Last year when the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers met in the NLCS, the Dodgers swept the Brewers in dominating fashion. For all of my friends that were Brewers fans, I told them that money had zero part in that result. It was a Dodgers team that played fundamentally well in the four games vs a Brewers team that did almost everything wrong.
Now as the two are midway through the rematch in 2026, the Brewers hold a 2-0 lead as the series shifts from Milwaukee to Los Angeles for games 3-5. It’s very simple for why the Brewers have flipped the script so far, Milwaukee is doing what their playoff slogan says “win our way”. The Brewers have done everything better than the Dodgers so far.
In game 1, Milwaukee’s starter Jacob Misiorowski did not have his best stuff if you watched the game. However he still went 4.1 Innings pitched, and struck out 5 while allowing only 1 run on 5 hits. The Dodgers also had a lot of chances throughout the game, like the 5th inning when the Miz left the game, LA loaded the bases but scored no runs. The Brewers won the game 2-1 by a home run from Brice Turang and a Luis Lara RBI single.
Then in game 2, Los Angeles like game one started out with a 1-0 lead, but every time the Dodgers scored the Brewers struck back. The Brewers offense made Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto go only 2.2 Innings and a large part of that was due to AB’s like the one Jake Bauers took in the third inning when he worked the count and took a walk after a long AB to have Christian Yelich come up and have a go ahead hit. Really the only Brewers blemish of the day was two throwing errors by their starter Logan Henderson that scored two Dodgers runs. But once again Milwaukee won with a score of 7-4 to sweep the first two games.
I mean when you watch these two games, the Brewers have dominated the Dodgers. Milwaukee’s pen which has had a 0.31 ERA through their six Postseason games allowed 0 runs in the two games vs the Dodgers. In fact in game two, the Dodgers had no baserunners vs the Brewers pen. The Brewers also made LA use 7 pitchers from their bullpen yesterday. Also as I said, in game 2, all three times the Dodgers took the lead Milwaukee tied it back up, the Brewers just never allowed the Dodgers to have a shutdown inning. The Dodgers on the other hand, who lives by the long ball, hit 0 home runs in the first two games at Milwaukee.
Shohei Ohtani according to a lot of media pundits and fans has been injured and looks like he has been playing injured based on his Postseason numbers. But in this series, Mookie Betts has 2 hits while Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker, and Tommy Edman all have 1 hit. Catcher Will Smith also has not recorded a hit in both games so far too. For as loaded of a roster this is, what this shows is for all of the talent money can buy, it cannot buy hits. LA only had 3 hits in game 2, and when they did do something in game 1 they only got that one run. The second inning, the bases were loaded with one out and and no one scored with Kike Hernandez grounding into an inning ending double play. The fifth inning when the bases were loaded with one out, they were left loaded after Freeman grounded into an inning ending double play then the next inning runners were on the corners and no one scored. In the ninth inning, Brewers closer Trevor Megill walked two batters but Mookie Betts couldn’t get them home as he ended the game on a flyout to deep center.
What this shows is the Brewers are beating the Dodgers their way and the Dodgers so far haven’t been able to do anything about it. Milwaukee has been playing with better fundamentals along with more energy and it has shown on the field. Now this series isn’t over yet, as the Dodgers have shown just this past year after the World Series, its a 7 game series for a reason. The next three are going to take place at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers need to take at least two to keep their season alive. Where really they might need a sweep to have a chance because if Milwaukee just takes one in Dodger stadium, they go back to American Family Field with a chance to clinch their first World Series appearance since 1982. Milwaukee can also end it early by taking two in Los Angeles but they just need one to really put the pressure on the Dodgers.
I have said to friends and family that I think the Brewers will win the World Series because they just do not die, and that never say never attitude has shown throughout this whole postseason. The Dodgers need to wake up and treat game 3 like everything is on the line because if they fall down 3-0, unless your the 2004 Boston Red Sox, history has said its night night for any one with a 3-0 deficit.
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