It wasn’t a baseball game, it was a sucker punch.
Ouch! Ooof! What?
Who are these Milwaukee Brewers?
What happened to that docile small-town bunch that was once embarrassingly soft? What happened to the team with great stats but none of the swagger, a team that the Dodgers swept last October in a playoff series that wasn’t that close?
The Dodgers entered the National League Championship Series at Milwaukee’s American Family Field on Sunday knowing the Brewers had the best record in baseball, the best batting average in baseball, the best bullpen in baseball, and still…
They had to be convinced this wasn’t the same Brewer team that had famously rolled over one short year ago.
Well, um… duck!
In a first round that portended a lengthy and bloody fight, the Dodgers clutched to a 1-0 lead after three innings with ace Tarik Skubal on the mound and Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski headed for the showers.
Then they lost it.
They lost to a rare Brewer home run. They lost to a trademark Brewer bunt. They lost to four stifling Brewer relievers.
In the end, they lost the series opener 2-1 to a relentless Brewer effort filled with all the muscle and hustle of their football-toting neighbors up in Green Bay.
This time, when they were knocked down, the Brewers didn’t stay down.
This time, the Brewers swung back and swung harder and eventually landed a stunning blow deep into the Dodgers’ psyche.
This time, it’s clearly going to be different.
This time they tied the game in the fourth inning on a Brice Turang home run, then took the lead an inning later on a perfect example of the manufactured attack that is pure Brewerball.
Garrett Mitchell walked, rookie Cooper Pratt laid down a sacrifice bunt and light-hitting Luis Lara banged the next pitch up the middle to score Mitchell from second for the 2-1 lead.
From there, the league’s best bullpen held the Dodgers to two singles in the last four innings, with the Dodgers stranding two runners on base in two of them. On a night they ended three innings with double plays and have still not focused their postseason hitting efforts, the final inning epitomized the frustration.
With two outs against closer Trevor Megill, Kyle Tucker drew a seven-pitch walk and kid pinch-hitter Josue De Paula drew a walk, and the sort of heroics the Dodgers have displayed for the previous two postseasons were all set up for Mookie Betts.
And he promptly lofted the second pitch to center fielder Mitchell, who made the catch and screamed and flexed with the sort of hearty celebration that usually comes from the Dodgers.
A different day indeed.
Last season in the NLCS, the Dodgers won the opener by this exact same score and the series was never really close. Don’t expect the Brewers to follow the same path, but also don’t expect this to be easy.
Milwaukee’s Brice Turang celebrates with third base coach Matt Erickson after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers should get the equalizer in this best-of-seven series Monday afternoon with October superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto facing relatively untested Logan Henderson.
But who knows? If the Brewers are going to act like this for a week, the Dodgers could be in big trouble.
The two-time defending champs aren’t panicking. But they’re not happy either. And if you listen closely, perhaps you can pick up a scent of worry.
“Yeah, you can’t go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win four,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s going to be a long series. We knew it coming in. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to.”
And the Dodgers, particularly one man in the middle of their order and behind the plate, failed to do the same.
Will Smith grounded into a double play and went hitless in three at-bats and is now one for 19 in the postseason.
“Yeah, he’s not swinging the bat well,” said Roberts, who remains hopeful. “He just has that knack to get a hit, a big hit.”
More of a lost cause is Shohei Ohtani, who banged out a single in three at-bats and is three for 16 in the postseason.
The Brewers seem better able to handle slumps from their stars because they’re all about the business of creating runs from what unselfish soul finds himself in the spotlight.
When asked about the key to this culture, Turang said, “I think the buy-in factor with everyone buying into what we’re trying to accomplish and kind of our style of play. Then not only that, like guys are getting more experience, they’re learning the game — even for me, still learning, getting experience. That’s a big factor in this.”
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski celebrates after striking out Kyle Tucker in the fourth inning Sunday in Game 1 of the NLCS.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Spoken like a guy who believes his team is on the verge of taking the next step. Turang said the key is what happens when they are faced with adversity — like Sunday night.
“Then not giving up when we are behind in the game and knowing that we can do it, we can make up runs,” he said. “This group is really, really good with that.”
As for the Dodgers, they know they’re really, really good at just about everything. But they know that time could be quickly running out on their chance to once again show it.
“We’ve just got to reset,” Roberts said. “We’ve got our guy going tomorrow, who we trust undoubtedly, and we’ve got to win a baseball game.”
This October, against this newly rumpled and roughneck version of the Milwaukee Brewers, that’s apparently going to be easier said than done.
