The Brewers return to the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers with a cleaner pitching picture, a rested bullpen and a different feel from the club that was swept a year ago. Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium, with Jacob Misiorowski set to take the ball for Milwaukee.
Milwaukee went 6-0 against Los Angeles during last year’s regular season, then managed one run in each game of a four-game NLCS sweep. Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani kept the Brewers quiet, and Milwaukee arrived at that series worn down after a demanding Division Series against the Cubs.
This time, the Brewers split their season series differently, going 4-3 against the Dodgers while taking a four-game series in Los Angeles in August. More important, they believe they enter October’s rematch with more energy and more options.
“We’re going to go in there and grind,” Christian Yelich said. “We have a confident group. We’re expecting a great series.”
A better setup for the rotation
Milwaukee’s Game 1 assignment tells the story of how much has changed. Last October, Aaron Ashby opened twice in the NLCS, first ahead of Quinn Priester, who was pitching through the beginnings of what was later diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome, and later before Misiorowski. Freddy Peralta started Game 2 after a difficult NLDS outing against the Cubs, while José Quintana took Game 4 following a September calf injury.
Misiorowski had also lost his rotation spot during the second half and came close to missing the postseason roster altogether. Now he is rested because Milwaukee finished its Division Series against San Diego in four games rather than needing a fifth game Friday.
Logan Henderson is lined up behind him for Game 2. Across 24 regular-season and postseason starts, Henderson has not allowed more than three runs in any appearance.
Questions remain deeper in the rotation after Dustin May’s uneven Game 3 showing against the Padres. But Robert Gasser gave Milwaukee encouragement in Game 4, working four determined innings despite defensive mistakes behind him. He had closed the regular season with a 1.67 ERA over his final six outings. Shane Drohan and Kyle Harrison offer additional length if needed.
Pitching coach Chris Hook said the club learned from the strain of last year’s run.
“We’ve been through this a few times, and the more you’re under this kind of stress, the more you get comfortable in this environment,” Hook said. “That was disappointing last year. I think we were getting to the end. There’s that ‘juice’ in the room, and we were kind of getting to the end of our juice. It took a lot out of us to beat the Cubs.”
Hook sees a fresher club this October. “This is a different group,” he said. “I think we’re ready to go.”
Yelich brings a steadier bat
Yelich enters the series coming off a .900 OPS against San Diego in the NLDS, a small sample but one of his more productive postseason stretches. His run-scoring single in the Game 3 loss to the Padres ended a long personal drought: it was his first playoff RBI since his first-inning homer against the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS.
He had played 19 postseason games without driving in a run between those moments. This time, however, Milwaukee does not need him to carry every at-bat and every rally.
“I’m really just focusing on putting together a good at-bat and passing it to the next guy,” Yelich said. “In the postseason atmosphere, you’re just trying to have a good at-bat. A team at-bat. And you go from there.”
Relief corps gets a breather
Ashby, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill did much of the heavy lifting in the Division Series, combining for 12 2/3 of Milwaukee’s 19 bullpen innings. They covered the final five innings of the Game 4 clincher, but each will have three days off before the NLCS opener.
Megill is also farther removed from the right forearm strain that interrupted his regular season last year. Around the main trio, Milwaukee can turn to DL Hall in leverage spots, Chad Patrick, and Trade Deadline additions JoJo Romero and Antonio Senzatela. Drohan and Harrison provide multi-inning cover and could help keep the late-inning relievers out of games that get away early.
“I think we’ve got an arm for each side,” Hook said. “It’s high velo. The secondaries are elite. And I think our guys are really starting to understand and believe that we can do this.”
Hook pointed to the final three weeks of the regular season as a useful preparation for the kind of bullpen work Milwaukee will need against Los Angeles.
Ohtani remains the central test
The Brewers will not have to face Ohtani the pitcher in this NLCS, a significant difference from last fall. In Game 4 of the previous series, Ohtani threw six scoreless innings, struck out 10 and hit three home runs in a performance that overwhelmed Milwaukee from both sides of the game.
He remains a dangerous hitter, but he comes into this matchup after a .566 OPS in September and a 2-for-13 Division Series against Atlanta. Ohtani batted fifth in Game 3 of that series, his lowest lineup spot since joining the Dodgers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Los Angeles has shown it can win even when Ohtani is not carrying the offense, while expressing confidence that the two-way star will break through.
“It’s good to know that we can still win games without him doing a whole bunch,” Roberts said. “But he’s going to come to life. It will happen.”
That is the challenge waiting for Milwaukee. The Brewers have seen the Dodgers at their hottest, and they have felt what fatigue can do to a club in October. This time, Misiorowski gets the first inning, the bullpen is stocked, and Yelich is swinging the bat. The work still has to be done under the lights in Los Angeles, but Milwaukee arrives believing it has more than a better memory to lean on.
