2018 National League Championship Series
Team (Wins) Managers Season Los Angeles Dodgers (4) Dave Roberts 92–71 (.564), GA: 1 Milwaukee Brewers (3) Craig Counsell 96–67 (.589), GA: 1
Dates	October 12–20
MVP	Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles)
Umpires	Scott Barry (Games 1–2) Gerry Davis (crew chief) Greg Gibson (Games 3–7) Brian Gorman,Alan Porter,Hunter Wendelstedt,Jim Wolf
Broadcast
Television	FS1 (Games 1, 3–7) Fox (Game 2)
TV announcers	Joe Buck,John Smoltz,Ken Rosenthal andTom Verducci
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Dan Shulman,Chris Singleton andBuster Olney
NLDS	Milwaukee Brewers overColorado Rockies (3–0) Los Angeles Dodgers overAtlanta Braves (3–1)
← 2017 NLCS 2019 →

The2018 National League Championship Series was abest-of-seven playoff inMajor League Baseball’s2018 postseason pitting the top-seededMilwaukee Brewers against the second-seededLos Angeles Dodgers, for theNational League (NL)pennant and the right to play in the2018 World Series against the AL Champions, theBoston Red Sox.

The series was the 49th in league history, withFox airing all games in the United States. This series was the first time two teams that won their division in atiebreaker game faced each other in a playoff series, as well as the first postseason match-up between the Brewers and Dodgers. For the first time since2012, the NLCS reached agame seven, with the Dodgers defeating the Brewers and winning back-to-back pennants for the first time since 1977–1978. The Dodgers lost in five games to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

For the second year,Major League Baseball soldpresenting sponsorships to all of its postseason series; as with theALCS, this NLCS was sponsored byGoogle Assistant and was officially known as theNational League Championship Series presented by Google Assistant.^[1]

The Brewers won theNational League Central division for the first time since 2011 in atie-breaker game over theChicago Cubs atWrigley Field, and then swept theColorado Rockies in theNational League Division Series. Dating back to the regular season, the Brewers had won 11 straight going into the NLCS. By virtue of their regular season record, highest in the league, the Brewers held home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.

This was the Brewers’ third League Championship Series and second in the National League, their prior NL appearance being a2011 NLCS loss to theSt. Louis Cardinals in six games. Milwaukee also appeared in and won the1982 ALCS, occurring during their 29-year stay in theAmerican League.

Like the Brewers, the Dodgers won theNational League West in atie-breaker game, defeating theColorado Rockies atDodger Stadium for their sixth straight division title. The Dodgers then beat theAtlanta Braves in four games in the National League Division Series. This was the Dodgers’ third straight appearance in the NLCS, and their fourth appearance in the past six seasons. Overall, this was their 13th NLCS trip, tying the Cardinals for most appearances by a team.

This was the first ever playoff matchup between the Brewers and Dodgers. The two cities did meet with the pennant on the line in 1959 when the Dodgers beat theMilwaukee Braves (now the Atlanta Braves) in abest-of-three playoff. However, MLB counts the tie-breaker series as regular season games.

This was also the first ever League Championship Series between two teams that won tiebreakers, and only the third postseason meeting of any sort between two MLB teams involved in tiebreakers. The first ever such meeting was the2018 National League Wild Card Game in which the Rockies defeated the Cubs and the second was the NLDS in which the Brewers defeated the Rockies. The Dodgers became the first tiebreaker team since the2007 Colorado Rockies to reach the World Series.

Los Angeles won four of their seven games against Milwaukee during the regular season.

The Brewers and Dodgers were considered the most serious suitors forManny Machado, the biggest star traded near the 2018 trade deadline. On July 18, 2018, Machado was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers forYusniel Diaz,Dean Kremer,Rylan Bannon,Breyvic Valera andZach Pop.^[2] He made his debut as a Dodger on July 20 against the Milwaukee Brewers and had two singles and two walks. Throughout the National League Championship Series, Machado caught the ire of Brewer fans for his controversial play.

For the 2018 regular season.^[3]

Los Angeles won the series, 4–3.

