Brewers' squash home run narrative in electrifying NLCS Game 3 victory over Dodgers

"The Milwaukee Brewers don't hit enough home runs."

That was the dominating critique of Pat Murphy's 103-win squad entering their much-anticipated 2026 postseason run. The Brewers' manager was constantly asked about his team's apparent lack of home runs during the final weeks of the regular season and the early days of the postseason. However, the Brewers, who hit the second-fewest home runs of any team during the regular season, have squashed that critique during their first seven games of the postseason.

Three epic homers supplied four of the Brewers' six runs in their memorable victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS, which gave Milwaukee a commanding 3-0 series lead and brought them to within one win of the World Series.

Their trio of homers started on the first pitch of the game, when Jackson Chourio jumped on a center-cut fastball from Dodgers' southpaw Blake Snell and sent it over the fence in right-center. The solo homer, which was the third leadoff home run of Chourio's three-year postseason career, gave the Brewers' star outfielder a ridiculous 18 RBI in 19 playoff games, which is the most by a big-leaguer before their 23rd birthday.

Chourio's leadoff homer was the only scoring from either team through the first five innings. Rookie southpaw Robert Gasser turned in a dominant five-inning shutout for the Brewers, while Snell settled in on the other side with five scoreless frames after the first. As such, it was just a 1-0 advantage for Murphy's squad when the skipper turned to his bullpen in the bottom of the sixth. Abner Uribe was first out of the 'pen for the Brewers and clearly did not have it. Uribe walked the bases loaded before allowing a go-ahead two-run double to Will Smith, who was 1-for-25 in the postseason before the hit.

The Brewers therefore headed to the bottom of the seventh inning trailing by one run. However, heroic swings from Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell turned the game on its head.

Jake Bauers, Garrett Mitchell slug game-changing home runs to bring Brewers within one win of the World Series

Bauers' epic 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of the NLCS shifted the momentum in what ended up being a three-run victory for the Brewers. The walk not only loaded the bases ahead of Christian Yelich's go-ahead two-RBI single, but it also led to Yamamoto being removed from the game before the end of the third inning. However, as incredible as that at-bat on Monday evening was, Bauers topped it on Wednesday night.

As previously noted, Snell was rolling through the first six innings, with Chourio's first-inning ambush the only blemish on his stat line. Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts elected to stick with the Cy Young southpaw for the seventh inning, but that decision proved to be costly. After issuing a seven-pitch leadoff walk to Andrew Vaughn, Bauers stepped into the box. The Brewers' first baseman worked a full count, fouled off five of Snell's offerings, and on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Bauers sent a 412-foot go-ahead, two-run homer to right-center.

Snell was at 99 pitches after his 11-pitch battle with Bauers, but Roberts elected to stick with his starter against Garrett Mitchell, who followed Bauers to the plate. That decision also proved to be costly as Snell left a 1-0 changeup up in the zone, and Mitchell crushed a solo homer to almost the exact same seat that Bauers' go-ahead blast landed.

The Brewers tacked on one run each in the eighth and ninth innings, neither of which came via the home run, to grow their lead to four runs. However, the key runs in Wednesday night's victory were supplied by the longball, disproving the notion that Milwaukee doesn't have the power to win in October.

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