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Built to dominate, the Los Angeles Dodgers instead exited the postseason in humiliating fashion, swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. The loss not only ends a bid for an historic three-peat but raises fresh questions about how a roster valued at record levels could collapse so quickly.
High payroll, higher expectations
Coming off back-to-back World Series wins — including a seven-game victory over the Blue Jays last October — the Dodgers returned nearly everyone from their championship core and spent aggressively. They signed outfielder Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal and closer Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million contract with a reported $23 million annual salary. At the trade deadline they also acquired Tarik Skubal in a deal that cost a haul of prospects.
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When luxury tax payments and competitive-balance-tax payroll are tallied, the club’s total cost exceeded $616 million this season — roughly $150 million more than the next-highest payroll. That spending created an expectation: anything short of another title would be deemed a failure.
Pitching, supposed strength, faltered
The Dodgers arrived in the NLCS with a rotation many considered elite on paper: Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Over four games, however, that group combined for just 18 innings. They posted a 6.50 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP and surrendered four homers while managing no wins in the series.
Game 4 offered a particularly painful snapshot. Glasnow began by retiring nine straight batters and enjoyed a 4–0 lead after two innings. By the fifth inning he was relieved with the lead cut to 4–3. Four hitters later the game was tied.
Other starts followed similar arcs. Skubal failed to get through the fifth inning in Game 1. Yamamoto was knocked out in the third inning of Game 2. Snell lasted into the sixth in Game 3 but surrendered consecutive homers to Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell that flipped a 2–1 lead into a 4–2 deficit.
Milwaukee’s bullpen and situational dominance
The Brewers’ pitching staff, and their bullpen in particular, repeatedly neutralized Los Angeles’ lineup. Milwaukee’s relievers shut down rallies and forced the Dodgers into quick outs in crucial moments.
Across the four games, the Dodgers hit .185/.270/.250 as a team, produced only one home run and struck out 33 times. With runners in scoring position they managed just 4-for-27. Andy Pages accounted for half of those knocks.
Opportunities squandered
Late in Game 4, the Dodgers had seven plate appearances with the tying run in scoring position during the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. They went 0-for-6 in those chances; the seventh plate appearance was a sacrifice bunt. Across those opportunities they saw only 19 pitches. Five ended in three pitches or fewer.
For a lineup packed with All-Stars, the lack of sustained pressure was striking.
Star hitters quieted
Several of Los Angeles’ marquee bats failed to produce. Shohei Ohtani hit a towering home run in Game 4 but finished the series 3-for-13. Mookie Betts was 3-for-15, Freddie Freeman managed one hit in 14 at-bats, and Max Muncy and Will Smith combined for a 4-for-27 line with eight strikeouts.
Kyle Tucker was an exception, compiling four hits in 12 at-bats in the NLCS, but that lone bright spot could not offset the broader offensive slump.
Milwaukee’s moment
The Brewers flipped the script on a rivalry that had gone the other way a year earlier, sweeping the Dodgers and celebrating on the field as Los Angeles watched from the dugout. First baseman Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP after driving in three runs in Game 4.
What comes next for Los Angeles?
The Dodgers are unlikely to disappear. If baseball returns in 2027, they will be among the teams expected to contend. But the aura of inevitability that once surrounded this roster has been irreparably damaged.
