The best moment from each series during the playoffs

The postseason is momentous. It is a collection of stories and stats and, most of all, snapshots.

After the long, slow grind of the regular season, these great teams and elite athletes have to summon something extra within themselves to come through in the clutch while the rest of us are a palm-sweating, pacing, superstitious, edge-of-our-seat mental mess.

And when those magic moments occur, they are unforgettable. They can write or rewrite legacies. They can invigorate and unite a city. They can become the stuff of legend.

With the Milwaukee Brewers having punctuated the postseason with their first World Series title, here are the moments that drove or decided each series along the way.

WILD CARD SERIES

White Sox over Astros: Meidroth is better than Yourdroth

After surging from three straight 100-loss seasons to contention, the young Sox, short on October experience, had something to prove in the postseason. They went down to Houston and beat the Astros in Game 1, then took a 4-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2.

But the Astros, in keeping with a character trait, started chipping away and had their deficit down to 4-3 by the sixth. Would the White Sox wobble? Would the South Siders squander it? Would Chicago cough it up?

Nope. Because here came Chase Meidroth with two aboard, in a same-side matchup against the Astros’ best righty reliever, Bryan Abreu. And he absolutely unloaded on a 3-1 slider, punching it off the brick archway above Daikin Park’s high left-center-field wall to punctuate a 7-3 win and series sweep -- the Sox first postseason series victory since their 2005 championship run.

“When I’m locked in on the field, I don’t know what goes through my mind,” Meidroth said. “All I’m thinking about is me and the baseball and trying to compete. But I had a good feeling.”

Braves over Phillies: A Riley clutch blast

While this was the only Wild Card Series to go to a decisive third game this year, the most dramatic moment -- and the moment that made the Braves’ eventual triumph possible -- occurred late in Game 1.

It was the bottom of the eighth inning at Truist Park, and the Phillies were just four outs away from preserving a 3-2 lead and grabbing a crucial opening victory as visitors. They had their bullpen anchor Jhoan Duran on the mound. The same Duran who had pitched to a dominant 1.82 ERA and 8.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the regular season. The same Duran who had allowed just one home run all year to a right-handed hitter.

But after Michael Harris II singled and Duran plunked Ozzie Albies with a pitch, the Braves were suddenly in sight of a two-out rally. Up stepped Austin Riley, he of the .364 regular-season slugging percentage. And on the very first pitch he saw -- a 99.9 mph four-seamer -- Riley hit one out the opposite way to right-center field to stun the rival Phils. Atlanta prevailed, 5-3.

“This just goes to show you, when the playoffs start, everything starts at zero,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “Nothing that happened in the regular season really matters. It’s a clean slate.”

Yankees over Red Sox: The Red Sox get Schlitt up

The rivalry may be historic, but this series was pretty straightforward. The Yankees won 9-0 and 9-2 to sweep away the Sox, who left the Bronx frustrated and finger-pointing.

But it all stemmed from what we saw in Game 1, where, for the second straight postseason, New England native (and presumptive AL Cy Young winner) Cam Schlittler absolutely mowed down his hometown team.

With 6 1/3 scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts, it was one of the most dominant starts of this postseason. The Sox hitters had invested hours “facing” Schlittler via the Trajekt machine, but, as impressive a tool as that may be, it’s not a miracle worker when a pitcher of Schlittler’s caliber has his A-game. He exited to chants of “M-V-P!” from the Bronx crowd.

“It’s very well-known,” said Schlittler, “that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you’ve got to do it in the postseason.”

Padres over Cubs: Holy Sheets, it’s a sweep

After shutting down the ample Cubs offense in an 8-0 victory in Game 1 that was pretty much a party at Petco Park from start to finish, the Padres were out to finish off the sweep the next day. But Game 2 had more tension early on, with the Cubs scratching out a run in the top of the fourth to cut the Padres’ early lead down to 2-1. The Cubs had the heart of their order looming in the fifth, so it was incumbent upon the Padres to find some separation in their half of the fourth.

With two out and a runner at second, manager Craig Stammen summoned Gavin Sheets off the bench. Sheets had spent much of September in a walking boot, dealing with a plantar plate tear in his left foot. But the matchup against right-hander Danny Palencia played right into Sheets’ strengths. Palencia threw a 100.8 mph fastball down and in, and Sheets absolutely crushed it out to right. It was his only swing of the series, and it was a big one.

