NLCS Game 1: LA Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers

The NLCS is finally upon us, after quite a few days of waiting. The Dodgers come in off a 3-1 series victory over the Braves, where they had control quite clearly in all of their wins. The Brewers on the other hand held the Rockies scoreless in 27 of the 28 innings in their series. They blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning of game one, and after winning on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the tenth, did not allow a run for the next 18 innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers are -160 over the Brewers on Friday.

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Dodgers Using Ace to Slow Down Milwaukee

Holding the Braves to just eight runs in four games, it did not take much for the Dodgers to dominate. Max Muncy and Manny Machado each belted a pair of home runs in the series to help power the offense. Justin Turner led with five hits and a .357 average. The only thing they should be worrying about right now is that Cody Bellinger did not have any hits in the first round.

Milwaukee’s offense is much better than LA’s, so their bullpen is going to have to come through big time. They send Clayton Kershaw to the mound for his second start this postseason. He shut down the Braves in his first outing, holding them scoreless and allowing only two hits over eight innings, while striking out three. When healthy, he is still one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, as he demonstrated last week.

Brewers Red Hot

A late-season push helped them to take the division title, and now it’s all uphill from here. They only scored 11 runs in their three games against the Rockies, but they could have won the series with five. With how good their pitching looked, there was nothing stopping them. Yelich, Arcia, and Aguilar all went deep, and they will be looking for their power to help them in the series.

Ryan Braun and Erik Kratz each recorded five hits to help pace the offense and get balls in play. Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress both looked dominant, just like they were all regular season long. They will send Gio Gonzalez to the mound for his first playoff start as a Brewer. He appeared in just five regular-season games for them, going 3-0, striking out 22, while walking 11, in 22 innings of work. He should be good to for this outing, as he has a lot of playoff experience from his time in DC. This is the first time he has ever made it out of the first round.

Brewers stun Kershaw, Dodgers, take 1-0 lead

You read that right, we’re riding with the Brew-crew in the series opener. The bats will come out and attack Kershaw the first time through the order. This is going to be a low-scoring game, but the damage done early by Milwaukee will be enough. Gio will pitch long enough that Knebel, Jeffress, and Hader will be able to do the rest. Take the Brewers at home. Free Pick: Brewers +140

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