Brewers Go Out With a Whimper in NLCS

In four games, the Brewers managed to score just four total runs. As a team, they slashed just .118/.191/.193, good for a sub-.400 OPS and a wRC+ of just 8. And no, that is not a typo.

I’m not sure how many teams would have performed well offensively against these Dodgers arms with the way they were throwing it, but the Brewers never managed to build any momentum at the plate.

Even when they got runners on, they greatly struggled to move runners, let alone get them across home plate.

Historic Pitching Performances From the Dodgers

Game 1 kicked off with Blake Snell posting truly one of the most impressive postseason starts in MLB history. The southpaw faced the minimum over eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit while striking out 10 batters without a single walk.

Snell is the first pitcher in postseason history to post 10-plus strikeouts, one or no hits, and no walks in an outing of eight-plus innings. He was simply sensational, there is no better way to put it.

The Brewers’ whole offensive identity revolves around their ability to put the bat on the ball at a high rate and limit chase. Snell completely took the offense out of its rhythm, as Brewers hitters could hardly make contact with anything Snell was throwing.

Snell had an overall whiff rate of 45%, and he was inducing chase at a 33% clip. For reference, the Brewers had the third-lowest whiff rate in MLB this season at 22.5%.

Snell’s changeup had Brewers hitters in a pretzel, as the pitch generated a whiff rate of 61%. That is just a testament to how dominant he was on the mound.

Milwaukee generated some traffic on the basepaths in the bottom of the ninth once Snell was pulled and Roki Sasaki came in relief, but in the end it was not enough to steal Game 1 from LA. Brice Turang struck out with the bases loaded, and the Brewers ended the game with just two total hits.

Game 2 was more of the same with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump.

It felt as if the Brewers were going to get back on track early, however. Freddy Peralta put up a scoreless top of the first, and then Jackson Chourio took the first pitch he saw from Yamamoto — a 97 mph fastball on the inner half — and hit an opposite-field blast to put the Brewers on top 1-0.

That was the last threat the Brewers posed at the plate, as Yamamoto went on to have a dominant outing after that.

Yamamoto ended up pitching a complete game, allowing just three total hits and striking out seven while allowing just one walk.

Brewers hitters simply could not pick up pitches out of Yamamoto’s hand. They ended the game chasing a whopping 40% of the time. Again, for reference, the Brewers had the lowest chase rate in baseball this season at 25.5%.

Just like that, Milwaukee was down 2-0, they had just five total hits across the first two games of this series, and they had just one at-bat with runners in scoring position through the first 18 innings of this series. They were chasing, they were whiffing, and they were hardly making any damaging contact.

As mentioned, one could argue that no team would have been able to hit either Snell or Yamamoto with the way they were pitching, but this was not the same Brewers offense that fans watched all season long.

Things didn’t improve when the Crew headed to Los Angeles, either.

The Brewers struck early against Tyler Glasnow in Game 3 with a Jake Bauers RBI single in the top of the second inning to tie the game, but that was about all the offensive momentum this team would muster.

The Brewers only had four hits in the game, and two of them came from Caleb Durbin. They once again struggled to make contact against Glasnow, whiffing 42% of the time against the Dodgers hurler.

They limited their chase more than they did in the previous two games, and they managed to work slightly better at-bats and work deeper into counts in Game 3, forcing Dave Roberts to turn to his bullpen in the sixth inning, but that didn’t lead to better results for the Brewers’ offense.

Things didn’t improve in Game 4 with Shohei Ohtani on the mound, as the unicorn put together arguably the greatest performance in the history of Major League Baseball to send the Dodgers back to the World Series.

On top of his three monstrous homers, he tossed six scoreless innings of two-hit ball, all while striking out 10 Brewers hitters. The Brewers managed just five total hits in the game, ending their season on the lowest note possible.

Noteworthy Offensive Takeaways

For starters, it was an absolute dreadful postseason for Christian Yelich.

