LOS ANGELES — Forty-four years after Gorman Thomas stood at the plate trying to keep the Milwaukee Brewers’ last World Series alive, the Brewers are finally going back.

Milwaukee completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night with a 6-4 victory at Dodger Stadium, earning its first trip to the World Series since 1982. For Brewers fans in New Glarus, across Wisconsin and scattered far beyond it, the clincher closed a wait that had stretched across generations.

One New Glarus native who now lives in California was there with his two young boys, watching the team he had followed all his life win the National League pennant. Back in Wisconsin, some fans with work waiting Friday stayed home to watch. Others decided a 44-year wait was reason enough to watch together at New Glarus taverns, workday or not.

Randy Kubehl, a New Glarus High School graduate and owner of RPM Motors, had already seen part of the series in person. He told New Glarus 360 this week he attended Game 2 of the NLCS in Milwaukee, where the Brewers beat Los Angeles 7-4. Thursday, the celebration moved west — and the wait ended.