The Brewers and Braves face off tonight in the third game of their somewhat unusual three-game series; after Milwaukee took the first two games, the teams reconvene tonight in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to finish the series in MLB’s annual Little League Classic, which doubles tonight as ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
Milwaukee has held the Braves to just two runs across the first two games of this series, and while they’ve only scored six, they’re still in a position to sweep the Braves and take the season series, which would give them a potentially crucial tiebreaker if the (now significant) gap between them should diminish between now and the end of the season. There’s a world where that tiebreaker determines which team gets a first-round bye in the National League playoffs—the season series is currently 3-2 Brewers, though the Braves would have the intra-division advantage, the next tiebreaker down, if Atlanta wins today.
Looking to continue the successes of Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson as Brewer starting pitchers in this series is lefty Shane Drohan, who will face off with a trade-deadline addition to the Braves, Tyler Mahle. Drohan is rumored to be returning to bullpen duty after this start and it thus could be (though probably won’t be) his last start of the season. Drohan’s last appearance was out of the bullpen, when he pitched two innings during the Brewers’ 22-0 beatdown of the Mariners on Tuesday. Before that, Drohan had started 13 straight games, a stretch in which he pitched to a 4.44 ERA but much better 3.67 FIP.
Mahle, a veteran right-hander, was traded from the Giants to the Braves on the eve of the trade deadline. Mahle is only 31 but he’s been around for a long time; he debuted with the division-rival Reds in 2017, and while his career has been a bit of a roller coaster, he’s put together a few extremely solid seasons. One of those was 2025, when he was only healthy enough to make 16 starts but pitched to a 2.18 ERA in 86 2/3 innings. Mahle was just okay with the Giants prior to the deadline, but he’s been great in three starts with the Braves since the trade; he’s gone at least six innings in each of those starts, and has allowed only three runs for a 1.45 ERA. Mahle has a 19:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio since joining Atlanta, but his strikeouts and walks are both better than his career norms, so the Brewers will hope for some regression.
Ironically, in the Little League Classic, the two Brewers closest to Little League are out of the starting lineup, as Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara start this one on the bench. Milwaukee goes with an outfield of Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, and Jake Bauers, and the infield from left to right goes David Hamilton, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, and Andrew Vaughn. William Contreras is behind the plate, with Christian Yelich as the DH. Notably, today is the official debut (though he probably won’t play) of a 2026 Brewer trade pickup; the Brewers and Braves each get a 27th man tonight (the league allows this for designated “special event games”), and that man is catcher Bo Naylor, who has played at Triple-A Nashville since being acquired on August 1st. (The Braves’ 27th man is the very brief former Brewer and bonafide “Brewers” legend, Brewer Hicklen!)
First pitch tonight is at 6:10 p.m. and the game is available exclusively on ESPN (and the Watch ESPN app). Of course, you can always find it on the Brewers Radio Network. Now enjoy today’s take on the lineup card!
Little Leaguers for a day ⚾️
📺: ESPN
📻: WTMJ#LittleLeagueClassicpic.twitter.com/BqYNkhG8VH
Our #LittleLeagueClassic lineup! pic.twitter.com/hN8IMOHEIP
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 23, 2026
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