After winning Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, the Milwaukee Brewers are three wins away from the World Series. They'll face another tough opponent in Game 2, as the Los Angeles Dodgers will start right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
To counter the matchup, the Brewers will insert three left-handed bats into their lineup. Christian Yelich, David Hamilton, and Sal Frelick will start at designated hitter, third base, and right field after sitting out of Game 1.
While the Brewers changed three hitters in their lineup for the platoon advantage, the order didn't changed much. Yelich replaces Andrew Vaughn in the fifth spot, Frelick replaces Game 1 hero Luis Lara batting eighth, and Hamilton replaces Joey Ortiz in the nine hole. The six players who remain in the lineup are batting in the same spots in Game 2.
With the Brewers having their lineup decisions based on the handedness of the pitcher in two games so far, they could deploy the same lineup in Game 4. They will face right-hander Tyler Glasnow at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium that night.
Brewers Add 3 Lefties to NLCS Game 2 Lineup vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
It's not a surprise to see the Brewers load their lineup with left-handed bats. In a series that projects to have the thinnest of margins, Pat Murphy is going to want every advantage he can get. That's why Yelich, Hamilton, and Frelick are in the lineup against a right-hander after sitting out against the top left-handed starter in MLB in Tarik Skubal.
Hitting against Yamamoto isn't going to be easy for the Brewers' left-handed bats. The right-hander owns a 2.14 ERA in 63 postseason innings. His splitter serves as an equalizer against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .145 average and a .206 slugging percentage.
That's allowed Yamamoto to enjoy big reverse platoon splits in his career. He's faced 888 left-handed hitters in his career and has held them to a .175/.237/.267 slash. So it's not a given that adding more left-handed bats to the lineup will give Milwaukee an advantage in this game.
The Brewers have their work cut out for them to score against one of the best pitchers in baseball. But they had the same problem in Game 1 and proved they could win such a game.
It will come down to how well rookie right-hander Logan Henderson pitches. He delivered five strong innings in the Brewers' Game 2 win in the NLDS. Additionally, he has faced this Dodgers lineup before. He fired seven innings of one-run ball at Dodger Stadium on August 16.
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