The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers have become a common postseason matchup over the last decade, and they are once again set to meet in the 2026 National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers first faced the Brewers in the 2018 NLCS, defeating them in seven games. They met again in the 2020 Wild Card Series, and then in the 2025 NLCS, where L.A. swept Milwaukee both times.

Despite their success against the Brewers in October, Mookie Betts wants the Dodgers to avoid falling into a sense of security with past history, even if it is as recent as just last season.

“You got to keep them completely separate,” Betts said of the NLCS in 2025 relative to this season. “I mean, it’s another year. Guys have gotten better, they have more experience, they’re just better. So we’ve got to take it for what it is this year. That’s really it.

“We can’t use last year at all. If anything, they would use last year and apply it to a new strategy for this year.”

Despite the narrative that this series is the juggernaut Dodgers taking on the lowly Brewers, the reality isn’t actually that. The Brewers led all of baseball with 103 wins, and they have been one of the best teams in the league over the past few seasons.

Betts expects them to be a challenge and doesn’t want the Dodgers to lose focus against a team without the same star power.

“They won 100 games, so you know they’re obviously a really, really good ballclub,” Betts said. “They do everything. They play small ball, they hit home runs, they pitch, they run bases, they do everything it take to be a really good ballclub and to win. So we have to match them.”

The Brewers have yet to win a World Series in their history, so they’re hungry to win one. They’ve also yet to even advance to a World Series as a NL Club, but did so in 1982 when they were in the American League.

Although the Dodgers have had their share of success, they’ve also been known as the postseason chokers, going more than 30 years without a World Series title, and then having a run of postseason failures from 2008 through 2019, and again in 2021 through 2023.

Because of that, Betts is aware of how much a team can improve from one postseason to the next and how much that previous experience can help them prepare, making the Brewers an even more difficult challenge.

“I think they can make a huge jump. I mean, a lot of it may have just been experience,” Betts said. “I don’t think any of it really had anything to do with lack of skill. They’re all in the big leagues and they’re all very talented players. So maybe some of it was experience.

“I don’t know, but going into this year, they have the experience, so that’s definitely not a thing. And they’re playing with confidence. That may have been all they needed, was just a little experience and a little taste of it. And now they know what to do.”

Mookie Betts impressed by Jacob Misiorowski

The Dodgers are likely to face a difficult task in Game 1, with Jacob Misiorowski expected to take the mound for Milwaukee. The near-lock to win the NL Cy Young Award has taken the next step in his game, and may just be the best pitcher in MLB.

“I thought he was always good,” Betts said. “So for me, I think he’s just a year older, a year wiser, he understands what he needs to do to be successful. He’s a smart kid and he’s driven. He’s obviously made a lot of adjustments, but like I said, the whole team has, and they’re all super talented and hungry and want to win.”

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