41 teams that have fallen behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series have eventually folded. Of those teams, 32 were eliminated.
The Dodgers will try to avoid being 33rd.
“When you get a chance to play another baseball game, you get a chance to save your season,” Rojas told me. “I know it’s really hard to come back from that, but we’ve got a group of guys here at this club who won’t settle down.”
A half hour after Wednesday’s game ended, Rojas walked through the Dodgers clubhouse and hugged Hernández.
In less than 24 hours, their journey together could be over.
“We’ve never been in such a big hole, but we’ve had our backs against the wall many times before and we’ve come out of it,” Hernández said. “We’re just trying to do it one more time.”