By Lincoln Hamid ’29
Milwaukee Brewers
Common Season Report: 97-65 (1st in NL)
The NL Central division champ Milwaukee Brewers are coming off the winningest common season in franchise historical past and a NLDS defeat of divisional rival Chicago Cubs in 5 video games. The Brewers are led by a excessive contact, scrappy offense that completed 4th in runs per recreation. The Brewers had an efficient offense regardless of the 2nd lowest barrel fee within the league, bolstered by the 2nd most stolen bases within the league. The important thing query for this Brewers crew is that if this method will play towards the Dodgers, because the Brewers offense scored solely six whole runs within the last three video games of the NLDS. They obtained it achieved within the NLDS with a dominant bullpen, which allowed just one run within the first three video games towards the Cubs, headlined by a resurgent efficiency from rookie Jacob Misorowski, who averaged 101.5 MPH on his 4 seamer in a scoreless recreation 2 efficiency and delivered 4 extra innings of 1 run ball in recreation 5. On offense, they have been led by stars Jackson Chourio and William Contreras, and well timed residence runs by contributors Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers.
Count on starters past ace Freddy Peralta to exit the sport rapidly towards the Dodgers. They used solely two true starters towards the Cubs in Peralta and Quinn Priester, and so they lack dependable choices for size past that. They’ll lean on openers and that bullpen towards the Dodgers, which options nearer Abner Uribe, who has been almost unhittable this season, with a 1.67 ERA in 75 common season appearances.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Common season report: 93-69 (1st in NL West)
The Dodgers superior to their 2nd consecutive NLCS, and their fourth in six seasons, defeating the Phillies in a chaotic recreation 4 on Orion Kerkering’s game-losing error Thursday evening. After an injury-riddled 93 win common season, the Dodgers have gotten wholesome, dominating the Wild Card sequence in a two recreation sweep towards the overmatched Reds. Within the NLDS, the Dodgers leaned on their beginning rotation, with Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell selecting up the win in video games 1 and a pair of, Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the loss in recreation 3 and Tyler Glasnow delivering six innings of two hit ball within the clinching recreation 4. Of the Dodgers 4 starters, solely Yamamoto made playoff appearances final season throughout their World Collection run. The bullpen scenario for the Dodgers has been considerably extra precarious, as a few of the Dodgers main offseason investments within the pen struggled this 12 months, with the Dodgers posting a 4.21 ERA, twenty first in MLB. Nonetheless, Roki Sasaki, who had a 4.46 ERA in the course of the common season, has come on very sturdy within the playoffs, averaging 99.5 MPH on his fastball over three scoreless innings in recreation 4, up 3.4 ticks from the common season. His renewed stuff figures to be key within the NLCS as dependable bullpen choices have been laborious to return by.
The Dodgers lineup was restricted towards the Phillies, however they continue to be a menace to blow up offensively at any time. They’re led by an enormous 3 of future Corridor of Famers on the high of the lineup. Shohei Ohtani will doubtless stroll away together with his 4th MVP award this 12 months, as together with returning to the mound he hit 55 homers with a NL main 179 OPS+. It was a “misplaced season” for Mookie Betts, however he completed the season sturdy, hitting .299 with a .899 OPS in September and performed wonderful protection at shortstop, main all shortstops with 17 Defensive Runs Saved. Freddie Freeman additionally took a step again, however all the time stays a playoff menace. The remainder of the lineup stays harmful, particularly Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a go-ahead 3-run residence run in recreation 1 of the NLDS, and Tommy Edman, who hit the one different Dodger residence run of the NLDS and was the 2024 NLCS MVP.
The Dodgers additionally can be well-rested coming into recreation 1 Monday, as they may be capable to line up their pitching on full relaxation.
Prediction
The Brewers loved a improbable common season, and have been the crew to beat within the 2nd half of the season. Nonetheless, with the gifted Dodgers at their healthiest this season coming into the NLCS they determine to be going through a a lot better crew than even the Dodgers’ 93 wins within the common season. The Dodgers bullpen has been shaky at occasions, however with their unimaginable beginning pitching depth, they far outpace the Brewers on the mound. It will likely be fascinating to see what number of innings every crew’s rookie pitching sensations, Roki Sasaki and Jacob Misorowski, throw on this sequence. On the plate, the Dodgers boast a extra highly effective lineup, and within the MLB playoffs residence runs are king. Groups that out-homer their opponents within the playoffs have a .780 successful share, and the Brewers offensive method has not led to a World Collection win since maybe the Kansas Metropolis Royals World Collection victory in 2015. For that motive, I’m going with Los Angeles in 5.
