It’s been seven years since the Brewers were last in the MLB Playoffs, but they have the best bullpen in baseball, and they find themselves just four wins away from the 2018 World Series.
The Dodgers, however, are quite a different story. The team has the second-highest payroll in baseball, so expectations are always high, and, most importantly, the Dodgers won the National League crown next season.
With that said, everyone is expecting Los Angeles to beat Milwaukee and possibly get revenge on Houston for beating them in the 2017 World Series — except for the Brewers, that is.
Milwaukee comes into the NLCS red-hot, having won 11 in a row. If they win Game 1 on Friday night, everyone in Wisconsin will get free burgers, courtesy of restaurant chain George Webb. That’s a lot of pressure to live up to, but the Brewers have home-field advantage in the series, which could really help ease stress/jitters/tension from a team that isn’t used to playing meaningful baseball in October.
That’s all well and good, but the Dodgers will have lefty ace Clayton Kershaw on the mound, and he’s dominated the Brewers. Kershaw boasts a 2.25 ERA in two outings against Milwaukee this year, with a 2.86 ERA in 14 career starts.
It’s safe to say the Dodgers have a starting pitching advantage, as the Brewers will counter with Gio Gonzalez, who is winless in six career postseason starts. He rarely pitches deep into games, so we could see a lot of the Brewers bullpen in the game. The key for the Dodgers will be rattling Gonzalez and getting to him early, which we believe LA will be able to do.
Experience and quality of opponents means so much in the postseason, and that’s where we give the edge to the Dodgers, heading into the series.
Dodgers-Brewers NLCS Game 1 Highlights and Fixture Information
Date: Friday, October 12
Time: 8:05 p.m. EST/1:05 a.m. BST (Saturday, Oct. 13)
Live Stream to Watch Online: fuboTV
TV Info: FOX Sports 1 (U.S.), BT Sport 1 (U.K.)
Where to bet legally on Dodgers-Brewers in USA: Check out us-bookies.com for all the advice you need.
Prediction: Dodgers 4, Brewers 2
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
