• NLCS Game 4: Brewers 6-4 Dodgers

• Defending champions swept out of playoffs

• Milwaukee roar back from four runs down

• Brewers will face Rays or Guardians in World Series

Jake Bauers started the Brewers’ comeback with a two-run double and Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead home run to deliver a 6-4 victory ⁠over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday and send Milwaukee to their first World Series appearance in 44 years.

Bauers added a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the ⁠fifth inning as the Brewers ⁠rallied from an early ​four-run deficit to sweep the National League Championship Series in four games. The dominating performance came after Milwaukee were swept out of the NLCS by Los Angeles ⁠last season.

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© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

• Halpin’s first playoff homer puts Cleveland ahead

• Williams strikes out nine as Guardians win 3-2

• Cleveland bullpen retires 11 of final 12 Rays batters

Petey Halpin hit a go-ahead two-run homer, Gavin Williams struck out nine over five innings and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday to take a 2-1 lead.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Friday, though rain is forecast.

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© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

• Milwaukee rally past Los Angeles for 3-0 NLCS lead

• Bauers and Mitchell homer back-to-back off Blake Snell

• Defending champions face elimination on Thursday

Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell hit back-to-back home runs off Blake Snell to reclaim the lead in the seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Wednesday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers had just taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth before being stunned. The loss pushed the two-time defending World Series champions to the brink of elimination. They had trailed 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series only once previously in franchise history, when they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1966 World Series.

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© Photograph: Luke Hales/Getty Images

© Photograph: Luke Hales/Getty Images

© Photograph: Luke Hales/Getty Images

• Freddy Peralta pitches six scoreless innings in 3-1 win

• José Ramírez error opens door to three-run fourth

• ALCS heads to Cleveland at 1-1 for Thursday’s Game 3

Freddy Peralta pitched six innings of four-hit ball, Liam Hicks lined a two-run single after a fielding error by José Ramírez and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 on Tuesday night to level the American League Championship Series at 1-1.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Cleveland.

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© Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

• NLCS Game 2: LA Dodgers 4-7 Milwaukee Brewers

• Reigning champions 2-0 down in best-of-seven series

• Guardians take Game 1 of ALCS against Rays

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

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© Photograph: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

© Photograph: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Rhenda Strub invited strangers to accompany her to Seattle Mariners games this season to help overcome the loneliness of grieving for her son’s death.

© Chona Kasinger for The New York Times

• Turang homers off Skubal as Brewers take Game 1

• Lara’s fifth-inning single breaks 1-1 deadlock

• Milwaukee end seven-game playoff skid against LA

Brice Turang homered off Tarik Skubal and Milwaukee’s bullpen shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers after Jacob Misiorowski’s taxing outing, sending the Brewers to a 2-1 victory in the National League Championship Series opener on Sunday night.

Luis Lara hit a tiebreaking single off Skubal in the fifth inning as Milwaukee took Game 1 in the first NLCS matchup of 100-win teams since the Cincinnati Reds eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. The Brewers had lost seven consecutive postseason games against the Dodgers, including a sweep in last year’s NLCS.

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© Photograph: Abbie Parr/AP

© Photograph: Abbie Parr/AP

© Photograph: Abbie Parr/AP

• Williams fans 12 as Cleveland win decisive Game 5

• Ramírez’s two-run homer provides only scoring

• Guardians to face Rays for place in World Series

Gavin Williams struck out 12, José Ramírez homered on a pitch just above home plate and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Saturday night to complete a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-five American League Division Series.

Cleveland open the American League Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking their first World Series appearance since 2016. The Guardians/Indians franchise have not won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.

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© Photograph: Jason Miller/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jason Miller/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jason Miller/Getty Images

The first league of its kind in 70 years brought players from all around the world to Illinois for eight weeks, writing a new chapter in the history of women’s sports

On the morning of 14 September, Rocky Henley sat at her rental home’s dining room table amid scattered rulebooks, colorful markers and graph paper. The New York Heights manager drew a chart on a large poster – her method of sketching plays for the evening’s playoff game. Her assistant manager, Jackson, trudged in from the kitchen in flannel pajama pants and a Heights hoodie and watched her work. He also happens to be her son.

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© Photograph: Jaclyn Licht

© Photograph: Jaclyn Licht

© Photograph: Jaclyn Licht

• Rays sweep Yankees 3-0 after fan interference call

• Dodgers eliminate Braves to keep three-peat bid alive

• Ramírez leads Guardians past Sox to avoid sweep

Anthony Volpe rounded the bases, touched home plate and then waited out the uncertainty like everyone else.

“Just hoping for the best,” the New York Yankees infielder said. “Crazy.”

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© Photograph: Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images

The White Sox were one of the worst teams in MLB history. Now they are just five wins from a place in the World Series

The postgame celebration songs pounded through the Bluetooth speakers in the Chicago White Sox clubhouse on Monday night, minutes after the team’s playoff victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.

The White Sox, who lost 121 games two seasons ago, have made a remarkable turnaround. A team who were once so abject that they stopped tweeting out their results are now just five wins from the World Series. They can seal their progress to the American League Championship Series on Wednesday if they beat the Guardians in Chicago.

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© Photograph: Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images