Dodgers-Brewers NLCS Preview: Battle of NL titans for the World Series!

As the National League Championship Series between the Brewers and Dodgers begins Monday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee, let’s go back in time all the way to 2018. Okay, so the last Dodgers Brewers matchup on this NLCS stage was not that long ago in the grand scheme of life, but it is quite a while in baseball terms. That was back when the Dodgers were still trying to win the World Series for the first time since 1988. And the Brewers were at the very start of a run in which they’ve now reached October seven times in 8 years. The Dodgers prevailed in the decisive seventh game of that 2018 set. Though they didn’t finally crack the World Series code until 2020 and in a full season until last year. The Brewers, meanwhile, haven’t advanced this deep into the postseason since that 2018 NLCS and are still hungry to get Milwaukee a World Series birth for the first time since 1982, the same year when their current manager Pat Murphy signed his first professional contract as a player. So, the Dodgers having beaten the NL East champion Phillies in four games in the division series round are dead set on a dynasty while the Brewers coming off a five-game affair against the rival Cubs are hopeful for a late October breakthrough. Now, if you’re into narratives, if you’re into that whole David versus Goliath thing, this 2025 NLCS is weirdly uncooperative. It features the NL’s number one seed, the team that had MLB’s best record, the team that will have homefield advantage and that swept its NLCS opponent in their six meetings in the regular season. But that team happens to be the little engine that could Brewers, not the mighty defending World Series champion Dodgers. This is a series of contrasting styles and checkbooks. The Dodgers are baseball’s biggest spending behemoth with a payroll more than 200% higher than that of the Brewers who always do more with less via homegrown development, wily trades, and creative deployment of their pitching. The Dodgers are loaded with household names and have the paychecks to prove it. They have those three MVPs at the top of their lineup in Show Otani, Mookie Betts, and Freddy Freeman. And they have Clayton Kershaw, who actually came on in relief for the final outs of that 2018 NLCS against the Brewers and is now gunning for one last World Series appearance prior to his looming retirement. They are all future Hall of Famers. The Brewers are oriented more around exceeding the sum of their collective parts. Back in the time of that 2018 NLCS, Christian Yelich was their NL MVP. Now he’s the wy vet and clubhouse leader for a team with one of the youngest position player groups in the big leagues with 20somes Jackson Cheurio, Bryce Terraang, Isaac Collins, Sal Freelick, William Contrarus, and shockingly good inseason acquisition Andrew Vaughn among their key players. These are names still not known to many casual baseball fans, but within the baseball industry, there is great respect for the way the Brewers put the ball in play, run the bases, and keep pressure on their opponents. Anything can happen in the games. But on paper, the clear power edge goes to the Dodgers here. They were second in MLB in homers and slugging percentage this season, while the Brewers ranked 22nd in long balls and 12th in slugging. The Brew Crew is generally not oriented around changing a game with a single swing. But as we saw with the 2015 Kansas City Royals, who ranked 24th in homers that championship year, that doesn’t mean the Brewers can’t advance. And of course, the Brewers had some big swings in the division series. None bigger than the one Vaughn took to give them the lead for good in game five. And Vaughn with a try left field pretty deep. This ball is gone. Andrew Vaughn has vaulted the Brewers into the lead in game five. The Dodgers also appear to have the on paper edge in the rotation where they went into the postseason with a surplus of starters and have received strong performances so far from Otani, Blake Snell, Yoshi Nou Yamamoto, and Tyler Glass. Now, the Brewers, on the other hand, were compromised in the NLDS by a late season injury to Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta and Quinn Prester were not as effective against the Cubs as they had been in the regular season. But the Milwaukee Bullpen is characteristically excellent, and Pat Murphy has a wider circle of trust than what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has at his disposal in the LA bullpen. That’s why Roki Sasaki will continue to be a major X factor in this series just as he was in the first two rounds. As of now, Sasaki is in that mold of 2008 David Price of the Rays, a high-profile starting prospect turned October relief ace. Sasaki’s three perfect innings of late relief against the loaded Phillies lineup in the Dodgers NLDS clincher were the shest sign yet that he’s up to this unusual challenge. Though one can never be sure how a 23-year-old will respond as the pressure ratchets up each round. The Brewers biggest pitching X factor is Prester. Even though the Brewers had the advantage of a buy in the wildard series round, they still found themselves cobbling together two bullpen games in the fiveame series with the Cubs and they won’t have the injured Woodruff again in this round. So you can’t overstate the importance of them getting some length from their starters in this best of seven. And Prister, who is unproven in the postseason, needs to rise to the occasion, just as he did in a regular season in which the early April trade acquisition went 13 and3 with a 3.32 ERA and an ERA plus 25% better than the league average. When Pster is at his best, he’s a ground ball machine. That’s what the Brewers would love to see against these Dodgers. On the offensive side, the Dodgers will be hoping Otani can break out in this series. We finally got to see the two-way Otani on the postseason stage as he pitched game one against the Phillies and earned the victory. Swing and a miss. Strike three and Otani again comes off the mound screaming and pumping his fist. Nine now for Showi. But whether that disrupted his offense at all is a worthwhile question. As Otani went an uncharacteristic 1 for8 with nine strikeouts in that series. While the Dodgers distribute the weight around to several stars, they’d obviously love more from the leadoff spot than what they received from Otani in that round because his presence on the base pass is essential for Betts Freeman and Tayscar Hernandez to maximize their damage. The Brewers offensive X-factor is Bryce Ter. He was the Brewers most consistent hitter in the length of the regular season with an OPS plus 21% better than league average and a 5.5 wins above replacement mark. But he was kept quiet in the first four games against the Cubs before breaking through with an insurance home run in the seventh inning of game five. Perhaps that swing was the start of something. Even though the Brewers had to work deeper into the division series to get to this point than the Dodgers did, both bullpens should be in decent shape rest-wise. The Dodgers will have had three days off prior to game one, so no worries there. Meanwhile, Brewers closer Abner Urebe had the multi-ining save in game five, but he only needed 22 pitches to do it. Trevor McIll’s opening stint in that game showed that he can slot in anywhere, anytime. Jared Kanik and Aaron Ashby can help try to neutralize the lefty bats of Otani and Freeman. And the Miz kid, Jacob Mizerowski, seem to come into his own as that NLDS progressed. All right, let’s do it. Let’s make a prediction. The Dodgers might technically be the underdogs here in terms of seating, but it still doesn’t feel that way given the way they seem to flip the switch to championship mode just before the conclusion of the regular season. But hey, I’m a sucker for a good story, and the Brewers are that. They are short-handed in the rotation, but deeper in the bullpen where they have all the tools to tame the Dodgers biggest bats. They also play an aggressive but clean game of baseball. Like in 2018, this NLCS will go the distance of seven games. But this time, the Brew Crew is going to the World Series.

Two of the best from the NL go at it for a chance at the World Series! Will the Dodgers go back, or will the Brewers get to their first World Series since 1982?

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