NLCS Game 2 Postgame Reaction: Los Angeles Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers

NLCS Game 2 Postgame Reaction: Los Angeles Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers

[Music] And I can’t hold it much longer so I can be free. [Applause] [Music] FT live postgame show after game two of the NLCS where the Dodgers take a two nothing lead and head back home to LA. Well, things are lining up for a Dodgers Mariners World Series. Scotty Braun, Eric Kratz, let’s talk and instantly react. Kratz, the starting pitcher is so back. So back. And it’s so bountiful in LA. I mean, they have all the starting pitching. It’s not even fair. No other teams. Next year they’re probably going to go 162 and0. M it reminds me of last off season where the Dodgers put icing on the cake with some bullpen additions that we do not even see in the postseason like Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott. But also the weakness for the Dodgers is not that much of a weakness. It’s like a little sprinkle of a weakness because you often don’t need it. Let’s start with Yoshu Yamamoto. Doc Roberts lets him go the difference one day after holding Blake Snell and not having him go in the ninth after one of the more dominant performances in the postseason we’ve seen in a minute. So Yamamoto tops him. A complete game, nine inning domination from Yamamoto. He gives up the first pitch homer to Jackson Cheerio. And then look at the screen. Three hits the entire game. That one run to the first batter on the first pitch. nothing after that. He walked one, he fanned seven, he had it rolling. He gave you just enough in terms of the swing and miss, some of the early count attacks from the Brewers early on in the game. Just just enough like to sprinkle in a little bit of everything that you’d usually see from Yamamoto over an entire game. He was brilliant, dominant. I mean, one pitch, leadoff homer, and then he gave up one walk. Especially since Cheerio hit the leadoff homer on a heater. I turned to my son. We were watching a game. I go, “Well, he’s going to be able to go he’s going to be able to go far if he can throw his breaking ball because he’s not going to want to throw his fast ball anymore.” Credit to Yamamoto. Credit to Will Smith for saying it’s okay. One swing, we’re good. And they weren’t just good, they were great. Complete game one run. That is rid Like what is this? The 90s right? 70s, 80s, 90s, 90s, 90s, 90s. Postseason game under three hours. Absolutely. Dave Roberts not having to do almost anything besides say, “Okay, you can continue pitching, right? I mean, he had to make no decisions.” And hey, this is a far cry from what we used to see from the Dodgers. Remember, this team has made it to the postseason, I think, 13 consecutive years. But Craft, it wasn’t always like this. They got very cute in the past. Platoon City switching pitchers left and right, right? Pulling guys early from starts, which it wasn’t just them. It was most of Major League Baseball. They’re one of the more traditional teams in the sport. And yes, we get it. For the non-Dger fans that are watching right now, we know they have money and they have resources. Oh, and they also have one of the top farm systems in the sport. and that is held down by a salary cap with a draft and international money you’re able to spend. Oops. They’re still best in that. So, I would just like to say this team is so dominant right now and clicking on all cylinders. It’s really exactly as they drew things up in March, right? We are going to get through the marathon so that we have Ace Ace ace ace coming at you in the postseason. And that’s what we have right now. Yamamoto gave them a really full dominant sophomore season and that has continued into the postseason aside from the little blip against the Phillies. Kratz Glass now who has had his injury issues gets healthy at the right time for them which is what they care about. Show Otani is in this postseason slumping mostly as a hitter. I know he came through with one RBI knock in this one and might not even have to pitch in this series. I mean, I guess you could throw him in game four, but you don’t have to if you don’t feel like you want to and you’re up 3 0 at that point. We’ll see. We’ll see. Right. Yeah. I I you you hit you hit on a lot of guys there, different guys, and I want to take it back to what you said like, oh man, this team was built, you know, nobody else is is able to build or whatever you said, the financial resources. Okay, so nobody could have spent 115 million on Tyler Glass. Now, nobody could have spent 170 million deferred money on Blake Snell. Both available. Mookie Betts got traded over to the Dodgers. Freddy Freeman was a Brave. It’s becoming a destination. Kik Hernandez came on our show and I know people be like, “Ah, who cares about Kik.” Well, you know what? Kik shows up in the playoffs. And if you’re a playoff team, you might want to make your destination a place like Kik talked about LA where you go, I don’t want to go anywhere else. And is it about winning? Yes, it’s about winning. It’s about winning for every one of these guys. And there’s so many of these guys. Yeah, every team did not have a chance at Showi. Every team clearly did not have a chance at Roki Sasaki, but they built this team, not just this year or last off season when they got Showi. They’ve built this team and this organization for the last 13 years. They were like, “Dang it, we screwed up. Maybe too much platoon.” They’re not even like tonight. They finally the bats broke out before this in the last in the last two series they were hitting 199 as a team. Max my had his first RBI tonight. Freddy Freeman got his