LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers face a historic uphill climb after falling behind 3-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, becoming the latest team to stare down one of baseball's longest odds. In AL/NL history, 43 teams have taken a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series, with 31 finishing with a sweep and another six closing in five games. Only four have forced a Game 6 after trailing 3-0, two have pushed to Game 7, and only the 2004 Boston Red Sox has completed the comeback.
That 2004 ALCS remains the standard. A year after Aaron Boone's walk-off homer off Tim Wakefield ended Boston's season in Game 7, the Yankees led the rematch 3-0 and brought future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 4. Kevin Millar walked, pinch-runner Dave Roberts stole second in what became known as "The Steal," and Bill Mueller singled to tie it before David Ortiz hit a two-run homer off Paul Quantrill three innings later for the win. Ortiz walked it off again the next night to send the series back to the Bronx, where a hobbled Curt Schilling — pitching after tearing the tendon sheath in his right ankle in the ALDS against the Angels and undergoing a procedure to stabilize it — threw seven innings of one-run ball in a 4-2 Game 6 win despite a visibly bloodied sock, before Johnny Damon hit two homers including a grand slam in the second inning of Game 7 to finish the 4-3 series comeback. Boston then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to end an 86-year drought dating to owner Harry Frazee's sale of Babe Ruth after the 1919 season.
The 2020 ALCS provided the closest recent push. After winning the AL East at 40-20 in the shortened season and sweeping the Blue Jays in the AL Wild Card Series and edging the Yankees in five in the ALDS, Tampa Bay won the first three games against a 29-31 Houston team that had beaten the Twins and A's. The entire series was played at Petco Park in San Diego due to pandemic protocols. The Astros answered with two one-run wins, the second on a walk-off homer by Carlos Correa, and a 7-4 victory in Game 6 on 11 hits and nine walks to force Game 7. There, eventual ALCS MVP Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer in the first and former Astro Charlie Morton tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings, and Pete Fairbanks stranded the go-ahead run by striking out Alex Bregman in the eighth after Correa's two-run single cut the lead to 4-2.
The 1998 NLCS followed a similar arc. Atlanta won a franchise-record 106 games and handled the Cubs in the NLDS, but San Diego won the first three games against John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux as Andy Ashby, Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock quieted the Braves, including two wins on the road. Atlanta responded with a blowout in Game 4 and nearly stole Game 5 after Michael Tucker erased a 4-2 deficit with a go-ahead three-run homer off Brown with one out in the eighth, before the Braves called Maddux out of the bullpen in the ninth to protect a one-run lead.
The 2026 Dodgers — the back-to-back defending World Series champions — are now the most recent team to attempt the feat, one year after sweeping Milwaukee in the 2025 NLCS. Los Angeles will send right-hander Tyler Glasnow to the mound for Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday to begin the climb after Milwaukee seized the 3-0 edge following Bauers Battles Snell for 11-Pitch Go-Ahead Homer in NLCS Game 3.