Three-Peat or Payback? Dodgers vs. Brewers NLCS Rematch Is Set, and the Yankees Are Already on the Golf Course

October baseball is undefeated. Here's where things stand heading into the weekend.

Dodgers: business trip complete

The Dodgers closed out Atlanta 4-1 on Wednesday to win their NL Division Series 3-1, taking both games at Truist Park.

The swing moment came in the seventh. With the bases loaded, Andy Pages lined a 3-2 pitch from Robert Suarez up the middle for a two-run single and a 3-1 lead, per the AP. Max Muncy tacked on a solo homer in the ninth, his 19th postseason home run as a Dodger, extending his franchise record.

The pitching was quietly absurd. Tyler Glasnow and four relievers allowed three hits, and the AP noted the Braves drew 18 walks in the series without any of those walks coming around to score. Eighteen! That's not a lineup. That's a support group.

The stakes now, per the AP: LA is trying to become the first NL team ever to win three straight World Series.

Brewers: 103 wins and finally a road W

Milwaukee, the majors' best regular-season team at 103 wins, eliminated San Diego 3-1 in Game 4 to win its series in four.

Garrett Mitchell was everywhere. He tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth, then robbed Manny Machado's 406-foot drive at the wall in the eighth, per the AP. Brice Turang followed with an acrobatic foul-ground catch to end the inning.

The win also snapped Milwaukee's 12-game postseason road losing streak dating to 2018. Monkey, meet floor.

The rematch nobody in Milwaukee forgot

Quick history lesson: the Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year's NLCS on the way to their second straight title, per the AP. The LA Times' headline this week says don't expect a repeat. We agree.

Game 1 is Sunday, Oct. 11, at American Family Field (5 p.m. PT), per ESPN's schedule. Milwaukee is starting flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, who owns a 1.59 ERA with 27 strikeouts and three walks in 17 career innings against the Dodgers, per MLB.com.

Our take (opinion): this series feels way closer than last year's. The Brewers' bullpen-and-defense formula travels, and Misiorowski is exactly the kind of power arm that gives a star-loaded lineup problems. But the Dodgers have the deepest roster in baseball and just held Atlanta to three hits in a clincher. We're calling it Dodgers in 7, and we fully reserve the right to be wrong loudly.

Meanwhile, in the Bronx: broomsticks

The Tampa Bay Rays swept the Yankees, winning Game 3 4-3 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Victor Mesa Jr. hit the tiebreaking two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth, and Ryan Vilade also went deep, per the AP.

Then it got weird. Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a game-tying two-run homer, but a fan reached over the left-field wall and grabbed it over Mesa's glove. Replay ruled the ball wouldn't have cleared the wall and wouldn't have been caught, so Volpe got an RBI double instead, per the AP. Griffin Jax then struck out Spencer Jones to escape.

The AP put the bottom line bluntly: the Yankees' title drought is now 17 years. Somewhere, a Boston fan is framing that sentence.

The Rays are in the ALCS for the first time since 2020, per the AP, and host Game 1 on Monday.

Saturday: winner-take-all in Cleveland

The Guardians lost the first two games of their ALDS at home, then won twice in Chicago, capped by a 9-5 win Thursday behind a José Ramírez homer and three RBIs, per the AP. Teams up 2-0 in a best-of-five have won 83 of 93 times. Cleveland is trying to be one of the other 10.

Game 5 is Saturday in Cleveland (5 p.m. PT), per ESPN. The winner gets the Rays.

Our take (opinion): never count out a team that just escaped a 2-0 hole with momentum and a home crowd. Guardians in a nail-biter. Then again, the White Sox have been surprising people all year.

Grab your rally caps. This weekend is stacked.