The Dodgers have a chance to finish the job. Los Angeles heads back to the World Series with a 5-1 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee in a deciding Game 7. Clayton Kershaw locked down the final three outs in the NLCS. MORE: Watch MLB live or on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) It was a crazy, weird, up-and-down season for the Dodgers, culminating in a World Series appearance for the second year in a row. Here's how the Dodgers locked down the NL pennant. MORE: Dodgers are NL champs — Get your gear here (All times Eastern.) Dodgers vs. Brewers score, live updates 11:25 p.m.: Kershaw gets Moustakas swinging. The Dodgers are heading back to the World Series. 11:24 p.m.: Kershaw gets Aguilar to strike out. Dodgers are one out away. 11:21 p.m.: Travis Shaw grounds out to the shift. One out in the ninth. 11:17 p.m.: Woodruff gets Muncy swinging and Clayton Kershaw is in this game to close it out for the Dodgers. 11:17 p.m.: Full count to Max Muncy, two outs, top of the ninth, bases loaded, Dodgers up four runs, 5-1. 11:10 p.m.: Bases loaded, one out in the ninth inning for the Dodgers. Some insurance runs could benefit right now. 11:00 p.m. END OF EIGHTH INNING: Jansen gets Braun swinging and it's officially time to hit the panic button for the Brewers. 10:59 p.m.: Jansen gets Yelich swinging at high heat for out No. 2. Clayton Kershaw is up in the bullpen right now. 10:56 p.m.: Cain leads off in the eighth inning for the Brewers … and he grounds out to Jansen. 10:51 p.m.: Brandon Woodruff trying to get the third out in the eighth inning here. He got Machado swinging and Bellinger at the dish now. 10:39 p.m. END OF SEVENTH INNING: Jansen gets the third out in the seventh. Onto the eighth. 10:37 p.m.: Kenley Jansen is in this game with two outs in the seventh. A lot of outs to get. 10:27 p.m.: Kratz throws out Hernandez trying to steal second, Knebel gets Muncy swinging. To the home half we go. 10:21 p.m.: Kike Hernandez with his first hit of the NLCS. Jeffress coming out, Corey Knebel coming in. 10:16 p.m. END OF SIXTH INNING: We head to the seventh after Aguilar strikes out swinging. Getting late early in Milwaukee. 10:15 p.m.: Braun flys out, soon followed by Shaw. 10:12 p.m.: Brewers have to pick up runs and fast. Ryan Madson in the game now, Ryan Braun leading off in the sixth. 10:07 p.m.: Jeffress still in there and he gives up a walk to Chris Taylor. Austin Barnes strikes out soon after with the Brewers coming up. 10:05 p.m. LOS ANGELES SCORING PLAY: Yasiel Puig deposits a three-run bomb to deep left center. 5-1 Dodgers. 10:05 p.m.: Bellinger steals second. Yasiel Puig up. Second and third, two outs. 10:03 p.m.: Bellinger with a fielder's choice ground ball, runners on first and third, two outs. 10:01 p.m.: Jeffress comes in and gives up a single to Justin Turner. Machado up, runners on first and second, no outs in the sixth. 9:53 p.m. END OF FIFTH INNING: Chris Taylor makes a spectacular play in left off the bat of Christian Yelich. Highlight reel stuff. Dodgers still in the lead here, Jeremy Jeffress coming in. Chris Taylor keeps the Dodgers in front with a stunning over the shoulder grab! pic.twitter.com/JMm9ggVbx0 — Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 21, 2018 9:49 p.m.: Lorenzo Cain hammers a two-out double to left, in comes Julio Urias. Some spectacular stuff from Buehler — I would have left him in. 9:48 p.m.: Walker Buehler is dealing. Seven strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings tonight. 9:40 p.m.: A strikeout, a sac bunt and a strikeout later, Hader works through the fifth. 9:34 p.m.: Hader issues a leadoff walk to Chris Taylor in the fifth. 9:29 p.m. END OF FOURTH INNING: Erik Kratz chases a high fastball and strands Shaw at second. Onto the fifth. 9:25 p.m.: Travis Shaw with a leadoff double. Aguilar strikes out. Moustakas up now. 9:18 p.m.: Yasiel Puig grounds into a double play to end the top of the fourth. Hader is through two scoreless. 9:15 p.m.: Hader is touchable. Machado with a leadoff single and he is 2 for 2 on the day. 9:11 p.m. END OF THIRD INNING: A leadoff single is wasted after Yelich bangs into a double play and Braun strikes out. Dodgers lead 2-1 heading to the fourth. 9:07 p.m.: Josh Hader works a scoreless 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the third. 8:55 p.m. END OF SECOND INNING: Schoop grounds out to third to end the threat. Josh Hader coming in this game. 8:53 p.m.: Arcia with a hit out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup. Runners on first and second, Jonathan Schoop at the plate to hit for Chacín. 8:47 p.m.: Moustakas is on with a one-out single in the second. Looks like Hader is coming in this game. 8:41 p.m.: Puig is stranded at second after Barnes and Buehler fly and pop out respectively. 8:38 p.m.: Action in the Milwaukee bullpen, and it's … Josh Hader. Wow. 8:35 p.m. LOS ANGELES SCORING PLAY: Cody Bellinger puts the Dodgers up 2-1 with a monster blast to right field. A bomb. 2-1 Dodgers in the second. 8:31 p.m.: Machado lays down a bunt single. No outs. 8:29 p.m.: This just in: Manny Machado is still Public Enemy No. 1 in Milwaukee. 8:25 p.m. END OF FIRST INNING: Braun grounds out, Travis Shaw strikes out to end the inning. Brewers up 1-0 through one. 8:22 p.m. MILWAUKEE SCORING PLAY: Christian Yelich, likely NL MVP, takes a Buehler fastball out of the park for a solo shot. Brewers lead 1-0. 