Brewers take 2-0 NLCS lead over Dodgers

The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in the National League Championship Series. Milwaukee won the opener 2-1 on Sunday and Game 2 7-4 on Monday, both at American Family Field. A year ago, the Dodgers swept these same Brewers out of the NLCS in four games. Two games into the rematch, Milwaukee is the one doing the sweeping, and Los Angeles has yet to find an answer, on the mound or at the plate. Read more: Brewers 2-0 NLCS lead

The Brewers made their eighth playoff trip in nine years and finished the regular season with the best record in the National League. They beat the Padres in the Division Series on a walk-off single from Jackson Chourio. None of that guaranteed anything against a team favored again and chasing a third straight title.

Brice Turang hit the home run that decided Game 1, and Milwaukee's bullpen made it stand up, shutting down Los Angeles the rest of the way to win 2-1. Tarik Skubal, who was pitching the Tigers deep into October as recently as last year, started for the Dodgers and took the loss. It was the kind of game the better-seeded team is supposed to win at home. The Brewers won it.

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The Dodgers had their chances in Game 1 and did not convert them, managing little with runners in scoring position all night. Milwaukee did not need to be perfect. It only had to be better once, and that carried the opener.

Contreras carries Game 2

William Contreras, Milwaukee's catcher, has been central to both wins, and Game 2 was no different. The Brewers beat the Dodgers 7-4, with Contreras and the rest of Milwaukee's lineup doing the damage against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who did not last long against this lineup. A year ago in Game 2 of this same series, Yamamoto threw a complete game against this same Brewers team. This time was nothing like it. Through two games, Los Angeles has not led this series once.

A reversal from last October

The Dodgers swept Milwaukee in four games in the 2025 NLCS. They went on to win the World Series, the first team in 25 years to repeat, and arrived in this series chasing a third straight title. None of that history is helping them now.

Shohei Ohtani is in the Los Angeles lineup every day as a hitter. He has not taken a mound assignment since the Dodgers shut him down with knee irritation over the summer, missing four games before returning as a bat-only presence, and nothing about that changes for this series.

The Brewers need two more wins to finish it off. Last October, in this same round, they didn't win a single game. This time, two games in, they haven't lost one either.