MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers knew the magnitude of this one.
It was just Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night at American Family Field, but they had their ace, Jacob Misiorowski on the mound. They had a fresh bullpen. They had momentum.
They also had the bitter memory of a year ago that needed to be erased.
You see, the Brewers were in this same position a year ago, facing the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, with home field advantage.
The Dodgers embarrassed them.
It was humiliating, really.
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The Brewers not only were swept, but they didn’t lead a single inning, and set a dubious postseason record hitting just .118.
So now, after winning Game 1, 2-1, with their vaunted bullpen picking up Misiorowski and shutting down the Dodgers’ powerful offense, just what did this game mean to their psyche?
“Well," said Brewers closer Trevor Megill, “we ain’t getting swept now. We can relax a little bit."
Don’t let the Brewers fool you. They know how important this game meant for their chances to go where no Brewer team has gone since 1982 with a World Series berth.
“I think that was huge," Brewers left-handed reliever DL Hall said. “Momentum plays a big part in the postseason."
The series wouldn’t have been over with a loss, but with World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamto taking the mound Monday in Game 2 for the Dodgers, the Brewers simply couldn’t afford to head to Los Angeles down 2-0 and still be confident of a return trip to Milwaukee for a potential Game 6.
Now, for the first time since 2021, the Dodgers are trailing in the NLCS, while the Brewers are not only surviving, but embracing their heart-stopping close games.
“You can't go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “and expect to just win four. It's going to be a long series. We knew it coming in. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to. We've just got to reset."
The Brewers certainly are developing a knack for these tense moments. They are only the third team in postseason history not to lead or trail by more than two runs in a game, joining the 1915 Red Sox and Phillies. And they are only the fourth club in the last 110 teams to have each of their first five games decided by two or fewer runs.
“Hey," said Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell, “it’s Brewer baseball. We never give up, man."
It’s not as if the Brewers smacked around two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal for five innings or the Dodgers bullpen, producing just six hits the entire game. Their own ace, Misiorowski, lasted just 4 ½ innings. But, oh, that bullpen. It no longer is the best-kept secret in the game.
The Brewers’ bullpen, which gave up just two hits in 4 ⅔ shutout innings, has yielded a 0.38 ERA this postseason. They have pitched 23 ⅔ innings in the first five games have a .163 batting average batting average against, with only three extra-base hits, and nine strikeouts.
“Everyone down there throws a sinker," said Aaron Ashby, who pitched two scoreless innings. “Getting the ball on the ground certainly helps limiting damage. And everyone’s got a swing-and-miss pitch to offer. So, it helps when you have swing-and-miss stuff in the postseason….
“I just think we have a great combination and variety."
The last time a bullpen had this low of an ERA in the first games of a postseason since the divisional era in 1969 was the 2006 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
“I don't know how you could get more out of them," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We're squeezing everything we can, and they just get better and more confident. They're making pitches and pick each other up.
“They don't care. They just want to get outs for the Milwaukee Brewers, and that's the beauty of it. Everything else that will come their way will be a result of just caring so much about the team and not just about themselves.’’
The same attitude is reflected by its offense. They bunted. They hit-and-ran. They moved runners over. They tried to steal. They even got a homer from second baseman Brice Turang.
It was Brewer baseball.
You get a feeling this could be their year when Turang, who hit just .067 (1-for-15) against the Dodgers in last year’s NLCS, hit a 96-mph fastball on the black on the inside part of the plate for a home run to lead off the fourth inning.
“I’m going to tip my hat on a pitch like that," Skubal said. “A 2-0 sinker in, I mean, I’m going to live with that left on left."
Turang, who was working on his swing late into the evening Friday, said it brought back memories growing up and spending the night in the batting cage.
“I just didn’t want to foul off my knee again," Turang said. “That’s one way to help you stay inside of a ball is hit a ball off your leg or your foot . ... It definitely felt good. It was one of those things where you just are trying to do something, and you end up doing something like that."
It was no different for Brewers 21-year-old rookie Luis Lara, with only 61 games of big-league experience, who stepped up to the plate in the fifth inning. Mitchell led off the inning with a walk. Fellow rookie Cooper Pratt moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. And Lara slapped a single up the middle on a changeup for a 2-1 lead that the Brewers’ bullpen refused to relinquish.
“The dream for me is to win the World Series," he said. “That will be the dream moment is when we’re able to complete that. Obviously, very happy that I was able to come through for my teammates and that we were able to get the win."
It’s the little things that enabled them to win a major-league leading 103 games this season, despite having the second-lowest home run total in baseball.
How do they pull it off?
“I think the buy-in factor," Turang says, “with everyone buying into what we're trying to accomplish and kind of our style of play. Guys are getting more experience, they're learning the game. That's a big factor in this. Then not giving up when we are behind in the game and knowing that we can do it, we can make up runs.
"This group is really, really good with that.’’
They proved that during the season, and now, they’re doing it in the postseason, this time for all of the world to see.
“Just Brewers baseball,’’ Megill said. “You gotta love it.’’
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Brewers squeezed Dodgers to win torturous NLCS opener: 'Gotta love it'