Brewers announcer and former MLB playerBob Uecker threw theceremonial first pitch.^[11]Clayton Kershaw started game one for the Dodgers, whileGio González started for the Brewers. The Dodgers scored first, on a homer byManny Machado in the second inning, which was the only run and hit allowed by González who was replaced after only two innings. His replacement, relief pitcherBrandon Woodruff, homered off Kershaw to tie the game in the third inning. A sacrifice fly byHernán Pérez scoredLorenzo Cain to put the Brewers up 2–1 after three. A two-run pinch-hit single byDomingo Santana in the fourth inning extended the lead to three and a single byRyan Braun scored Santana to make it 5–1. Kershaw allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in a little over three innings, the shortest post-season outing of his career.Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers became the first catcher in post-season history to have two errors and two passed balls in the same game. The Brewers added on to their lead whenJesús Aguilar hit a homer off ofJulio Urías in the seventh inning. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the eighth inning againstJoakim Soria and managed to score three runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Machado andMatt Kemp off ofJeremy Jeffress to narrow the gap to 6–4.Chris Taylor hit an RBI triple in the ninth offCorey Knebel, who managed to retireJustin Turner to save the 6–5 win for the Brewers.^[12]

Brandon Woodruff became only the third relief pitcher in major league history to homer in a postseason game, matching the feat ofRosy Ryan (in Game 3 of the1924 World Series) andTravis Wood (in Game 2 of the2016 NLDS).^[13]

Former BrewersAll-Star playerPrince Fielder threw theceremonial first pitch.^[14]Hyun-jin Ryu started the second game for the Dodgers andWade Miley for the Brewers. The game remained scoreless into the fifth inning, whenOrlando Arcia hit a homer to put the Brewers on the board. They scored a second run on an RBI groundout byRyan Braun. Ryu was lifted after 41⁄3 innings, he allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Miley pitched 52⁄3 shutout innings with no walks and only two hits allowed.Travis Shaw homered offAlex Wood in the sixth inning to extend the lead to three. An RBI single byCody Bellinger in the seventh inning offCorbin Burnes gave the Dodgers their first run of the game. A bases loaded walk issued byJeremy Jeffress scored another run for the Dodgers. The Dodgers took the lead in the top of the eighth whenJustin Turner hit a two-run home run off of Jeffress. This was Turner's second career go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later in the postseason, joiningKirk Gibson as the only other Dodger to accomplish this feat multiple times. The Dodgers bullpen kept the Brewers from scoring and they won the game 4–3 to even up the series at one all.Kenley Jansen earned his second save of the postseason.^[15] This was the Brewers first loss since September 22.^[16]

Former DodgersAll-Star playerAndre Ethier threw theceremonial first pitch.^[17] The Dodgers' starting pitcher wasWalker Buehler, while the Brewers startedJhoulys Chacín. The Brewers scored in the top of the first inning, whenChristian Yelich walked andRyan Braun drove him in with a double. The Brewers added a second run in the sixth inning whenTravis Shaw tripled and then scored on awild pitch by Buehler. Chacín pitched 51⁄3 innings, and allowed only three hits and two walks while striking out six batters.Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer in the seventh to put the Brewers up 4–0. Buehler pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on five hits with eight strikeouts. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the ninth againstJeremy Jeffress, butBrian Dozier struck out looking to end the game. The Brewers finished off a five-hit shutout of the Dodgers to take a two games to one lead. It was the first time the Dodgers had been shutout in a post-season game at home since Game 1 of the1983 NLCS.^[18]

For Game 4, former DodgerAll-StarShawn Green threw theceremonial first pitch.^[19] The Brewers startedGio González on short rest, after his Game 1 start. The Dodgers countered withRich Hill, making his first appearance of the series. The Dodgers took an early lead on a RBI single byBrian Dozier in the bottom of the first inning. González left the game in the second inning after injuring his ankle fielding a grounder from the first batter of the inning.^[20] He allowed one run on two hits and one walk.Domingo Santana tied the game up, drivingOrlando Arcia in with a pinch-hit double in the fifth inning. Hill pitched five innings, with the one run allowed on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts. There was no further scoring through the end of regulation. In the 10th inning, benches briefly emptied afterManny Machado appeared to intentionally kick Milwaukee first basemanJesús Aguilar on aground out.^[21] In the bottom of the 13th, Machado singled with one out, and advanced to second on awild pitch with two outs.Cody Bellinger hit a walk-off single to score Machado.Junior Guerra picked up the loss in his fourth inning of relief for Milwaukee, whileJulio Urías, who had pitched the top of the 13th for Los Angeles, got the win. The game lasted five hours and 15 minutes, making it the second longest NLCS game;Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS had lasted five hours and 46 minutes.^[22]