first RBI last night. They are playing, as much as this might sound terrible to other fan bases, they’re playing all 26 men. Ben Worvd. Ben Rovve was a catcher that got called up in September that got picked up from an organization to fill in and almost caught backtoback no hitters. Like this is an organization that brings guys in that fits their mold. Yeah, they pay some of them. I get that. But they fits their mold and they could care less about their own success. They want to win and look at what they’re doing again this year. By the way, did you mention Pahes? No, I didn’t. I think first hit tonight. He had been one for 27 this postseason with no walks and no runs batted in and he had arguably the biggest knock of the game because it was the go-ahead and it was the deciding run driven in by Pahes. two out RBI double to the right field corner and suddenly this lineup looks quite scary. Not I don’t want to say suddenly. I mean obviously they put up runs throughout this postseason so far but like you mentioned some of the guys that had been quiet are starting to light up. It’s becoming a problem very quickly for Milwaukee. They are going to have to win four of their next five games just like the Toronto Blue Jays are going to have to win four of their next five games. and three of those games are going to be on the road. That doesn’t necessarily mean everything. The Dodgers just won two games on the road. The Mariners just won two games on the road in the championship series. But we will talk a little bit more about what happened in game two and then spin it forward to game three to see if Milwaukee has a fighting chance or if the Dodgers are on their way to sweep city. We’re going to step aside for a quick second. Please subscribe to Foul Territory if you’re watching us right now and you don’t already. We have a lot more to go here on the postgame show. We’ll be right back. KP, we both love Omaha steaks. My latest order, six private reserve fillet minans. It sounds bougie because it is. They were fantastic. And also 1 and 12 lbs of jumbo cooked shrimp with a big initial discount and then an additional 35 bucks off with the code foul. You have been a longtime Omaha Stakes guy, too. Yeah. Back in college, I would always order steaks. I’d put them in my freezer. And that’s the reason I bulked up is because I always had fresh steaks in my freezer ready to go. Delicious protein. Get after it, okay? It is the best in the biz if you’re ordering steaks online. You can save big with Omaha Stakes. Visit omahastak.com for 50% off sitewide and an extra 20% off select favorites during their early Black Friday sale. And for an extra $35 off, use promo code foul at checkout. Terms apply. Seite for details. That’s 50% off at omahastak.com. Promo code FU at checkout. We’re back. Thanks for hanging with us. And let’s talk about the Dodgers starting rotation. Erra. If you’ve played at least eight games in a postseason, they’re at the two spot all time right now. The number is 154. Second lowest in history among teams with at least eight playoff games. number one belonging to the 1983 Orioles at 131. And yes, we understand there are still postseason games to go, but just to give you some context on where they’re at. The Brewers bullpen has been really good throughout the postseason crats. They weren’t as sharp in this one, but at the same time, they’re getting used a ton, a ton, and they are not the problem. They are the strength. The offense needs to figure things out against number one starters every night. I know I ask you this almost every night, but it’s like, is this the offense’s fault or are they matching up against the top 10 starters on the planet and they can’t muster up offense? I mean, I I tend to when I’m watching these pitchers, I tend to see these swings and say it’s the pitchers. Like, these pitchers are dominating in the zone. Yamamoto and Snell the last two nights have one walk combined. Snell had zero last night. Yamamono had one. And when you’re doing that and you’re still getting 10 punches, seven punchies, you’re still going eight, nine innings, it means you’re getting outs in the zone and your stuff is really just dominant right now. like they are their their starting rotation is clicking on all cylinders against a Brewers lineup that knows how to hit that knows how to score runs and manufacture things and they’re just not able to do it. And it doesn’t get any easier. It doesn’t get any easier. You get a day off and then you face Glass Now. You hope maybe Glass now can walk a few guys because he normally gets two or three walks in a game, but right now if he’s watching the other guys, he’s like, “Oh, wait. They’re right. My stuff does play in the zone. It’s going to be it’s going to be another tough night.” Where is Miz? asks Owl. Miz will appear soon. Maybe game three. Does he hit? Does a Miz hit? Like that’s not like it doesn’t matter to Yeah. Hey, game one was close. I will say this, game one was close. The Dodgers had a lot more activity going on, but the Brewers had a chance to win that game. And even Pat Murphy phrased it the same way that the question was asked. They could have stolen game one with what was going on late. There were two major issues. One, Abner walked in a run that made it two nothing. Brewers caught up with one run, but not two in the ninth. Bryce Tang almost hit by a pitch. Instinct pulls him back. We talked a lot about that on foul territory during the day. And then Terraang chases a fast ball eye level. That was the game. But they had a chance. Bases were loaded there. That was your chance to knock the Dodgers and make this a 1-1. Even if Yamamoto dominated. And it’s crazy to think that