Fascinating facts and stats from Brewers' comeback sweep

After Thursday's 6-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS, the Brewers are headed to their second World Series in franchise history, and they got there with a dominant sweep and an unprecedented win.

They became the fifth team to sweep the reigning World Series champions in a best-of-seven postseason series, joining the 1990 Reds (vs. A’s), 1966 Orioles (Dodgers), 1963 Dodgers (Yankees) and 1914 Boston Braves (A’s), all in the World Series. Impressive, of course, but that’s been done before.

Here’s a look at seven Brewers accomplishments that have never happened before, with some additional history sprinkled in.

• The Brewers completed a revenge tour unlike any other in baseball history. This NLCS was the eighth time a postseason series ended with a sweep and then the same teams met the following postseason. The Brewers are the first to sweep back the team that swept them. The only other team to be swept and then win a rematch the next postseason is the 1923 Yankees, who avenged a 1922 sweep by beating the Giants in six games.

• We can go beyond just baseball history here. The Brewers are the fifth team in MLB/NBA/NHL history to be swept in one postseason and come back to sweep that same opponent in the following postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. But none of the other four instances, the most recent of which was in 1967-68 (Warriors/Lakers in the NBA Western Conference semifinals and finals), involved a best-of-seven for both series. That makes the Brewers the first to do this, across sports, with both series being best-of-seven.

• That’s not the only first the Brewers established on Thursday. They swept this series despite needing to come from behind in each game. The Brewers are the first team to trail in all four games of a best-of-seven postseason series they swept.

• Comebacks are nothing new for these Brewers. They’ve won seven games this postseason, and six have been in comeback fashion. The Brewers are the first team with six comeback wins in their first eight games of a postseason. They had the best record in baseball this year when conceding the first run of the game, at 35-36 in the regular season. They’re now up to 40-37 when allowing the first run this season, including the playoffs. The last team to finish a year, including the playoffs, above .500 in those situations (excluding 2020) was the 2009 Yankees, who went 43-41 when their opponent scored first, en route to a World Series title.

• Let’s zero in on the Game 4 comeback. The Brewers trailed by four runs at one point. That’s the largest comeback to clinch a best-of-seven sweep in postseason history, per Elias. It’s also tied for the largest comeback to clinch an LCS since the round began in 1969, matching the Yankees in the 2003 (Game 7) and 2000 (Game 6) ALCS.

• We still have more firsts to get to. This was the 11th best-of-seven postseason series between 100-win teams. It’s the first to end in a sweep. Overall, the Brewers are the sixth team to sweep a 100-win team in a best-of-seven postseason series, joining the 2004 Red Sox (WS vs. STL), 1999 Yankees (WS vs. ATL), 1990 Reds (WS vs. OAK), 1963 Dodgers (WS vs. NYY) and 1954 Giants (WS vs. CLE). But again, none of those teams pulling off the sweep had also won 100 games -- until these Brewers.

• Another unprecedented facet of this Brewers run has been their bullpen usage and success. Comebacks galore mean that the bullpen is liable to be involved in plenty of decisions. In fact, every pitching win has been credited to a reliever. The Brewers are the first team in postseason history to sweep a best-of-seven series and have a reliever get the win in all four games. They’re also the first team to have a reliever earn the win in at least seven of their first eight games of a postseason. Only one team – the 2015 Royals – had more reliever wins in an entire postseason, with eight.