Dodgers, Brewers start NLCS tonight
MILWAUKEE — Build an early lead, get five good innings out of the starting pitcher and go to the bullpen.
The Milwaukee Brewers used that formula to win 11 straight games going into their National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw could be the ace who finally puts a stop to the streak. The threetime NL Cy Young Award winner will start for Los Angeles in Game 1 tonight at Milwaukee’s Miller Park.
Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said he and his teammates know they’re “not going to get a ton of opportunities” against Kershaw and other Dodgers starting pitchers.
“So we’ve talked about the importance of cashing in on the opportunities we do get,” Braun said.
Once the Brewers take a lead, they’re hard to beat. Good luck getting to their lights-out bullpen.
Milwaukee’s 3.47 ERA in relief during the regular season was second in the NL only to the Chicago Cubs. The bullpen went 2-0 with a save and a 1.17 ERA in the three-game NL Division Series sweep of Colorado.
Corey Knebel can come in as soon as the fifth, usually lights-out left-hander Josh Hader is trusted to enter in just about any situation and Jeremy Jeffress gets the ball in the late innings. All three are capable of closing.
Hader and Knebel are making their MLB postseason debuts, while the playoff experience for Jeffress before this year was limited to just one inning with the Texas Rangers in 2016.
“I thought it was going to be a lot different,” Knebel said Thursday of the playoffs. “The first time I came in, I felt the same surprisingly. … Hey, it’s just another game. That’s all it is. You just want to keep playing ball.”
The spotlight probably won’t faze the Dodgers, who are in a third straight NLCS for the first time in franchise history after beating the Atlanta Braves in four games in their NLDS. The strategy at the plate doesn’t change, either, simply because Milwaukee’s relievers are so good.
Hader, Jeffress and Knebel, along with right-hander Joakim Soria, appeared in all three games against Colorado spread out over four days. The NLCS is a best-of-seven series with the first four games over five days, though, so bullpen usage could differ.
“When you’re talking about a seven-game series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “having those guys go to their pen and taxing them and beating the starter, there’s still a lot of value in that.”
Chasing the starter will require building an early lead that might require the Brewers to dip into their bullpen earlier or more often than planned.
“If they go bullpen game, like they did against the Rockies, it’s a seven-game set,” Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said. “It’s more games you’re putting stress on the bullpen.”
Well, there will be no bullpen day to open the series. Milwaukee is going with lefthander Gio Gonzalez to oppose Kershaw. For Gonzalez, it has been quite a rebound since being acquired in a deal with the Washington Nationals, going 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in five starts with Milwaukee.
“So to sit here, and I’m pitching Game 1 of the second round, I think it’s remarkable, pretty incredible,” Gonzalez said, “and hopefully I get to tell my kids about this one day.”
An 11-year veteran, Gonzalez is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers.
One of the toughest lefthanders in baseball, Kershaw hasn’t been quite as good in his career in the NLCS. He is 2-4 with a 4.65 ERA in five career starts in this round.
Like the rest of the Dodgers, he has unfinished business after Los Angeles lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Houston Astros a year ago.
“We want to finish off what we didn’t finish off last year. That’s been their focus since after that Game 7,” Roberts said. “We’re in a position right now where we can give ourselves an opportunity to get back there.”