DAVID VS GOLIATH: Brewers aim to crush Dodgers in NLCS rematch
JACOB Misiorowski is expected to go hard when the Milwaukee Brewers face the Los Angeles Dodgers in a rematch of their National League Championship Series in the MLB playoffs.
Photo courtesy of Patrick McDermott/Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Milwaukee Brewers believe they have what it takes to squash the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series three-peat bid when they take on the West Coast powerhouse in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) for a second straight year.
By some measures, it’s a David versus Goliath match-up of the Brewers, with their $154 million payroll, against the Dodgers’ cast of superstars, who earn $432 million.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts rejects that characterization.
“Absolutely not,” Roberts said Friday.
“They have the best record in baseball if I remember rightly,” Roberts said of the 103-win Brewers. “They have that for a reason. They’ve got home field advantage. We’ve got to be ready to play our best baseball.
“They are certainly not afraid of us.”
The Dodgers unceremoniously swept the Brewers in four games in the NLCS last year.
But after posting the most wins in Major League Baseball for a second straight year, the Brewers are confident they can go the distance this time around.
“We’re going to be more ready than we were last time, I believe,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Milwaukee beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 in their best-of-five National League division series.
The Brewers snapped a 12-game post-season road losing streak with their clinching victory in San Diego on Wednesday — further evidence, Murphy said, that the team has evolved from being a regular-season juggernaut that can’t contend in the playoffs.
“A lot of people have said we’re not built for the post-season because we’ve done so well in the regular season (without) many stars,” Murphy said.
“I think we’re proving that, no, we still can win in the post-season because good baseball is good baseball.”
Roberts concurred, saying the fact that the Brewers don’t rely on a lineup of power hitters doesn’t make them less dangerous.
“They pitch, they defend, they run the bases well,” Roberts said.
“They don’t strike out much. They put the ball in play... they play baseball... that’s a tough brand of baseball to prepare for.”
The Brewers will host the 100-win Dodgers in game one on Sunday, with Milwaukee’s flame-throwing Jacob Misiorowski set to take the mound against two-time reigning Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal.