Ryan Braun played 14 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers and never reached a World Series. He was at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night when the current group got there, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to finish a four-game sweep.
The win sent Milwaukee to its first World Series since 1982 and gave the franchise its first National League pennant. The Brewers were still in the American League when they won the 1982 pennant.
Braun watched the clincher as a fan, the same as everyone else in Milwaukee.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Braun told FOX6 News Milwaukee. “It’s a euphoric feeling for all of us. Obviously, I’m a Brewer fan just like everyone else is. This was so much fun to watch, so much fun to be a part of. I couldn’t be more proud to have been a Milwaukee Brewer.”
“And it is a surreal experience to have the opportunity to celebrate the National League pennant,” Braun continued. “And to come into a stadium where they got swept last year and to sweep these guys, it’s never been done in the history of baseball before. They’ve never had that happen.”
Milwaukee became the first team in MLB history to complete a postseason sweep of the same opponent that swept it the previous postseason, according to The Associated Press. The Dodgers won all four games of the 2025 NLCS.
The AP also reported that the Brewers are the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series in which they trailed in every game.
Ryan Braun saw the Brewers’ belief after a 4-0 hole
Game 4 got away from Milwaukee early. Shohei Ohtani’s three-run homer off Dustin May in the second inning put Los Angeles ahead 4-0.
Braun pointed to that moment when describing what sets this roster apart.
“It’s a unique belief in each other,” Braun explained. “It’s a unique ability to compete pitch to pitch. It’s a unique ability to play for each other, not just with each other.”
“And even tonight, they’re down 4-0, Shohei has a big moment, hits a three-run home run, this place is rocking,” Braun added. “And I can look down here and you can see it. You can see the belief that they had, they still believed that they would find a way. This group is really special, they’ve earned everything that they’ve accomplished to this point. I know that there’s more ahead, but what an incredible moment.”
William Contreras and Jake Bauers doubled back-to-back in the fourth to make it 4-2. In the fifth, David Hamilton’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by Bauers tied it.
Garrett Mitchell put Milwaukee ahead with a solo homer off Tanner Scott in the sixth. Hamilton, hitting ninth, added a two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz in the ninth.
Bauers was named NLCS MVP.
Ryan Braun wanted his 2018 Brewers to be celebrated like 1982
The 2018 Brewers came within one game of the World Series. They lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in seven games, and Braun appeared in 10 postseason games for Milwaukee that October.
Braun said part of him still wishes that team had reached the next level.
“We’re all so proud of the 1982 team,” Braun said. “Those guys deserve all the love that they get.”
“All of us were determined to be a group that they could celebrate in the same way that that team is celebrated,” Braun detailed. “And this team now will be that group, right? They deserve it. I couldn’t be more proud of the group and just honored to have played for this organization.”
Braun spent all 14 of his major league seasons with Milwaukee, from 2007 to 2020. In 1,766 games, he hit .296 with 352 home runs.
He won the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year award. Four years later, he was named NL MVP.
The Brewers will host the Rays or Guardians in Game 1
The American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians is tied 2-2. Game 5 is Sunday at Progressive Field in Cleveland, with first pitch at 4:08 p.m. CT.
Braun ranks the rotation Milwaukee just beat among the best ever assembled.
“I don’t think they care,” Braun said. “I really don’t think they care. I think this group believes they’re going to find a way regardless of who they’re playing against. They’ve proved that time in and time out. They just beat an all-time great team with what I would consider to be maybe the greatest starting pitching staff ever assembled.”
“And those guys threw the ball well,” Braun noted, “and our guys just continued to compete, continued to believe in each other, played great defense, ran the bases really well, the bullpen was lights out, everybody was contributing, so I don’t think they care who they play against and they’ll be ready to go.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy struck a similar note after the clincher.
“They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers,” Murphy said, according to MLB.com. “And the gamers won this week.”
Milwaukee holds home-field advantage in the World Series after finishing with the best record in MLB. Game 1 is Friday, Oct. 23, at American Family Field, with first pitch at 7 p.m. CT on FOX.