The Dodgers will learn who their opponent will be in the National League Championship Series Saturday when the Milwaukee Brewers face the Chicago Cubs in the decisive Game 5 of their National League Division Series in Milwaukee.
The Cubs avoided elimination with a 6-0 victory in Chicago Thursday night. The home team has won every game of the series.
The championship series will begin Monday. Game 1 will be in Milwaukee if the Brewers win their division series and at Dodger Stadium if the Cubs win.
Milwaukee had the best record in Major League Baseball, 97-65, one game better than the Philadelphia Phillies, 96-66.
The Cubs, 92-70, finished second in the NL Central, five games behind the Brewers.
The Dodgers were 0-6 against Milwaukee, losing all three games at both Dodger Stadium and American Family Field.
The Dodgers were 3-4 against Chicago, winning both games of the season-opening series in Tokyo, but losing both games at Wrigley Field and two of three at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers advanced to the NLCS with a 2-1, 11-inning victory over the Phillies at Dodger Stadium Thursday to win their NLDS three games to one.
Hyeseong Kim, who pinch-ran for Tommy Edman, scored the winning run when Philadelphia pitcher Orion Kerkering could not cleanly field a grounder by Andy Pages — then threw wildly to home plate in an attempt to get the force out on Kim.
“Just hit off my foot. Once that pressure got to me, I just thought it was a faster throw to J.T., a little quicker throw than trying to cross-body it to Bryce,” Kerkering said, referring to catcher J.T. Realmuto and first baseman Bryce Harper.
Kerkering was consoled by his teammates after the game. Manager Rob Thomson had a long conversation with Kerkering coming off the field and told reporters he told the second-year pitcher to “just keep his head up.”
“He just got caught up in the moment a little bit,” Thomson said. “Coming down the stretch there, he pitched so well for us. I feel for him because he’s putting it all on his shoulders. But we win as a team and we lose as a team.”
Edman singled with one out on the eighth pitch of the at-bat against Jesus Luzardo, who was pitching in relief for the first time since 2021 when he was with the Oakland Athletics. Kim then ran for Edman and moved to third one out later on Max Muncy’s single, which prompted Thomson to summon Kerkering from the bullpen.
Kiké Hernández drew a full-count walk to load the bases in what manager Dave Roberts called “probably one of his best at-bats of the year.”
Pages hit an 0-1 sinker to bring home the winning run in front of a crowd announced at 50,563.
Alex Vesia (1-0), the fourth Dodger pitcher, pitched a hitless 11th for his first postseason victory in 24 appearances since 2021, all with the Dodgers.
Luzardo (0-2), the fourth of five Philadelphia pitchers, was charged with the loss. He was also the losing pitcher in Game 2 Monday.
The Phillies opened the scoring in the seventh when Nick Castellanos’ one-out double drove in Max Kepler. Realmuto had led off the inning with a single and was forced out at second on a ground ball hit by Kepler, who advanced to second on a fielding error on the play by Dodger pitcher Emmet Sheehan.
The Dodgers tied the score in the bottom of the seventh when Mookie Betts was walked by Jhoan Duran on a full-count pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, forcing in Justin Dean, the pinch runner for Alex Call.
Call had walked on a full-count pitch from Cristopher Sánchez, the Philadelphia starter, with one out. Hernández singled Call to second, where Dean ran for him. Sanchez was relieved by Duran. Dean moved to third and Hernández to second on Andy Pages’ ground out.
Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked to load the bases just before the bases-loaded walk to Betts.
Ohtani was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Thursday. He was 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts for the series.
The Dodgers got what Roberts called “one of the great all-time appearances out of the pen that I can remember” from Roki Sasaki, who retired all nine batters he faced in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings.
“To do what he did gave us a huge boost,” Roberts said. “I can’t speak enough to his growth and his contribution to this club. We’re starting to see something really special in him, and that’s why he was courted so hard in the offseason.
“But what he’s done now on the biggest of stages, he’s just scratching the surface. But couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Tyler Glasnow pitched six shutout innings in his first postseason start in his two seasons with the Dodgers, limiting Philadelphia to six hits. He struck out eight batters and walked three.
“Couldn’t be more excited for Tyler,” Roberts said. “A little bit looking on the outside looking in last year, and wanting to be a part of things. And all offseason, this season, he couldn’t wait for this moment, for the postseason, and to contribute.
“And so he’s prepared physically, mentally. And what he did, it was his time today. Today was his moment. And I was just very happy to see that he rose to that occasion and gave us a huge boost. This is something that I know is going to propel him going forward.”
Glasnow had cramps in the fifth and sixth innings and Roberts said “I felt that with the cramps … we pushed him as far as I wanted to push him right there.”
The right-hander was on the injured list with right should tendinitis during last year’s postseason.
Glasnow’s only postseason appearance this year before Thursday was pitching 1 2/3 shutout innings in Game 1 Saturday.
The Dodgers out-hit the Phillies, 7-4, with no players on either team having a multiple-hit game. The Dodgers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. Philadelphia was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.