Dodgers tip cap to Brewers as title reign ends in NLCS sweep - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The last out of the Dodgers' season had been made more than an hour before, and Miguel Rojas was still wearing his jersey, cap, eye black and cleats. Moments after a 6-4 loss that cemented a sweep to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series on Thursday night, Rojas stood in front of teammates and coaches and announced his retirement as a player. Keeping his uniform on was his way of preserving that part of him.

Twelve locker stalls down, Tarik Skubal gushed about his 10 weeks in Los Angeles and eschewed questions about his lingering free agency. He was in no hurry to leave, either.

There was a suddenness to the way the Dodgers' quest for a three-peat ended, as is often the case in these instances. A sadness, an uneasiness about what's next, but also, closure. The Brewers defeated them so thoroughly that it left the Dodgers with little to second-guess. Rojas called it «refreshing.»

«At the end of the day, we got beat,» Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. «We got outplayed in all facets.»

Roberts spoke before Rojas and did his best to provide encouragement to a group that won 100 games, claimed its 13th division title in 14 years and ultimately fell eight wins short of another championship. He told them how proud he was. The Dodgers will continue to be good, but the looming lockout has brought with it uncertainty about when they'll reconvene and, given the owners' insistence on a salary cap, what type of restrictions they'll face.

One thing is certain: The opportunity to go down in history as the only NL team to win three straight will never present itself again. Not for this group.

«For three years straight, we left it all out there,» Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, his eyes