We’re down to two teams left in the National League, as the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the NLCS. So, what did we learn about those two teams, plus the Padres & Braves?
Is this Dodgers team better than ’24 & ’25?
Perhaps.
From a roster standpoint, it’s not crazy to think that. Edwin Diaz, who the Dodgers didn’t have last year, looked more like the Diaz from the 2025 season during the NLDS. Tanner Scott was burned for a home run but didn’t pitch all that bad in reality. And Roki Sasaki and Edgardo Henriquez were both extremely reliable.
That’s just the bullpen.
Kyle Tucker went deep, while Max Muncy torched the Braves with three home runs in four games. Andy Pages delivered the hit of the game in Game 4, while Freddie Freeman hit a pair of home runs against his old club. Add in the return of “Playoff Kiké” Enrique Hernandez, and you get the rest.
Oh, and with a top-four of Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow, the Brewers will need to be at their best when the Championship Series starts.
Brewers’ way wins again
The Brewers earned a return match with the Dodgers in the 2026 NLCS, as Milwaukee dispatched the Padres in four games.
Look, the game plan for the Brewers heading into the playoffs was obvious: play good defense, don’t overswing and work opposing pitchers, and outgun the opposition on the mound. For the most part, all of those boxes were checked in the NLDS.
William Contreras‘ ABS challenge aggressiveness didn’t help too much — but his bat made up for it and then some. Contreras blasted a team-high two home runs, and his six hits also paced the club. Garrett Mitchell came up in the clutch, as did Jackson Chourio once more.
And, if Game 4 was any indication, the bullpen quietly kept the Padres off the board. Now, can Milwaukee do it again in the NLCS?
How can the Padres move forward?
The Padres’ bats, after a two-plus-month roll, hit a wall against the Brewers in the NLDS. Milwaukee’s pitching staff limited the Padres to a slash line of .181/.278/.236 across the four games. Now, San Diego’s hitter troupe did work 15 — but couldn’t do much overall with it.
San Diego ended the Division Series as the only team that did not record an extra-base hit with at least a runner on. Granted, Manny Machado could have broken that skid in Game 4 had his long fly ball to center gone over the Petco Park wall. But Garrett Mitchell prevented that from happening.
If the Padres are going to move forward, obviously the buck stops with Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Jackson Merrill‘s torrid second half made him look more like the outfielder Padres fans saw in 2024. And should San Diego be able to bring back Ty France, perhaps this group can recapture some of that magic from this year in 2027.
The big question, though, is what this pitching staff will look like next year. Michael King rebounded in 2026, and with an opt-out looming, it may be time for him to cash in. Yu Darvish missed all of 2026, and the rest of his pro career is very much in the air. Plus, Jason Adam will be a free agent.
Joe Musgrove, though, may be the real X-factor. Musgrove came out of the bullpen several times between the NL Wild Card Round and the NLDS. The fastball velocity was on par, and his stuff got Brewers hitters biting out of the strike zone.
What about the Braves?
The Braves didn’t have it easy during the NLDS, that is for certain.
Atlanta hitters struck out 39 times over the four games and scored just eight runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles’ pitching staff deserves a ton of credit. But an average of two runs scored per game is not a recipe for success.
Overall, it was a good year for the Braves’ organization as a whole. Atlanta returned back to the playoffs; players like Michael Harris II and Dylan Lee took a step forward, and Matt Olson & Chris Sale had great seasons. Yet, it does feel like the club missed an opportunity.
The club will return much of its core for 2027. There’s also plenty of depth in the Minor Leagues to feel good about the Braves’ future. But should the Braves make it back to the postseason in ’27, the bats will need to come to play.
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