Milwaukee leads 3-0 and the Dodgers are one loss from going home
The Brewers hammered three home runs off Blake Snell on Wednesday night to take a commanding NLCS lead, putting the two-time defending champions one defeat from elimination and their first World Series in 44 years within reach.
In brief
Milwaukee leads 3-0 and the Dodgers are one loss from going home
The first pitch of Wednesday night's game told you everything. Jackson Chourio, 22 years old and playing on a tender right hamstring, stepped in against Blake Snell and sent a 97 mph fastball 391 feet into the Dodger Stadium seats. The crowd of more than 50,000 went quiet before it finished settling in. By the time the night was over, the Milwaukee Brewers had beaten Los Angeles 6-2 and now lead the National League Championship Series three games to none.
According to CBS Sports, Chourio's leadoff shot, which left the bat at 106.1 mph and would have cleared the fence in 19 of 30 MLB parks, was also the first home run Snell had surrendered all year, regular season or playoffs, in 46 and a third innings of work. That kind of detail lands differently when you understand what Snell brought into the night: a two-time Cy Young Award winner pitching in front of a desperate home crowd, given a chance to put his team back in a series they were already trailing two games to none.
Snell did what aces do, mostly. After yielding that leadoff bomb, he locked in. He retired 14 consecutive batters at one point, struck out nine on the night, and his fastball averaged 97.3 mph. The Associated Press reported that coming into the seventh, he had retired 14 Brewers in a row. The Dodgers led 2-1 heading into that inning. It felt, briefly, like the kind of start that flips a series.
It did not flip the series.
The seventh inning that finished it
MLB.com noted that Snell entered the seventh having already faced 21 batters, deep into the dangerous third time through the order. Andrew Vaughn drew a seven-pitch walk to open the inning, and pinch-runner Christian Yelich came in to run for him. Then Jake Bauers stepped in.
Bauers battled. Eleven pitches. On the eleventh, he drove a 412-foot shot to right field that turned a 2-1 Dodgers lead into a 3-2 Brewers advantage. ESPN described the reaction from Milwaukee's dugout spilling onto the field. Before the crowd recovered, Garrett Mitchell stepped up and sent a 438-foot ball to right-center. Back-to-back homers. Snell's night was done.
Per the AP, it was the first time in Snell's career that a pair of left-handed batters hit back-to-back homers against him, and only the second time he gave up multiple home runs to left-handed batters in a single game. Yahoo Sports added that together, Bauers and Mitchell hit more home runs off Snell in that one inning than lefties had managed against him in the entire 2026 regular season. Milwaukee added more runs in the eighth and ninth to finish it at 6-2.
Roberts under the microscope
The decision to leave Snell in for the seventh is already the defining question surrounding this series. Roberts explained himself postgame on MLB.com: "I don't think they were seeing him well. I was trying to get him three more hitters. I felt good with where Blake's stuff was at." He acknowledged the leadoff walk to Vaughn was a problem but said Bauers simply "put together a good at-bat."
Dodger Nation laid out other decisions alongside that one: pinch-hitting for Andy Pages, burning Josue De Paula before a pitching change, and leaving a struggling Tommy Edman in the lineup. Clutch Points catalogued fan and analyst reaction that was blunt in its verdict. The Snell decision was the one everyone saw coming and nobody stopped.
Snell's own postgame quote, per The Sporting Tribune: "To give up a leadoff home run to start the game is frustrating, but I'll learn from it."
Roberts, for his part, has at least one historical data point in his back pocket. MLB.com reported that in all best-of-seven postseason series, teams leading 3-0 have won 41 of 42 times, a 98 percent rate, with 32 of those ending in sweeps. The only team to come back from 3-0 and win a series was Roberts' own 2004 Boston Red Sox. He referenced that history directly after the game: "It's certainly possible. I've lived it."
What Milwaukee is chasing
The weight of what the Brewers are doing cannot be overstated without numbers to back it up, so here they are. Wikipedia's record of the 1982 World Series confirms 1982 is the only World Series the Brewers have ever appeared in, a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. ESPN notes they advanced to the NLCS in 2018 only to lose to these same Dodgers in seven games, and last year Los Angeles swept them in four.
MLB.com's profile of the franchise points out that this year's Brewers set a franchise record for wins, built on starting pitching with a fifth-ranked 3.64 ERA among starters and a league-best .801 OPS with runners in scoring position. Wednesday's starter Robert Gasser, in ESPN's telling, matched Snell pitch for pitch through five innings in the longest postseason outing of his young career.
CBS Sports flagged a detail specific to Chourio that puts the whole night in sharper relief: on the one-year anniversary of doing the same thing to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in last year's NLCS, he did it again to Snell, on the first pitch, in the same building. That time, the Brewers lost. This time, they went home with a 3-0 lead and Tyler Glasnow scheduled to start Game 4 for Los Angeles on Thursday night.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