In 38 playoff plate appearances this year, Yelich slashed just .182/.289/.212 for a .501 OPS and 51 wRC+. In his nine postseason games, Yelich sported a mosnterous 79.2% ground-ball rate.

Moreover, in the NLCS, Yelich was just 1-for-14 (.071) with a -17 wRC+.

It was a really strong regular season for Yelich, and expectations were high heading into his first postseason appearance since 2023. And yet, he looked like a shell of himself this entire postseason. This offense is at its best when Yelich is swinging it well, but he simply could not get his timing right against the Dodgers.

It was a similar story for many of the Brewers’ most important hitters. Sal Frelick posted a -70 wRC+ in the NLCS, and Turang hit just .114 with a wRC+ of 6 this whole postseason. Simply put, there wasn’t a whole lot of production happening at the top of the order.

The two bright spots offensively this October were Chourio and Durbin.

Among regulars in the lineup, Chourio led the way for Milwaukee this October with a 139 wRC+ and .890 OPS in 35 plate appearances. In 12 career playoff games, Chourio is sporting a slash line of .341/.362/.682 for a 1.044 OPS and 182 wRC+.

Don’t forget that he is just 21 years old, and he was playing on a bum hamstring for the majority of the playoffs this year. He has been everything the Brewers were hoping for and more, and it’s clear he’s established himself as one of the bright young stars in the game.

Moreover, Durbin was the only Brewers hitter to show up in the NLCS. He led the team with a 163 wRC+, and his .973 OPS was over .300 points better than the next-closest player for Milwaukee. He ended the series batting over .300, and he was the lone offensive bright spot against the Dodgers.

Durbin was truly an unsung hero of the Brewers’ success this season. Acquired in the offseason, he not only had to get adjusted to a new clubhouse and city, but he started the season in Triple-A and then was thrusted into a starting role at third base — a relatively new position for him — while the team was making a push for a third consecutive division title.

He then managed to show up on the biggest stage against baseball’s most intimidating opponent while the other players around him the lineup were not carrying their weight.

Durbin deserves so much praise for his performance this season. The Brewers have a valuable young player on their hands moving into next season, and that become abundantly clear in the NLCS.

A Budding Star on the Mound

Another silver lining to come from the series is the shining star that is Jacob Misiorowski.

The Brewers’ 23-year-old hurler pitched a gem for Milwaukee in Game 3, going five innings of one-run ball. He struck out nine while walking just one batter, and his stuff was on full display.

He ended the afternoon with a 45% whiff rate, a zone-contact rate of just 56%, and most importantly a strike rate of nearly 70%.

In a series that was basically nightmare for the Brewers, Misiorowski was a glaring positive for this ball club.

He ended his regular season on a sour note. There were doubts about whether or not he would even be on the postseason roster heading into the NLDS. And at the end of the day, the Brewers were playing in the NLCS because of what he did in the NLDS against Chicago, and he shined on the biggest stage against the most lethal lineup in baseball.

The results are certainly good to see, but it’s even more encouraging that he was able to perform in these high-leverage moments. The experience he gained during this postseason is going to be so valuable for his long-term development, and the Brewers have a true star on their hands moving forward.

Final Thoughts

Frankly, the Brewers never were really in this series.

Even though the score remained tight for most games in this series, any Dodgers lead felt insurmountable for the Brewers given how they were swinging the bat. Milwaukee completely lost its identity, and the Dodgers pounced all over a team that was out of sorts from the get-go this series.

It was truly a historic season for the Brew Crew, which makes the way their season ended that much harder to digest. They deserve praise for what they accomplished in the regular season, putting up the best season in franchise history, but it didn’t appear as if they were remotely prepared to take on the defending champions in the NLCS.

But don’t let this series taint what was a really encouraging year for the Crew. This is a roster full of young talent, and there’s plenty to build off of heading into the offseason.

As Yelich stated in his postgame availability, this team isn’t far off — not as far as it seems. They just hit a rut at the wrong time. For now, it’s back to the drawing board as the Brewers will look to get back to October baseball in 2026.