8:21 p.m.: Walker Buehler starts off his outing with a strikeout of Lorenzo Cain. 8:16 p.m.: Justin Turner grounds into a double play to end the half inning. Brew Crew comin' up. 8:13 p.m.: Max Muncy draws a walk and a quiet pours over the crowd. 8:10 p.m.: Joc Pederson is first-pitch swinging. One pitch, one out. We are underway in Milwaukee. 8:07 p.m.: Game. 7. Here we go.<doc-sep>At a few points over the past six and a half months, this night seemed improbable, if not impossible. When the Brewers were stumbling into the All-Star break, completely out of gas and unable to take a single game in a 5-game series in Pittsburgh, the idea of making the playoffs — let alone the NLCS — started to feel unlikely. When they started September 5 games behind the Chicago Cubs, the idea of winning a pennant seemed downright crazy. But there was always just something about this team. No matter how bad Brewers Twitter or radio talk shows seemed to be melting down, the guys in the clubhouse just went about their business like it was any other day and calmly pulled themselves out of any bit of adversity they faced. They did it to force a Game 163, and then they stole a division title. They did it again on Friday night, and now they’ll hope to steal a pennant. The Cubs may have felt they were entitled to that NL Central championship, and the Brewers took it. The Dodgers have carried themselves like they’re entitled to a second straight NL pennant — this is supposed to be Their Turn, after barely missing out on a World Series title last season — and the Brewers will try to take that, too. Craig Counsell said before this game that it’s now a 9-inning season. Buckle up. Lineups<doc-sep>
MLB Postseason on ESPN Radio From the first pitch of every series to the last out of Game 7, you can catch the entire MLB postseason on ESPN Radio. Listen » Cancel your Saturday night plans: We've got a Game 7 in the National League Championship Series. One team -- the defending NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers or the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers -- will head to Boston to play the Red Sox in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday. The other will spend Sunday cleaning out its clubhouse. The most important thing of the day: If experience is supposed to be your guide in situations like this, many of this year's Dodgers have been in a winner-take-all postseason game in the recent past -- just last year, in Game 7 of the World Series against the Houston Astros. Unfortunately for them, they lost, so who says experience matters? Neither team has been here before, and both stand on the edge of greatness. Josh Hader is ready and rested. Will he be the difference-maker in Game 7? Stacy Revere/Getty Images NLCS Game 7: Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers Walker Buehler (8-5, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (15-8, 3.50 ERA), 8:09 p.m. ET, FS1 and ESPN Radio The stakes: Penultimate, as these things go. Winner goes to the World Series; loser packs up and goes home. If the Brewers win: They return to the World Series for the first time since 1982 -- and for just the second time in franchise history -- after winning their first National League pennant. Can they add their first World Series title? If the Dodgers win: They get another shot at winning it all, as they keep their NL crown and make consecutive World Series appearances for the first time since 1977-78 (when they lost both times). Can they add a championship on the 30th anniversary of their magical 1988 season? One key stat to know: Brewers ace reliever Josh Hader has pitched 10 times while throwing on three days' rest this year in the regular season and postseason combined, posting a 1.56 ERA in 17⅓ innings. He struck out 25 of the 60 batters he faced in those appearances. That 13.0 K/9 sounds like a lot, but it's actually lower than his full regular-season average of 15.8 K/9. The matchup that matters most: How Chacin does against the Dodgers' big left-handed bats, especially the second time around the lineup. He held Joc Pederson, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and Yasmani Grandal to a combined total of 1-for-9 with a ground-rule double and a double play the first two times through the order while holding L.A. scoreless through five innings to help the Brewers win Game 3 in Dodger Stadium. If he can do anything like that again, this could be a surprisingly low-scoring game in the high-offense environment of Miller Park. The prediction: In the moments after the Brewers lost Game 5 in L.A., manager Craig Counsell said, "We're going back home, to me, in a position of strength. We're sitting in a very good spot, to me, going home for Game 6. And we have a great opportunity." And he was right. After thumping the Dodgers in Game 6, Saturday's winner-take-all matchup sets up very well for Milwaukee. Miller Park is going to be rocking. The Brewers have a veteran on the mound in Chacin against a rookie (albeit an incredibly talented one). Hader will be available whenever Counsell chooses to unleash him. Add it all up and I see the Brew Crew celebrating with a champagne party Saturday night before heading to Boston for the team's first World Series in 36 years. Brewers 5, Dodgers 2. -- Dan Mullen, ESPN.com