Brewers 6, Dodgers 2 – 2026 NLCS Game 3: Another lead given back immediately and the season is now on the brink

Chad Moriyama 10/14/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Game 3 of the 2026 NLCS was essentially the first must-win game of the series, as the Dodgers going down 3-0 would effectively sentence their season to death. With those stakes, they turned to Blake Snell to save their season against Robert Gasser for the Brewers. Snell limited the Brewers to just a run through six innings, but Gasser actually threw five shutout on the other side. The Dodgers did finally get to the Brewers pen, taking a lead off a Will Smith double with the packs backed, but Snell promptly gave it right back in three batters in the 7th via a walk and two homers. That was basically all she wrote on the game, as the Brewers took it 6-2.

For all intents and purposes, the season is over for the Dodgers.

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This was also the first game of the series that wasn’t a toss-up on paper, as the two-time Cy Young Award winner Snell at home was favored over the young lefty Gasser, who’s still in just his first full season. It didn’t matter much, as Gasser got to face this Dodgers offense and threw five shutout, which was enough for him to exit with the advantage.

Bleak.

Snell surrenders first-pitch homer, Gasser shuts Dodgers down

The game got off to a nightmare start for Snell and the Dodgers, as Jackson Chourio ambushed a center-cut first-pitch fastball and drilled it over the wall in right-center for a homer to make it 1-0 Brewers immediately.

Snell rebounded by striking out the side on just 12 more pitches, but obviously not the beginning he wanted. The 2nd actually required more effort, as he gave up a four-pitch walk with one down and then groundball single found a hole to put a pair on. However, Snell managed to secure a scoreless frame even though it took him 20 pitches to do so.

Snell really locked in at that point, as he struck out two more en route to a nine-pitch frame in the 3rd, got another two in a 12-pitch 4th, sailed through a 13-pitch 5th, and got three groundouts in a 14-pitch 6th. That made it 14 in a row sat down by him.

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On the other end, Gasser cruised through a 13-pitch frame in the 1st, thanks in part to a diving catch in right from Luis Lara on a Freddie Freeman blooper that was probably a double if it fell.

In the 2nd, Kyle Tucker led off with a sharp single, but three batters later he was out of the inning on 15 pitches thanks to three soft flyouts. Gasser faced some trouble in the 3rd, as a lead-off Miguel Rojas single and a one-out Mookie Betts single put a runner in scoring position, but nothing came of it and it was just a 13-pitch inning with more wasted chances.

The 4th was more typical, as Gasser struck out a pair and only allowed Shohei Ohtani to reach with two outs when he hit him. That took 16 pitches, and while it seemed like they could rally after a Miggy lead-off walk in the 5th, he didn’t move as it took just 15 pitches to end the inning and his outing.

Five shutout from Gasser, and credit to him to some extent, but still just an embarrassing offensive performance from the Dodgers.

Brewers pen relents, Roberts & Snell relent harder

That got the Brewers to their vaunted pen, starting with Abner Uribe in the 6th. Fortunately, he didn’t have it, as he issued a five-pitch lead-off walk to Teoscar Hernandez and followed that with a four-pitch walk to Kyle Tucker.

Dave Roberts then decided to hit for Andy Pages with Max Muncy (who went to third), but he struck out. Shohei then came up and also drew a walk on five pitches, which loaded the bases up for Will Smith, who pummeled a first-pitch off the wall in left center to score Teoscar and Tucker, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

With a chance to blow the game open, Dave opted to hit Josue De Paula for Miguel Rojas, which led to Pat Murphy putting DL Hall in the game. Dave then hit Enrique Hernandez (who went to center) for JDP, burning the young bat, and all that led to a pair of strikeouts for Hall on 10 pitches.

To recap, Dave didn’t start Muncy over Edman, and instead used him to sub out his five-hole hitter and best defender. As a result, later in the inning JDP was basically wasted as a decoy just to get a pitching change and there was nobody left to hit for Edman, who hasn’t squared up a ball in seemingly months. JDP arguably is having better passes than 75% of the lineup, and he was just burned for nothing.

I understand Dave was trying to guarantee Muncy faced a righty, but even still there’s no reason to be so afraid of handedness that you can’t let JDP take an at-bat against a lefty when he has no trouble making contact against them and that’s what they needed in that moment. All for what? Because you have confidence in Edman getting an at-bat while you’ve been bunting early in the game with Edman up until today for whatever godforsaken reason?

Even ignoring the starting lineup mistake, Pages against Uribe, Rojas against a struggling Uribe or Muncy/De Paula against Hall for Rojas, and De Paula/Enrique against Hall over Edman are all preferable outcomes to what transpired, IMO. The only reason to not go this route is really handedness matchups, which … I don’t know what’s going on with the emphasis on that this series that has only cost them two games in a row now.

The Brewers are the better team and they are outplaying the Dodgers, but it’s a team that has been able to take advantage of moments like this throughout the recent run, and they had chances to steal games despite playing poorly but are blundering their way out of them.

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That immediately cost them, as Snell began the 7th with a lead and promptly walked Andrew Vaughn on seven pitches (Christian Yelich ran for him and stayed at DH), then Jake Bauers did it again and worked an 11-pitch at-bat before homering this time on a full-count to flip the game to 3-2 Brewers.

Garret Mitchell then also homered to make it 4-2, and that was it for Snell.

He pitched better than his line, but the damage he gave up was costly: 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 101 Pitches.

Evan Phillips entered and gave up a single, but then got a flyout and lineout double play to finally end the 7th (10 pitches). Things didn’t get better in the 8th, as Roki Sasaki entered, gave up a one-out check-swing infield single to Brice Turang, a bloop single to center from William Contreras that cornered the runners. Dave turned to Justin Wrobleski, who uncorked a wild pitch to score Turang and give Roki a run allowed in the playoffs. Wrobo then struck out the next two batters to end that threat and rub salt in the wound. 5-2 Brewers.

Wrobo continued in the 9th, giving up a one-out single to Cooper Pratt, who stole second with two outs (Dodgers burned a challenge) and scored on a Joey Ortiz single to make it 6-2 before his 22-pitch inning ended.

Brewers put the Dodgers on the brink

Now with a lead, Hall returned for the 7th and it took just six pitches. That allowed him to continue in the 8th, where he got two more outs before giving up a single to Ohtani on his 12th pitch of the frame.

Murphy then took no chances, going to Trevor Megill who got a five-pitch strikeout to end the 8th and then cruised through a clean 9th on 13 pitches.

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Of the 42 series leads of 3-0, only four have even gotten has far as forcing a Game 6, and only one has actually completed the comeback. That’s why today was effectively a must-win game for the Dodgers, and the loss that puts them behind 3-0 in the NLCS to the Brewers likely dooms them to the same fate as 98% of their predecessors. Granted, if a second team were to do something historical, perhaps it’s one with a rotation of four front-line starters. You never know, but I just wouldn’t get your hopes up.

The same two teams will be back at it in the same place but an hour later at 2:00 PM HT/5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET on FS1. It’ll be Tyler Glasnow looking to get deeper into the game than last time out, and he’ll be facing Dustin May likely as something like an opener.

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