As both of these series shift back to the lower seed’s stadiums, both of the regular season NL and AL leading teams find themselves in uncomfortable territory on the road in front of raucous crowds.
A thrilling complete game from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 in Milwaukee sets us up for a dominant Dodgers return to LA, where they look almost invincible through the early stages of the NLCS. A high-payroll heavy roster has completely capitalized on their opportunities, whether that be great pitching and timely hitting, great defending or just the mental side of the game, they are an absolute force to be reckoned with. Whichever AL team comes out of the ALCS will have an uphill battle to climb. Despite a somewhat shaky bullpen, the Dodgers have given their starters a long-leash, and the moves have paid off in full.
The Brewers, now on the brink of elimination as the series has shifted away from them, both in location and series score, will be all hands on deck for Games 3 and 4 to try and get this series back to Milwaukee.
Tyler Glasnow will take the rubber, looking to piggyback off his great performance against Philadelphia in a series-clinching Game 4 where he tossed a six inning, 8 strikeout shutout performance. Brewers will likely take the bullpen approach, where you’ll likely see an opener (a reliever that comes in and pitches one inning and hands the ball to a starter) coupled with Jacob Misiorowski, the rookie phenom who has taken the league by storm this week. With production and threats up and down the lineup, I will not be surprised to see another classy Dodgers win, almost cementing their spot as the NL representative in the world series.
In game four in Seattle, the Mariners will line up with Luis Castillo, who excels at T-Mobile park, with much better pitching performances there as compared to his road starts. The Blue Jays aren’t necessarily struggling, they’ve battled back and had timely hits in the early innings, but the Mariners have kept their foot on the gas through all 9, taking 2 in a tough environment in Toronto. The Blue Jays will start Max Scherzer, who will probably only be out there for a few innings if all goes well, then onto the bullpen where everyone will be available to pitch, even their best starters, to keep them alive in the series.