Blake Snell dominated like that and the Brewers were in this spot. This is a good team, but we talked about them in the regular season as a contact team, a patient team, and a team that ranked pretty far down there in terms of pop. Do you think that the Dodgers attack plan is throw strikes, our stuff is better, and we don’t feel like there are too many power threats, so let’s just be economical as hell and show off some of the best stuff in our game. I think their plan is a very old school approach. When I hit when I got to TripleA, the pitching coach was like, “Look, we can look at the lineup. We can say just based on stats, the guys that you can’t walk, and then based on stats, we’re going to then look at the guys who you can’t just get throw get me over pitches.” He’s like, and I haven’t even seen any of them swing. If you don’t drive the ball in AAA and the big leagues, good pitchers, which the Dodgers pitching staff starting rotation is great, not good, they’re great, can just attack you with fast balls because majority of the time you’re not going to hit the ball out of the ballpark. You have to put the fear of the home run in the pitching staff to then scare them out of the zone. Now, we say all that to say, look what happens to the teams that strike out too much. They look listless. The Phillies have to make an adjustment in the postseason. We’re seeing so many different variations of lineups in this postseason that the reality is whatever that you’re doing, you have to win the ball game. The Phillies against this vaunted starting rotation had leads in three games against their starting rotation. They lost all three of those games. They were losing in one of those games to their starting rotation. They won that game. This is the This is the razor thin line that you run in the postseason. And when you have a team as deep as the Dodgers, a team that plays so well together and has team at bats, the lineup at some point seems to pick you up. And the starting rotation is doing it exactly opposite. This time last year, we were going, man, how did they survive that Padres series? The Padres’s, oh man, they could have they could have been the team that was in it. But and yet it’s the Dodgers that are always coming out on top because they just have that slight edge. Yeah. I mean, I’m not going to speak for Dodger fans here. I know there are plenty watching our show right now and also after our show. You can check out Dodgers territory. They’re running live, too. I imagine that Dodger fans felt a lot more nervous last year than they did this year. There hasn’t been a lot of panic, right? I mean, they breezed through the Reds. They took down the Phillies in some really exciting games, but we didn’t get to a game five and right now they’re really in command with a 20- series lead. It felt like maybe they could have taken a breath in the World Series last year because the National League was so much more dominant and well-rounded. So, it was a gauntlet to get through the National League. And then the Yankees, in my mind, were not as good as several teams that they ran into before that. But this time around, you might almost have the opposite equation running. You might have it where the Dodgers don’t feel like they were too tested in the National League side, but then they run into a Mariners team that’s feeling good and can match up against them. Their starters can match up against them. Their bullpen right now, traditional bullpen relievers, right? Traditional relief pitchers are better than what the Dodgers are offering. They’ve got a hotter bullpen. And lineup wise, I think it’s pretty close. And the identity of both offenses is pretty close. It’s a less battle tested Mariners group, but it’s just something to think about as we look forward here. If you’re a Dodger fan, you’re rooting hard right now for Toronto, aren’t you? Make this a little bit of a fight. Put Seattle in a tough spot. Although, they played 15 innings in a game five and it didn’t phase them much when they headed over to Toronto. So, I I think we’re heading into what could be a heavyweight matchup and the two teams that deserve to be there. I think I disagree with you. The lineup, I think the Dodgers lineup is much better. You know, you’re not you’re not running out. You’re you know, especially facing if you’re talking about looking ahead because this is definitely way ahead facing the Mariners. They’re not making any left hand left-hand starters are not making any starts. So, to me, you have your best starting rotate. you have your best starting lineup out there against righties. I think the Dodgers are deeper, but that’s why you play these games and this is why I would encourage every organization to push allin. Some will say it’s not fair. Look what the Dodgers do. They’ve been in every game besides the Reds. They’ve been in every game with the Dodgers. And if you think the Dodgers are the if you’re out there and you think the Dodgers are the favorite and you’re like, “Oh man, you can’t have you have no chance of beating them.” Had a chance every single night except for the Reds. And maybe tonight I would say you didn’t have a chance. And I would stop looking at it as starting rotation and bullpen. And I would look at it as which team can get nine outs first because the Mariners aren’t going to go. They’re Dan Wilson has shown he’s not going to allow his starters to go. John Schneider has shown he’s not going to allow his starters to go. Brewers don’t have that kind of start length. The Dodgers don’t have that kind of bullpen. So, it’s really about how do you get nine innings of outs, not nine outs, nine innings of outs, 27 outs. I think it’s pretty