Jake Bauers Nearly Retired. Now He Has The Brewers One Win From The World Series

DODGER STADIUM (Los Angeles) — Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers stood off to the side of a frenzied Brewers clubhouse that had, as right-hander Trevor Megill said, "more reporters than players in here." The small-market Brewers are not used to all this attention on them. Neither is Bauers. With his back against a wall, wearing a cream-colored zip-up and a hunter green hat with the words "Needed This" across the front, Bauers blended into the background of the busy locker room. He wasn’t hiding from the cameras, but he also didn't garner the kind of flashy attention that, for example, young star Jackson Chourio and team captain Christian Yelich were both dealing with at their lockers. Bauers, humble and selfless by nature, didn't mind blending in. Meanwhile, the entire room was talking about Bauers’ standout performance throughout the NLCS, culminating with his clutch go-ahead two-run home run off Dodgers southpaw Blake Snell in the seventh inning of the Brewers’ 6-2 win in Game 3 on Thursday night. From nearly walking away from baseball to becoming one of the most important players on a championship-caliber Brewers team that’s one win away from a trip to the World Series, Bauers has emerged as a leader, an inspiration and the heartbeat of Milwaukee’s clubhouse. "He's always someone you can lean on and talk to," Brewers second baseman Brice Turang told me after their win. "You look up to guys who play the game well, and play the game hard, and he always does. And even off the field, the way he treats other people is really cool. We appreciate him very much, and we let him know. He's definitely a big part of why we're winning games." Two days ago, it was difficult to imagine Bauers could top his epic 12-pitch at-bat against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of the NLCS. The grueling at-bat lasted seven minutes and four seconds as Bauers hung in there and battled, fouling pitch after pitch until he finally drew a walk, loaded the bases, and set up a huge inning for the Brewers. The marathon at-bat drained Yamamoto’s pitch count and helped Milwaukee knock the Dodgers ace out of the game after just 2 ⅔ innings. "I didn't think he could have a better at-bat than the one he had against Yamamoto," Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick said. "And he did, somehow." In the seventh inning of Game 3, with the Brewers trailing the Dodgers 2-1, Bauers was back in the thick of it. He battled against Snell, fouled off his entire arsenal, and tried to exhaust him into throwing a mistake. "There was for sure a moment where I thought to myself like, 'Oh, you're in it again,'" Bauers said. "As far as the approach for the at-bat, I was looking for a fastball, and I didn't want to miss it. I said, I'll adjust to anything else, but get a heater, don't miss it." On the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Bauers got his fastball. Snell threw it straight down the middle of the plate, over the heart of the strike zone, and Bauers got every inch of it. He launched it to right field, watched it fly, dropped his bat, and looked at his teammates in the dugout, who were losing their minds as they spilled onto the field in celebration. Bauers’ two-run home run completed Milwaukee’s comeback and gave the team a 3-2 lead. The 11 pitches he saw also helped Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell, who was in the on-deck circle, get an excellent read on all of Snell’s pitches. Mitchell, on the second pitch of his at-bat against Snell, slugged a solo shot to right field, demoralizing the Dodgers with back-to-back home runs in front of a hostile road environment, no less. "We play for each other," Bauers said. "It's as simple as that. Any time there's a mistake, an error, a walk, pitchers give up runs, hitters strike out in a big spot, the only thing anybody's thinking about is, how can I help pick that guy up and do my part to win this game? When you have 26 guys that are bought into that and believe that and show up every day, completely selfless, playing for each other, it's a special thing to be a part of." Added Mitchell: "What more can you say about JB, man? He did it the day before in Game 2, and he did it again tonight. I think that just goes to show the type of player he is. It's a selfless at-bat. He's just trying to put the ball in play. He's trying to move the guy over and put an incredible swing on that. For me, being able to watch that on deck was awesome. I got to go up there and put together another quality at-bat, like him." ALL YEAR, WHEN the Brewers needed someone to step up, Bauers became one of the first players they looked toward. But it wasn’t always this way. At the end of the 2024 season, after Bauers’ recorded his fifth-consecutive season as a below-league average hitter at the plate, he seriously considered retiring from baseball. Following several years of moving between organizations — Milwaukee is the fifth MLB team that Bauers has played for — and struggling to find consistency or results at the plate, the game had taken a toll on him. He started thinking about life after baseball, including spending more time at home with his family. Ultimately, his decision to continue playing led him back to Milwaukee, where he received another opportunity to prove himself. Finally, Bauers found some magic at the plate. Last year, he posted a 111 OPS+ in 85 games and raised his on-base percentage from .301 in 2024 to .353 in 2025. This season, he completely took off. Bauers’ career year featured a 140 OPS+ to go along with a .389 on-base percentage, 26 home runs, 86 RBI, 22 doubles, 93 runs scored and 94 walks. Those are all career highs for the 30-year-old journeyman. His turnaround is remarkable. "I think what changed for me this year was I stopped caring about results," Bauers said. "I started caring about competing. I started caring about being in the moment and getting out of my own way. I came into this year feeling like there was really only one person holding me back, and that was myself. So I think I just gave myself the space to believe that I could play in this league." Not only is Bauers "playing in this league," but he’s shaping up to win the NLCS MVP. "I've grown so close with him personally and learned about his journey, and it's just inspiring," Frelick said. "You look at a guy who was close to retiring, or thinking about it. Now he's leading us against a really good baseball team. It's just a testament to his mindset, how he goes about his business. He's a pro. "He understands the game more as a veteran. He helps the younger guys learn through it. You can really relate with a guy like that who's struggled in his career, and when guys struggle here, they want to turn to a guy like that. It might be easier to turn to someone like him, versus Yeli, who's a three-time MVP." Coming up clutch at Dodger Stadium is a full-circle moment for Bauers. He grew up in Southern California. As a kid, he went to his first major-league game at Dodger Stadium. He played his high school state championship game at Dodger Stadium – and his team lost. "Obviously, we got swept last year out at Dodger Stadium," Bauers said earlier this week. "So not a whole lot of positive memories out at Dodger Stadium, but hoping to make some for sure." Bauers knows from experience what it’s like to fail and keep going anyway. His go-ahead two-run home run that has brought the Brewers one win away from eliminating the back-to-back defending champions can replace the old Dodger Stadium memories that have haunted him throughout his baseball journey. This is more than Bauers’ talent and the belief he kept that he would find it again. Without his patience, composure, confidence, production and leadership, it’s fair to question whether the Brewers would be here today: 27 outs from their first World Series appearance in 44 years. Sometimes, the most important players on championship teams are the ones who have had to fight the hardest to stay. "He's the man," Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt told me. "He's gonna do all that, he’s gonna win the game for us, and it's just another Wednesday for him. He's a dog."