The Milwaukee Brewers are in the driver's seat with the National League Championship Series set to move to Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Milwaukee won Games 1 and 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and will send Robert Gasser to the mound on Wednesday night to face off against two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. It's going to be a tough matchup, but one thing that's in Milwaukee's favor is the fact that it arguably exposed the fatal flaw of the Dodgers, which very well could be the reason why they ultimately don't win their third straight World Series title this fall.
Whether the Brewers knock out Los Angeles, or one of the final two American League clubs, the Dodgers aren't perfect. The Dodgers' rotation is incredible on paper (Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow). The lineup is great as well and led by former MVPs in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. But the bullpen isn't at the same level.
In Game 2, Milwaukee took advantage of the Dodgers' bullpen after knocking out Yamamoto early. Milwaukee's bullpen had to toss 5 1/3 innings and the Brewers scored four runs and racked up eight base hits. It would've been 6 1/3 innings from the Dodgers' bullpen if the game wasn't in Milwaukee and the Brewers weren't leading. Entering the NLCS, we made the case that the Dodgers' bullpen was their biggest disadvantage and that has proved to be correct.
The Bullpen Is Los Angeles' Biggest Weakness
It doesn't help that the Dodgers are missing Blake Treinen as well. Of the four teams remaining in the playoffs (Brewers, Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians), the Dodgers have the third-ranked bullpen ERA at 3.13. Overall, Los Angeles' bullpen is ranked fifth among all the playoff teams. The Brewers, on the other hand, have the No. 1-ranked bullpen ERA in the postseason at 0.31.
The Dodgers are the Dodgers. The club doesn't have many weaknesses. It's why they won two straight World Series titles and were viewed as the favorites entering the NLCS. But the bullpen has been outplayed by Milwaukee's and that's extremely important in the postseason, especially with starters not going very deep into games.
If the Dodgers are going to be knocked out, the bullpen is the likeliest reason why. Milwaukee saw the blueprint in Game 2. Get the starter out and then take advantage. The lineup and rotation are incredible, but there's more to the game than that.
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