obvious how the road map can look for the Dodgers to either win this NLCS or even sweep. What does the road map look like for the crew? I mean, obviously, I don’t Do you call it an approach change? Do you call it some bad command outings from the Dodgers? Do you call it riding pitchers up in terms of pitch count to get to the bullpen and cracking that open? The Brewers have had a lot of comeback wins this year. You know, it’s a pesky offense, but it’s not intimidating for LA right now. How does it turn around? If I mean, you go into the glass now game, he’s not throwing strikes. You take advantage of that. He walks a few guys, that’s an automatic double. They’re going to take advantage of the opportunity that maybe Glass Now is unhitable, but he’s not unscorable against. Like, you can get some runs if they play their game. I I’ll I’ll triple down, quadruple down on it. Like, you have to play your game and you can’t say we’re going to change our approach other than understand who the next starter is. Understand what show is going to do to you. understand that Glass Now’s MO has been elite dominating stuff, but you got to bring him in the zone and it’s going to be tough because you’re like, well, 99’s cutting at the top of the zone. I can’t tell if that’s going to be going back down into the zone because now he added the slider, that curveball. I got to see it at my eyes to be able to swing at it. Middle middle middle. So, that means middle, middle. I got to take it, but I got to recognize it. and you work that way where you could go like a six inning outing with Glass Now and now you’re like, “Okay, we have about two innings where we can really add on here.” But they got to get guys on and Glass Now can’t hold runners. So that could be that could be a path. Now all of a sudden it’s 2-1. Now you figure out how to win one of the next two games. Show pitches. He gets tired. Maybe his bat doesn’t come around because the Dodgers lineup really isn’t hitting very well. Tonight they did. Can you keep them down? That’s the only way they do it. Okay. It would be a nightmare for Dodger fans. Doesn’t sound like it’s very likely, but we’ve seen two comebacks. Three 0 comebacks are tough. They exist, but they’re very tough. Two comebacks are a thing. For me, it’s hard to see them when you look at how teams are playing, right? Like, and and we’ve been surprised before because things can turn in our sport. There’s a lot of unpredictable moments in baseball. But when you look at the way these teams match up, it’s just hard to see the Dodgers with the guys they’re throwing out there falling in four out of five coming up. Let’s finish with this series more likely to take a turn. ALCS or NLCS? I mean, I feel like it has to be the ALCS. Even though the pitching matchup there doesn’t look great for the Blue Jays, it’s very par there’s a lot of parallels. The Mariners are in control. Their starting rotation. The pitching matchup is in their favor. The Dodgers are in control. Starting rotation in their favor in the next two games. I just I have a hard time believing that the that the that the Brewers can come back from this in LA up against the pitchers that they have to face. So, I’m going to say the Mariners have a better chance of blowing this lead. Still small chance though. Yeah, I’m with you and I agree, Mariners. But it’s hard to see it on either side right now. But I would definitely go Mariners. I think the Blue Jays offense is dynamic. Not that the Brewers isn’t, but I mean, I think the Dodgers pitching right now just has the answer against Milwaukee. It’s a more battle tested crew, too. Most of those Mariners players have never been in a spot like this. It doesn’t necessarily matter, but I’ll go with that pick as well. Okay, here’s the deal. Foul territory every day, 1 to 3 Eastern. So, we’ll be back on tomorrow. Guest list includes Tyler Keaptainner from The Athletic and Seth McClung. You didn’t play with Seth McClung, did you? No. Against him. Against him. Okay. Former pitcher Seth McClung will join us and we’ll find out who the other guest is. And we post it every day on social media. So, 1 to 3 Eastern like we do every single day. We won’t have a postgame show on Wednesday. We might have one on Thursday after another Dodgers Brewers matchup which could lead us to a three-0 series lead for the Dodgers which essentially is a coffin for Milwaukee. But thank you for watching and let’s give a shout out on the back end here to Fox one. They live for life. Try seven days free. hit the QR code on the screen or we have the link in the description of this episode on YouTube or on podcast. They have the rest of the ALCS and the World Series. So, if you don’t have Fox on TV, this is the spot for you. Go give it a shot. ALCS keeps rolling and then they’ll have the World Series, of course. Thanks so much for checking out this FT postgame show instant reaction to the Dodgers taking a 200 series lead. And I can’t say it enough. Starting pitching matters, people. See you tomorrow.

Erik Kratz and Scott Braun are live to give their instant reaction and recap of NLCS Game 2 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers. Jackson Chourio homered on the first pitch the Brewers saw from Yamamoto, but similar to the Toronto Blue Jays in ALCS Game 1, that was the only run they scored the rest of the game. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game, Teoscar Hernández continued his hot streak in the postseason, Max Muncy hit his 14th career playoff home run — the most in Dodgers history — and Shohei Ohtani recorded his first hit of the NLCS to snap his cold streak at the plate.

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