The 2008 National League Division Series (NLDS), the first round of the National League side in Major League Baseball’s 2008 postseason, began on Wednesday, October 1 and ended on Sunday, October 5, with the champions of the three NL divisions and one wild card team participating in two best-of-five series. They were:

The underdog Dodgers swept the Cubs to advance to the NLCS, while the Phillies defeated the Brewers three games to one. The series marked the first postseason series victory for the Dodgers since winning the 1988 World Series, and the first such victory for the Phillies since the 1993 NLCS.

The Phillies defeated the Dodgers for the National League championship, and went on to win the 2008 World Series, defeating the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays in five games.

Los Angeles won the series, 3–0.

Philadelphia won the series, 3–1.

The Dodgers swiped Game 1 from the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mark DeRosa gave the Cubs an early lead in the second inning with an opposite-field two-run home run, but Derek Lowe settled in afterward by going six innings while three relievers held the Cubs scoreless over the last three innings. Ryan Dempster pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits and four walks, but in the fifth, allowed three walks to load the bases for the Dodgers before James Loney's grand slam put them ahead 4–2. Manny Ramírez's home run in the seventh off Sean Marshall made it 5–2 Dodgers. Next inning, Blake DeWitt hit a leadoff double off Jeff Samardzija and scored on Casey Blake's single. In the ninth, Russell Martin's lead off home run off Jason Marquis made it 7–2 Dodgers. Greg Maddux pitched a scoreless bottom half as the Dodgers took a 1–0 series lead.

The Dodgers struck first with a five-run second off Carlos Zambrano. After leadoff singles by Andre Ethier and James Loney, two one-out errors allowed one run to score and load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout, Rafael Furcal's RBI single made it 2–0 Dodgers, then Russell Martin cleared the bases with a double. All five runs scored were unearned. Manny Ramírez' second home run in the series in the fifth, his record-stretching 26th postseason dinger, extended the Dodgers' lead to 6–0. In the seventh, Ramirez walked off Zambrano, who was relieved by Neal Cotts. After a walk and forceout, Matt Kemp's RBI double made it 7–0 Dodgers. Chad Billingsley pitched 6+2⁄3 innings, allowing one run in the seventh on back-to-back two-out doubles by Mark DeRosa and Jim Edmonds. In the eighth, RBI singles by Furcal and Ramirez off Carlos Marmol made it 9–1 Dodgers. Next inning, Juan Pierre reached second on a two-out error off Kerry Wood, the Cubs' fourth of the game and one by each starting infielder, before Casey Blake's RBI single made it 10–1 Dodgers. In the bottom of the inning, Takashi Saito allowed a leadoff double and single before DeRosa's two-run double made it 10–3 Dodgers. Jonathan Broxton in relief walked Felix Pie before retiring the next three batters to end the game and give the Dodgers a 2–0 series lead.

Before a sellout crowd in Dodger Stadium, Russell Martin doubled, then took third on a base hit by Manny Ramírez in the bottom of the first despite a risky baserunning move that almost killed the momentum. Replays showed Martin was out, but the third base umpire ruled it safe. James Loney then stroked a double to right field off Rich Harden to score them both. Martin's RBI double after a walk in the fifth extended the Dodgers' lead to 3–0. It proved to be all the offense the Dodgers needed, as Hiroki Kuroda was locked in, hurling shutout ball into the sixth; the first 11 outs he recorded were all ground ball outs before he struck out Rich Harden to end the fourth. Cory Wade gave up a run on a pinch-hit Daryle Ward single in the top of the eighth after a leadoff double by Derrek Lee, but Jonathan Broxton took over and earned his first career postseason save by striking out Alfonso Soriano to complete the sweep. The Cubs suffered their ninth consecutive post-season loss and second consecutive sweep.