With the Dodgers in danger of going down 3–2, this game featured the second starts of the series forClayton Kershaw and for the BrewersWade Miley, the latter of whom was pitching on short rest. Miley (who throws left-handed) walked the first batter he faced and was immediately removed by Brewers managerCraig Counsell in favor ofBrandon Woodruff (who throws right-handed).^[23] The Brewers got on the board first in the third inning with an RBI double byLorenzo Cain.Austin Barnes drove inChris Taylor with a single in the fifth inning to tie the score. A single byMax Muncy drove in the go-ahead run (Justin Turner) in the sixth inning. A pinch-hit single byYasiel Puig added another run to put the Dodgers up by two after six innings. Woodruff wound up pitching 51⁄3 innings, and allowed the three runs on five hits, one walk and two hit batters while striking out eight. In the seventh inning, the Dodgers added two more runs. Turner drove in a run with a single offJoakim Soria and another run scored on a ground out by pinch hitterBrian Dozier. Kershaw pitched seven innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks while striking out nine. He also walked twice as a batter, becoming just the third pitcher in the last 20 years to do so in a post-season game (Jon Lester in the2016 NLCS andDerek Lowe in the2008 NLDS).^[24] Pinch hitterCurtis Granderson doubled in a run offRyan Madson in the ninth inning to cut the score to 5–2.Kenley Jansen came in and struck outMike Moustakas to end the game.^[25]

The sixth game in the series featured a rematch between Game 2 startersHyun-jin Ryu andWade Miley. Following his abbreviated start in Game 5, when he faced a single batter, Miley became the first pitcher in 88 years to start back-to-back games in the postseason. The last pitcher to do so wasGeorge Earnshaw of thePhiladelphia Athletics in the1930 World Series. Miley also was just the sixth pitcher to start three games in a league championship series.^[26]Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball and former Brewers ownerBud Selig threw theceremonial first pitch.^[27]David Freese, batting leadoff for the first time in the series, opened the game with a home run off of Miley to give the Dodgers the lead. Back-to-back RBI doubles byJesús Aguilar andMike Moustakas and a RBI single byErik Kratz scored four runs for the Brewers in the bottom of the inning. A double byRyan Braun added another run in the second. Ryu was removed after three innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks with only three strikeouts. Freese drove in a second run for the Dodgers in the fifth inning with a double. Miley allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 41⁄3 innings. Awild pitch byKenta Maeda in the seventh inning scored another run and a single by Aguilar offRich Hill in the eighth put the Brewers up 7–2, which wound up being the final score, setting up a game seven.^[28]

For his role in the benches clearing confrontation in Game 4,Manny Machado was booed by Milwaukee fans for the entirety of all his at-bats throughout the remainder of the series.^[29]

For the first time since2012, when theGiants defeated theCardinals,^[30] and the tenth time in NLCS history, the NLCS went to agame 7. With this NLCS the Dodgers tied for the fourth-most game sevens in history with thePittsburgh Pirates and theBoston Red Sox.^[31] The starting pitchers—Walker Buehler for Los Angeles andJhoulys Chacín for Milwaukee—were the same as Game 3, won by the Brewers.Hall of Fame inductee and former BrewerRobin Yount threw theceremonial first pitch.^[32]Christian Yelich homered off Buehler in the first inning to give the Brewers the early lead and thenCody Bellinger hit a two-run homer in the second to put the Dodgers on top. Chacín only pitched the first two innings, allowing two runs on three hits and one walk. Buehler pitched 42⁄3 innings, allowing one run on six hits with seven strikeouts.Chris Taylor made a run saving catch in the bottom of the fifth off the bat of Yelich and thenYasiel Puig hit a three-run home run offJeremy Jeffress in the sixth to extend the lead. The Dodgers would go on to win 5–1 as Clayton Kershaw retired Shaw, Aguilar and Moustakas to claim their second straightNational League title, 40 years after they accomplished the feat in1977 and1978. The Dodgers were the first team to clinch a pennant on the road in a game seven since the2006 Cardinals.^[33] This was also Los Angeles' first playoff series win where they did not win Game 1 since the1988 NLCS, a span of 18 playoff series in between.

Cody Bellinger was named the NLCS MVP, becoming the youngest player to win the award.

2018 NLCS(4–3):Los Angeles Dodgers beatMilwaukee Brewers

• 2018 American League Championship Series
• Milwaukee Brewers reverse World Series curse

• "Gerry Davis, Joe West crew chiefs for league championships".Boston.com.AP. October 11, 2018. RetrievedOctober 12, 2018.
• McCullough, Andy (October 19, 2018)."Brewers chase out Hyun-Jin Ryu early to force a NLCS Game 7 against the Dodgers".Los Angeles Times. RetrievedOctober 20, 2018.
• Rosiak, Todd (October 19, 2018)."Brewers 7, Dodgers 2: The offense wakes up to take the NLCS to Game 7".Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. RetrievedOctober 20, 2018.

• 2018 Major League Baseball postseason schedule
• 2018 National League Championship Series at Baseball Reference

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