The Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the World Series for the first time in 44 years, and they got there the hard way: by overcoming a four-run deficit against the two-time defending champions, in a building where they'd been swept a year ago to the day.

Milwaukee beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium to complete a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series, ending Los Angeles' bid for a third straight title and sending the Brewers to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982, when they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals as an American League club.

Down 4-0, Milwaukee never blinked

Shohei Ohtani ended his postseason power drought in the second inning, launching a three-run homer that, combined with an earlier RBI single from Andy Pages, put the Dodgers up 4-0 and had the sellout crowd of 49,104 believing a Game 5 was coming. Tyler Glasnow retired his first 10 batters before Milwaukee's lineup started chipping away in the fourth, with Brice Turang, William Contreras and Jake Bauers stringing together the hits and walks that cut the deficit in half.

The Brewers tied it in the fifth as the Dodgers bullpen unraveled, walking in a run before David Hamilton's single knotted the score at 4-4. Then came the swing of the night: Garrett Mitchell, who had already homered in Game 3, fell behind 0-2 against reliever Tanner Scott before driving a 409-foot shot to center field for a 5-4 lead in the sixth. Hamilton added a two-out solo homer off closer Edwin Díaz in the ninth for insurance. JoJo Romero picked up the win, and Aaron Ashby threw three scoreless innings — striking out Ohtani along the way — to close it out, according to ABC7 Los Angeles' recap of the game.

Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP for the 103-win Brewers, who became the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series after trailing at some point in every single game of it.

"I've always dreamt of moments like these as a kid," Garrett Mitchell said after his go-ahead homer sent Milwaukee to the World Series.

The result carries extra weight in Milwaukee because it was the Dodgers who swept the Brewers out of last year's NLCS on their way to a second straight championship. Manager Pat Murphy made clear his team came back for revenge, not a rematch for its own sake: "We weren't coming in to play patty-cake," he said. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, for his part, said his players "played flawless" baseball across the series and that sometimes "you tip your cap" to the better team that night.

For the Dodgers, the loss ends a run at a three-peat and a season that included Ohtani's two-way heroics but ultimately not enough pitching depth down the stretch; Glasnow's shaky fourth inning and the bullpen's late collapses proved costly across the series.

Milwaukee now waits to find out who it will face in the World Series. The Cleveland Guardians currently lead Tampa Bay 2-1 in the American League Championship Series. Because the Brewers finished with the majors' best regular-season record at 103 wins, they will host Game 1 at American Family Field on Oct. 23 regardless of who wins the AL. The Brewers, who get a week off before the Series begins, are making just their second World Series appearance in franchise history.