“That’s Dairy Bonds, baby!” teammate Jackson Merrill said afterward, a play on Sheets’ pale complexion. “That’s what he does -- 101, down and in. You just don’t see that. That was sick. That was one of the cooler home runs I’ve ever seen.”

DIVISION SERIES

Rays over Yankees: Victor and victory

Though the Rays were up 2-0 going into Game 3, nothing is ever to be taken for granted in the Bronx. The Rays franchise had never swept a postseason series of five games or more, while the Yankees had only been swept once in their history in a best-of-five (the 1980 ALCS). And with the score tied at 2 in the top of the sixth, the Yanks were still clinging to life.

That is until Victor Mesa Jr. stepped to the plate against Max Fried with a runner aboard and two out. Fried’s first pitch was a sweeper that hung above the plate, and Mesa mashed it 401 feet to right-center, silencing Yankee Stadium. Mesa slowly stepped out of the batter’s box as he stared into the celebrating Rays dugout.

“It’s the best feeling in baseball,” Mesa said postgame. “Besides winning.”

The Rays won, 4-3, further cementing their status as the beast of the AL East in 2026.

Brewers over Padres: A hero named Chourio

A fluky, high fly ball that struck a roof cable when it may or may not have been headed for a game-changing homer was the subject of much debate after the Brewers’ ultra-tight Game 1 win over the Padres. But San Diego had seemingly shaken off that strange situation by taking a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2, with the sport’s greatest closer, Mason Miller, on the mound.

Miller, though, shockingly walked the bases loaded with two out, bringing 22-year-old left fielder Jackson Chourio to the plate. In a 2-2 count, Chourio and the Brewers were down to their last strike when Miller delivered a 101.3 mph four-seamer. Chourio calmly rocketed it up the middle, just past the outstretched glove of diving Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth. The ball shot into center field for a game-winning, two-run single, and Chourio shot into the broader public consciousness as one of the sport’s burgeoning superstars.

"As a hitter, when he stays under control, it's amazing," manager Pat Murphy said. "He's turning into a bona fide, top-flight player.”

(Speaking of flight, Garrett Mitchell’s incredible home run robbery -- so eerily reminiscent of Adam Jones’ famous World Baseball Classic catch -- in Game 4 was also a stand-out moment in this series.)

Guardians over White Sox: José? More like Low-sé!

After falling behind 0-2 in the best-of-five, the Guardians had somehow spoiled the Sox chance to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time in 120 years. That sent the series back to Progressive Field, where the Guards had the home-field edge but not necessarily the historical one, as Cleveland had been 2-5 all-time in winner-take-alls in that venue.

But Gavin Williams had a sensational start to silence the South Siders. And there certainly wasn’t silence when the heart and soul of the Guards, José Ramírez, strode to the plate with the crowd chanting, “Jo-sé!, Jo-sé!, Jo-sé!, Jo-sé!” Sean Burke threw a 78 mph knuckle curve that was diving toward the dirt when Ramírez somehow golfed it over the right-field wall, sending Progressive Field into pure pandemonium.

The ball Ramírez hit was just 0.74 feet above the ground -- the lowest pitch anyone has ever hit for a homer in the postseason in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008).

“That was a good pitch, and obviously a better swing by Ramírez there,” said White Sox manager Will Venable. “That’s what he does. He does special things, especially in high-leverage spots in these big moments.”

Dodgers over Braves: Turn the Pages

After the two division winners split the two games at Dodger Stadium, the NLDS shifted to Truist Park, where Yoshinobu Yamamoto outpitched Chris Sale in Game 3 to put L.A. on the precipice of yet another NLCS berth.

But it was a 1-1 game in the seventh inning of Game 4, and the Braves had fireballer Robert Suarez on the mound with two out and the bases loaded. At the plate was Andy Pages, who a year earlier made himself unplayable in the postseason with a .078 batting average in October. Pages had redeemed himself with a sensational 2026 season in which he was a first-time All-Star. However, he had been injured late in the year and had been 0-for-7 and generally looked lost again in the first few games of the DS.

