The Brewers have made the Dodgers -- the supposedly invincible, two-time defending champion Dodgers -- look like a team whose time has passed in the first two games of this NL Championship Series. But those games were in Milwaukee. Now, the champs come home, with a whole dynasty on the line and a two-time Cy Young Award winner on the mound.
We all remember Joe Davis’ call when the Dodgers won the World Series last year: To beat the champs, you gotta knock 'em out. The Brewers have a long road to go. But if they can win tonight … that road gets a lot shorter.
Here are three key questions leading into NLCS Game 3 on Wednesday.
NLCS Game 3: Brewers at Dodgers (MIL ahead 2-0)
SP: Robert Gasser (MIL) vs. Blake Snell (LAD)
Will Ohtani still factor into this series?
There are already all sorts of debates happening about the Dodgers’ handling of Shohei Ohtani over the latter half of the season. Should they have shut him down from pitching earlier? Did they rush him back from the injured list and into the lineup too quickly? Will there be a time in the future when they don’t have him pitch at all? Or is this just something that you have to let Ohtani, a player like none other on the planet, follow through on his own?
Those are all fascinating debates, but they’re probably a lot more useful in the offseason: Los Angeles is trying to keep its season alive right now, and Ohtani has not been helping the cause. He’s 3-for-20 with seven strikeouts and no extra-base hits this postseason, and he hasn’t homered in 24 consecutive games, dating back to Aug. 19.
Despite that, Ohtani wants to keep going out there, and no one knows his body, and specifically his left knee, better than he does. But considering how poor the Dodgers' offense has been this series, and the 2-0 hole they find themselves in, manager Dave Roberts had to consider whether Ohtani should still be in the lineup in Game 3. (The plan is for Ohtani to start.)
Either way, it’s increasingly clear this offense is going to sputter without Shohei being Shohei. Is he going to find a way to be Shohei? Or do we have to wait until 2027?
Can the Brewers keep this going on the road?
This is not, in fact, the closest Milwaukee has come to making the World Series for the first time since 1982. Back in 2018, as any Brewers fan can tell you, they led the NLCS 2-1 against these same Dodgers before heading to a Game 7 on their home field. Milwaukee was one win away from returning to the Fall Classic. Two Dodgers from that game are still on their roster (Kiké Hernández and Max Muncy) and only one Brewer (the captain, Christian Yelich), so it’s a very different team, but don’t tell a Brewers fan that: They remember, vividly, how close you can come and still fall short.
The Brewers, after being swept by these Dodgers last year in the NLCS, have made the two-time defending champs look old, even defeated, in their first two games of this series. But they’re not there yet, and now they have to head to Chavez Ravine, where the proud Dodgers (and their fans) will scratch and claw to turn this thing around. Milwaukee can take absolute control of this series on Wednesday. It is so close. But the club has been so close before. Now’s the time to get all the way there.
Will Snell step up when the Dodgers need him most?
“It’s always how you finish,” Blake Snell said in a revealing interview with the New York Post, one that shows that Snell, the two-time Cy Young winner, is very aware of some people’s narratives about his career. Snell has been a bit of a luxury item for L.A., a player who is usually incredible … when he can make it to the mound. He’s started just 20 regular-season games for the Dodgers over two seasons but posted a 2.16 ERA. He also had some big performances in last year’s championship run, including in last year’s NLCS opener at Milwaukee.
Snell was inefficient (and not that fun to watch) in his NLDS start this year, but no one will remember that, or care, if he can bring the Dodgers back from the brink in Game 3. Snell is one of those well-traveled pitchers who has never stayed long enough in one place to truly feel the love from a fan base, but he has a chance to change that if he can bring L.A. back into this series. The Dodgers have never needed a huge start from him more than they do right now.