The Milwaukee Brewers four game victory over Los Angeles in the NLCS delivered one of the postseason’s biggest surprises. The Brewers had the talent to challenge the Dodgers, but eliminating the defending champions without dropping a game made their achievement even more striking. John Smoltz, a former big league pitcher who covered the matchup from the broadcast booth, later appeared on Ben Verlander’s Flippin’ Bats podcast to examine the factors behind Los Angeles’ collapse.
“Well the easy and lazy statement would be that they (Dodgers) got old,” Smoltz remarked.
“But that’s not fair. Getting old had nothing to do with hitting, it might have had something to do with defense… The Dodgers had to slug, they didn’t slug. They had to hit with runners in scoring position, they didn’t. They had three straight innings where they could have tied the game or taken the lead, they didn’t.”
The Brewers’ upset of the Dodgers
“Credit deserves on the other side, but when you’re champions and you’ve been there, done that, that experience flip flops to you. They pitched well, but they didn’t pitch good enough.”
Los Angeles remains a formidable club, but its lineup failed to deliver in key moments against the Brewers. As Smoltz pointed out, the Dodgers’ biggest problem was their inability to generate enough offense. Milwaukee’s deep and versatile pitching staff consistently limited their scoring opportunities throughout the series.
The Dodgers will have several issues to address before next season, though the franchise remains well positioned to compete again. For now, the spotlight shifts to Milwaukee, which has secured the National League’s place in this year’s World Series.
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