The Milwaukee Brewers have won the 2026 National League pennant. They swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers with a 6-4 win in Game 4 Thursday night in Game 4. The NLCS MVP is Jake Bauers and it’s one heck of a story. We’ll get to that. 

Bauers went 4 for 14 in the series, but he made his hits count. He doubled in two runs to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half in Game 4 and had the big blow in Game 3 with a go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning. He had six RBI in the four-game series and that doesn’t even include the impact he had in Game 2 with a 12-pitch walk in the third inning that helped chase 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the game. 

“There was never a doubt in that dugout what was going to happen,” Bauers said after the game. “We knew we were going to win.”

An interesting twist here is that this is the first LCS MVP for the Brewers franchise. They won the American League pennant in 1982, but the MVP in that ALCS went to a player from the losing Angels: Fred Lynn, who went a ridiculous 11 for 18 (.611) with two doubles, a home run and five RBI in the five-game series. He was easily the best player in the series, but it still sounds weird to have a player from the losing team to be named the most valuable player in the series. 

There was no such worry in this series. The Brewers thoroughly dominated the Dodgers in every facet of the game. They had more than a handful of the most valuable players in the series. Arguments could have been made for William Contreras and Aaron Ashby. Robert Gasser was outstanding in his five scoreless innings in Game 3. JoJo Romero and DL Hall were great. Jackson Chourio hit a huge homer. Garrett Mitchell hit two. David Hamilton was 4 for 7 with a home run. Christian Yelich was good. 

As for Bauers, he’s floated through seven different organizations and nearly retired after the 2023 season, but continued his career because his then-pregnant wife needed health insurance. He spent time in the minors and majors in 2025. This season, he had a breakout, hitting .266/.389/.484 (140 OPS+) with 22 doubles, 26 homers, 86 RBI, 93 runs and 3.3 WAR. 

And now he’s the NLCS MVP.