The Milwaukee Brewers‘ 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series deserves a simple explanation.
“We’re playing like s—,” Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, “and they’re playing great.”
Milwaukee’s 6-2 win in Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium put Los Angeles on the brink of elimination.
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The back-to-back World Series champions were the favorites to win a third title entering the postseason less than three weeks ago. Now, the Brewers can send the Dodgers packing on their home field as early as Thursday.
The disparity between the two teams in the series is no less shocking.
Prior to Wednesday, 274 teams had played at least seven postseason games since 1903. The Dodgers’ .572 OPS would rank 268th.
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Muncy isn’t immune from his own criticism. He has a team-leading three home runs, all solo shots, in seven postseason games — and only one other hit in 18 at-bats.
The Dodgers have only two extra-base hits, and no home runs, in the three NLCS games against the Brewers. They’re being outscored 15-7.
Their reasons for optimism about turning around their offense going into Game 4 are scant.
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“I’ll talk to them tomorrow,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his team during his postgame press conference. “They know what’s at stake. We’ve won four in a row a number of times this year, ten times, I think, something like that.
“Again, we’ve got to win (Thursday). That’s our only focus.”
MLB moved the start of the game to 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. on the West Coast.
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