The Milwaukee Brewers face a similar predicament as the Toronto Blue Jays do; despite having homefield advantage in the NLCS, the Brewers now find themselves down 2-0 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the reigning World Series champion putting up pitching masterclasses to begin the series. Milwaukee, as a result, will be heading to Dodger Stadium with their backs being as close to the wall as it can get.
On Tuesday night, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto's turn to dominate the Brewers after Blake Snell gave Milwaukee fits in Game 1. Yamamoto threw a masterful gem, pitching a complete game and allowing just one earned run (on a Jackson Chourio home run) on three hits while striking out seven.
Suffice to say, things are looking bleak for the Brewers right now, as their offense has shut down at the exact moment they needed to produce. And it's not like anything's about to get easier for them, as Tyler Glasnow will be on the mound for the Dodgers in Game 3 at home.
Nonetheless, Brewers manager Pat Murphy is resilient as ever, as he has all the belief in the world in his team's ability to get the job done despite staring at a huge hole in the NLCS.
“You guys might have counted us out…this team has been counted out. It has fight left in them,” Murphy said, per Curt Hogg of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Brewers did not get to where they are this year without being one of the most resilient teams in baseball. They've lost plenty of valuable contributors over the years, but they haven't lost a step.
It is a bit concerning, of course, that the Brewers' offense, which already had some concerning peripherals, could not hit a lick against the Dodgers' star pitchers. But perhaps their hitters wake up now that their sense of urgency is about to hit peak levels on the road.
Brewers stare down a 2-0 deficit against the Dodgers in the NLCS
This Dodgers team is simply inevitable; their success is now self-sustaining, as their culture of winning baseball is attracting the best talents in all of baseball, spurning other good options just to be in Dodger Blue. Yamamoto was one of their big-money signings in recent years, and is just one of many big additions they've made in free agency. Meanwhile, the Brewers are one of the smallest-budget teams in MLB and they simply do not have the resources LA does.
Does David have one more stone left in the pocket to slay Goliath?
