How hard is it to erase a 3-0 deficit? Milwaukee can at least make it interesting

Pat Murphy and the Milwaukee Brewers spent the 2025 season overcoming the doubters and reiterating that what they might lack in market size and payroll, they’re still one of baseball’s most consistent teams. However, the Brewers' storybook campaign, one featuring a franchise-record 97 victories and their seventh playoff berth in eight years, is on the verge of ending at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite All-Star rookie pitcher Jacob Misiorowski's best attempt, the Dodgers took a 3-0 NLCS lead over the Brewers on Thursday. Dodgers pitching has limited the Brewers offense to three runs in three games, and Milwaukee has mustered only nine hits in 89 at-bats.

“It’s challenging,” Brewers outfielder Jake Bauers said. “These guys are the best in the world, right? But that’s what you get when you get to this point in the season: the best arms that anybody has to offer.”

History isn’t exactly working in the Brewers’ favor, as teams that took a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series have won 40 of 41 times. There have been 31 sweeps, and the Dodgers look to make it 32 on Friday night.

But, there have been four instances where a team won at least two straight and forced a Game 6.

2004 ALCS: Boston Red Sox win four straight, defeat New York Yankees in seven games

If you’re a Yankees fan, look away. Start scrolling as fast as you can and think of a happy place, because the pain of blowing a 3-0 lead against the rival Red Sox will likely never go away. Not when Mariano Rivera, of all people, blew a Game 4 save, and David Ortiz extended the series with walk-off hits in Game 4 and Game 5. 

Then came the return to New York, when Curt Schilling and his bloody sock held the Yankees to one run over seven innings. By that point, the Yankees’ season was all but over, and future Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon sealed their fate with two homers, including a grand slam, in a Game 7 rout.

Not only did the Red Sox go on to win the World Series for the first time in 86 years, but they’ve since captured three additional championships. The Yankees, meanwhile, have only notched two pennants and a single title in that span. Unfortunately for baseball fans, the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry isn’t what it once was, and we’ll pin some of the blame on the 2004 ALCS.

2020 ALCS: Houston Astros win three straight, fall to the Tampa Bay Rays in seven games

You’re forgiven if you forgot the 2020 MLB playoffs, considering that most games were played at a neutral site amid the pandemic. In fact, it’s easy to have trouble remembering that there even was a 2020 season. 

Regardless, the Rays won 40 of 60 in the shortened season and took home the AL East, while the Astros finished 29-31 and snuck in as a Wild Card. Tampa promptly won the first three games at San Diego's Petco Park, setting themselves up for their first pennant since 2008. 

However, Carlos Correa and the Astros wouldn't go down quietly, snagging one-run victories the next two nights. Houston scored seven runs and walked nine times in a Game 6 win, and the baseball world prepared to see the Astros reach their third World Series in four years — and with a losing record, no less. 

Rays rookie phenom Randy Arozarena came through, though, hitting a two-run homer in Tampa’s 4-2 Game 7 victory. Alas, the Dodgers defeated the Rays in the World Series, and Tampa has only won a single playoff game since.

1999 NLCS: New York Mets win two straight, fall to the Atlanta Braves in six games

If the Mets had pulled this comeback off, then third baseman Robin Ventura could go the rest of his life without needing to pay for anything in New York. Honestly, that might be the case regardless, with his Grand Slam Single walk-off in Game 5 forever remaining one of the all-time great Mets moments. It’s understandably not quite the Bill Buckner error in the 1986 World Series, but the sight of Ventura getting stopped after rounding first base is certainly up there. 

Either way, the 1999 NLCS’ final five games were all decided by one run, though the Braves finished the job in six games. Unfortunately for the Braves, their World Series loss to the New York Yankees more or less marked the end of their brief 1990s dynasty; although Atlanta continued reaching the postseason every year through 2006, they failed to win a pennant in that time. At least Chipper Jones and the three-headed trio of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine won a ring in 1995. 

1998 NLCS: Atlanta Braves win two straight, fall to the San Diego Padres in six games

Speaking of the Braves, they had their chance at achieving baseball’s first 3-0 comeback a year earlier. San Diego impressively won the first three games despite facing Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddux, with the first two games taking place at Atlanta's Turner Field. Padres pitching limited the Braves to three runs in those three games, with Kevin Brown throwing an 89-pitch, 11-strikeout Game 2 shutout.

You could never quite count the Braves out, though. Braves pitching broke out for an 8-3 Game 4 victory before a sensational, 7-6 thrilling win the next night. Here's a fun fact: Greg Maddux, of all people, recorded the save at Qualcomm Stadium.

But, the Padres were a team of destiny, and Sterling Hitchcock threw five shutout innings in Game 6. San Diego's bullpen followed up with four no-hit innings, and the Padres celebrated a series-clinching 5-0 victory the next night. As they did with the ‘99 Braves a year later, though, the Yankees swept the Padres in the Fall Classic.

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