The Milwaukee Brewers are going to the World Series.

Milwaukee rallied for a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, completing a four-game sweep in the National League Championship Series and punching the franchise’s first World Series ticket since 1982 — ending a 44-year pennant drought.

The two-time defending champion Dodgers never truly got going. The club, hampered by injuries — most notably to Shohei Ohtani, who still managed a solo homer, his first since Aug. 18 — trailed in every game of the series. It’s the first sweep in MLB history in which the losing team led every game.

Thursday’s clincher was a classic: the Brewers fell behind early, then stormed back with two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to seize control in front of 49,104 stunned fans at Chavez Ravine.

“It’s all surreal. It’s all surreal,” Brewers infielder Brice Turang said afterward. “I can’t even believe it.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts tipped his cap to a Brewers club he called “a well-oiled machine,” while Freddie Freeman didn’t sugarcoat it: “We got embarrassed. We got beat.”

What’s next

The World Series opens Oct. 23, with Milwaukee awaiting the winner of the AL Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays.

And here’s where it gets fun for Ohio baseball fans: the Guardians took a 2-1 ALCS lead Thursday night — meaning a dream all-Great-Lakes World Series between Cleveland and Milwaukee is very much on the table.

Source: Bob Nightengale / USA Today

Featured image: American Family Field in Milwaukee. Photo by Michael Barera via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).