MILWAUKEE — The well-rested Los Angeles Dodgers should have an advantage in starting pitching over the Milwaukee Brewers in the first game of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
The defending World Series champion Dodgers have been idle since Thursday when they wrapped up their National League Division Series, three games to one, with a 2-1 home victory over Philadelphia in 11 innings.
Milwaukee cobbled together a bullpen game and advanced with a 3-1 home victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in the decisive fifth game of its NLDS.
Left-hander Blake Snell, who has won both of his postseason starts, is scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The Brewers have not named a starter but could opt for an opener.
Milwaukee has the No. 1 overall seed and home-field advantage for the entire postseason after winning a franchise-record 97 games during the regular season.
“I think that they’re similar to what we saw earlier this year in the sense of, I think they’re playing really good baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “Towards the end of the year, they kind of scuffled a little bit, but they’re back to playing the way they play.”
Milwaukee is in the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons, but the Brewers had not won a playoff series since the NLDS in 2018. They lost to the Dodgers four games to three in the NLCS that season.
The Brewers were 6-0 this season against the Dodgers, sweeping three-game series at home and away.
“We’re not overconfident, that’s for sure,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Sunday. “The Dodgers are a powerhouse, what can you say?”
The Dodgers’ four-man rotation of Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow is rested and ready. Yamamoto is scheduled for Game 2, Roberts said.
Snell has allowed two runs in 13 innings, striking out 18 and walking five in his two postseason outings. Snell, who missed much of the season with shoulder inflammation, was 5-4 with 2.35 ERA in 11 games during the regular season.
Mookie Betts is hitting .385 in six postseason games, and Teoscar Hernandez is at .308 with three homers and nine RBIs.
Either Quinn Priester or Jose Quintana could serve as the Brewers’ opener for Game 1, Murphy said. Priester, 13-3 during the regular season, failed to get out of the first inning in Game 3 of the NLDS, allowing four runs and getting just two outs.
Milwaukee had to resort to bullpen games twice against the Cubs, with hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski winning both.
Misiorowski was named to the All-Star team after just five major league starts, but the right-hander struggled in the second half. In the NLDS, however, he allowed just one run in seven innings, striking out seven and walking two.
Right-hander Chad Patrick pitched in four of the five games, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Righty Abner Uribe did not allow a run in three innings, locking down Game 5 with a two-inning save.
Jackson Chourio hit .389 in the NLDS with a homer, two doubles and six RBIs. William Contreras hit .300 with two homers.
Brewers rookie third baseman Caleb Durbin, who hit .256 with 11 homers during the regular season, was asked about the David vs. Goliath perception of facing the Dodgers.
“Since Opening Day, that’s been kind of the idea, but I think we just really worry about ourselves, and that’s why we’ve been able to click throughout the entire year,” Durbin said Sunday. “It’s not really about who is on the other side; it’s about us.
“Obviously, the Dodgers have a really good team over there, but it’s no different this series.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
