Hold onto your hats, baseball fans, because the National League Championship Series is about to kick off, and things just got a whole lot more interesting! The Milwaukee Brewers are heading into their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with some serious newfound confidence after finally snapping a brutal 12-game postseason road losing streak.
Milwaukee’s Road Rebound and a Bold Prediction
Seriously, 12 straight postseason road losses? That’s a rough run, spanning seven different series. But the Brewers finally broke that ugly streak with their NLDS Game 4 win at Petco Park against the Padres. It was their first postseason road victory since Game 3 of the 2018 NLCS, which actually happened at Dodger Stadium. And get this: half of those dozen consecutive road losses for Milwaukee went down in Los Angeles. Talk about history repeating itself, or not repeating, depending on how you look at it.
This newfound swagger has at least one top analyst believing big things. Dennis Lin from The Athletic is putting his money on the Brewers to take down the Dodgers. Why? Lin says Milwaukee will be way fresher than they were a year ago, when the Dodgers apparently swept an “exhausted” Brewers team. He’s also hyping up the Brewers’ “sport’s most disciplined offense” and their “hardest-throwing pitching staff.” After smothering the Padres, they’ve got that undeniable belief they can absolutely win huge games on the road.
Dodgers’ Rotation is Set, But Offense Is Hiding
On the Dodgers’ side, they’re set to roll out Tarik Skubal on the mound for Game 1 in Milwaukee this Sunday, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 on Monday afternoon. That’s a strong one-two punch to start the series, no doubt.
But here’s a wild trend from this postseason: scoring is seriously down. Out of 24 games played so far, only one, Game 4 of the Guardians-White Sox series, saw both teams score at least four runs. That’s it! Bradley Woodrum at Baseball Prospectus has been diving into the numbers and trying to figure out what’s behind this offensive slump and why that “magical fourth run” seems so elusive.
Oh, and off the field, Major League Baseball has been floating some big ideas. This week, they proposed a 154-game regular season and expanding the Division Series to a best-of-7 starting in 2029. It’s all part of their collective bargaining with the MLB Players Association. Jen Ramos-Eisen over at the Left on Base newsletter has the full scoop on that proposal and how the MLBPA is reacting. Former Dodgers center fielder Jim Wynn, the “Toy Cannon,” even got a shout-out from Joe Posnanski in his Joe Blogs newsletter as one of 10 excellent players who somehow never snagged a single Hall of Fame vote.
So, get ready for an intense NLCS. Game 1 is just around the corner, and with the Brewers finally breaking their road curse, this series is looking like it could be a classic.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by True Blue LA.
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