LOS ANGELES -- Two of the most epic plate appearances in recent postseason memory didn’t faze Jake Bauers, but being told of the Brewers history he made Thursday night left him speechless.
For those game-changing moments and a team-high six RBIs, Bauers was named the National League Championship Series MVP after his Brewers swept the Dodgers in a 6-4 comeback victory at Dodger Stadium.
The Brewers, who waited 44 years for a return trip to the World Series, had never had a player win the LCS MVP Award before. When they won the AL pennant in 1982, the Angels’ Fred Lynn won MVP honors in a losing effort.
Bauers, who put together a career year with 26 home runs and 86 RBIs, carried it over into the second round of Milwaukee’s postseason. He collected at least one hit in all four games of the NLCS, including a two-run ground-rule double in the fourth inning of Thursday’s clincher that cut Milwaukee’s deficit in half. Bauers also brought in the game-tying run with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
His six RBIs tied for the most in a postseason series in franchise history, joining the following performances:
• Jackson Chourio (2026 NLDS)
• Chourio (2025 NLDS)
• Ryan Braun (2011 NLCS)
• Cecil Cooper (1982 World Series)
• Robin Yount (1982 World Series)
“Unbelievable,” Sal Frelick said. “No one deserves it more. I think if you had every single person on this team write down who it should be before the series even happened, we’d all write that guy.”
Earlier in the NLCS, Bauers’ heroics involved long battles in the middle of decisive rallies.
In the third inning of Game 2, Bauers worked a 12-pitch walk against right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a plate appearance that lasted seven minutes and four seconds. Following his free pass, captain Christian Yelich stroked the go-ahead two-run single to chase Yamamoto in the third inning of a 7-4 win in Milwaukee.
The 31-year-old Bauers was back at it again in NLCS Game 3, sending the 11th pitch from two-time Cy Young-winning left-hander Blake Snell over the right-field wall for the go-ahead two-run homer. Garrett Mitchell went back to back with Bauers in Milwaukee’s 6-2 victory on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
It marked the sixth home run on the 11th pitch of an at-bat or later in the postseason since pitch-count tracking began in 1988. It also made Bauers the second player with 11-plus-pitch plate appearances in consecutive games within a postseason (Aramis Ramirez in 2003 NLCS).
“After that, it's all about just letting it happen,” Bauers said. “I've said it before, sometimes I feel like I'm watching myself play. That's what it feels like.”
In an NLCS that featured MVPs Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts on the other side of the field -- as well as two-time Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal and Snell -- it was journeyman Bauers taking home the hardware.
Bauers nearly quit baseball two years ago. His wife smartly convinced him to keep going, and the Brewers couldn’t be more thankful after eliminating the reigning two-time World Series champion Dodgers.
“Jake played with a broken toe, he's had shin splints all year and he's soft,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy teasingly said in front of Bauers. “Those are three things to try to overcome.”
All joking aside, Bauers is four wins away from a World Series title. It will be one of his former ballclubs from the early part of his seven-year career representing the American League standing in the way.
Bauers made his Major League debut with Tampa Bay in 2018 and spent two seasons with Cleveland ('19 and '21) right after.
“He's been huge for us all season, and I'm just really proud of him,” Yelich said. “He's been a huge part of our team, and he had an unbelievable series with some great at-bats and a huge homer last night and a big double today to get things rolling. He did a great job.”