Dodgers ready to pop champagne vs. Brewers

MILWAUKEE — Yasiel Puig didn’t want to hear anything about the Dodgers having two chances in as many days to win the pennant as his team prepared for a return to Miller Park.

“We need to finish the first game over there,” Puig said. “We don’t want to give them any chance that gets them excited. We want to win, come back for a couple of days and wait for Boston or Houston.”

The Dodgers have reached this position, the precipice of a second straight National League title, mostly by outlasting the Brewers’ talented bullpen. On Friday, they will try for the knockout punch in Game 6 of this NLCS. The Dodgers haven’t won consecutive pennants since 1977-78, when they lost two straight World Series to the Yankees.

The Brewers, who lost two of the three games in Los Angeles, need offense after a maddening 22-inning stretch in which they scored three runs to conclude the Dodger Stadium leg of the series.

Maybe the biggest disappointment has been MVP candidate Christian Yelich, who is batting only .150 in the NLCS.

Lefty Wade Miley, who faced only one batter as the starting pitcher in Game 5 (he served as a decoy) will start Friday for the Brewers. If a Game 7 is needed, ace Jhoulys Chacin will get the ball. The Dodgers have Hyun-Jin Ryu and Walker Buehler lined up for the next two days.

“Everybody in the organi- zation would have been thrilled at the beginning of the year if you would have said, ‘You have to win two games at home to go to the World Series,’” Ryan Braun said. “We’ll have the two guys who have been our best starting pitchers all year ready to go for us, a fully rested bullpen, and I think the day off could be really beneficial for us offensively.”

Milwaukee’s bullpen — headed by fully rested Josh Hader and Corey Knebel — has the weapons to force a Game 7, but the Dodgers have also seen plenty of it.

“Definitely an advantage,” the Dodgers’ Justin Turner said. “I think the more and more you see guys, the more you’re capable of putting together a game plan and an approach that will work for you.”