With this one on the line, Pages worked the count full. Then he got a 99.7 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and banged it up the middle for the two-run single that basically put the Braves to bed. The Dodgers won, 4-1.

“I was waiting for that moment,” Pages said.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Rays over Guardians: Junior class is in session

Some October moments arrive suddenly; others stew for years. Back in 2021, Cleveland traded Junior Caminero to the Rays when he was only a teenager. He has since ascended to superstardom, and that trade that altered the trajectory of his career hung over the ALCS date between his old club and his current club in a big way.

Never bigger than Game 4.

At that point, the Guardians had a 2-1 lead in the series. The game was tied 1-1 in the sixth inning. To that point, Cleveland had neutralized Caminero. Even when he hit a long fly ball to the deepest part of the ballpark earlier in the game, it landed just in front of the wall for an out. But after reliever Daniel Espino walked the first two batters of the sixth, the Rays had life and their best hitter at the plate. On an 0-2 pitch, Caminero rocketed a 110.2 mph liner over the head of a leaping José Ramírez to score the go-ahead run.

An inning later, the Rays erupted for three more. They won, 7-3, and never trailed again in the ALCS.

“I know who I am,” Caminero said. “Everybody knows who I am.”

Brewers over Dodgers NLCS: The Bauers that be

Swept by the Dodgers in last year’s NLCS, the Brewers entered this year’s rematch with more experience, more hunger and, basically, more of a chance. They got a huge emotional lift by winning the first two at home despite facing Tarik Skubal and Yamamoto, but they still had to prove themselves at Dodger Stadium.

When Will Smith got off the schneid with a huge two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead, it felt like the momentum was shifting back toward the indomitable two-time defending champs. Instead, we were reminded once again how unrelenting this brand of Brewer baseball can be. Because the very next half-inning, facing a locked-in Blake Snell, the Brew Crew erupted. Andrew Vaughn drew a leadoff walk, and then Jake Bauers further powered his way to NLCS MVP honors with an 11-pitch at-bat that resulted in a game-changing two-run blast to give Milwaukee the lead back.

“I’ve seen all the ups and downs he’s been through and it’s been a lot of downs,” Snell said of his former Rays teammate Bauers. “So for him to go through this right now, he’s earned it. Hat’s off to him. I mean, what an at-bat. I threw everything I had.”

And when Mitchell immediately followed with a solo shot, there could be no doubt that the Brewers were going to get their revenge. They won that night, 6-2, then came back from a 4-0 deficit to win Game 4 and become the first team in major North American sports history (MLB, NBA, or NHL) to sweep an opponent in a best-of-seven postseason series one year after being swept by that same team in a best-of-seven series.

WORLD SERIES

Brewers over Rays: A strange Brew

The Brewers were in control for the vast majority of the World Series. They captured two one-run wins at home to open it up, including a Game 2 in which they had trailed 4-0 after the top of the first. They survived the scare of a 12th-inning collapse in Game 4 to command the Game 5 clincher. But the sequence that best illustrated what made this Brewers team so diabolically different than any that had come before it was the fifth inning of Game 3.

With two on and two out, eventual World Series MVP William Contreras grounded to third. Caminero fielded the ball and fired to second to try to get the inning-ending forceout. But Brewers captain Christian Yelich had taken a nice lead off first and showed heads-up hustle to beat the throw on a play in which he was initially ruled out before replay overturned it.

That loaded up the bases, and then the Brewers did what they do best, punishing their opponent with consistent contact. Brice Turang singled up the middle to score two, Mitchell singled on a hit-and-run to score another, Cooper Pratt doubled off Caminero’s glove to score two more, and then a Sal Frelick double, David Hamilton single and Chourio double combined to bring three more runners home.

An eight-run rally. All with two out. There had never been a World Series inning like it, and, in that 10-1 victory that had Milwaukee well on its way to the crown, it was Brewer baseball at its heart-stomping best.

“Nobody went for the big swing, nobody went for a homer,” hitting coach Dan Vogelbach said. “It’s just continuing to take what they give you, take what they give you. That’s what these guys do. They know that they don’t have to be the hero; they just have to give it to the guy behind them.”

That’s why the Brewers were World Series champs and why they had the most moments of all.