Things just got WAY more intriguing...

This is not going to be easy as the Dodgers continue to search for that back-to-back-to-back title. And things just got a lot more intriguing as we have a full look inside the NLCS as they now face the Brewers for once again another postseason series. Today we're joined by a special guest, Taylor Bredel of Brewers Digest, to talk through this series, talk through the pitching plan for the Dodgers, talk through the pitching plan for the Brewers, talk through everything that you need to know gearing up for the first game this upcoming Sunday. So Taylor, thank you for joining us. And Dodgers fans, it's time to strap in and buckle up because, listen, I wanted to place the Padres as much as they would have been a divisional rival. I don't like the Brewers pitching. I don't like the Brewers pitching. So let's start off with this. And I think it's the big headline. I know you want to talk about it, Taylor. So let's get right into the Milwaukee Brewers trying to seek revenge in the NLCS. It's been time after time after time, the Brewers have fallen at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, even going back to 2018. So looking at this from a kind of outsider, outsider's perspective, from a Brewers perspective, is it almost a little bit like scary when you see that Dodgers logo, especially going into the NLCS, even though you were three and four or four and three against them this season? Yeah, it's pretty scary because you go back to last regular season, 2024, and the Brewers were six and oh against them. So if you want to talk about regular season really does not matter, that's a pretty prime example right there. I mean, it's nice that they led 4-3 because when you kind of got into the late stages of September, that 4-3 felt important for a possible tiebreaker. Obviously, that didn't have to happen. But you go to 2018, you go to 2020, which a lot of people forgot, a 29-31 Brewers team in that COVID season. And then 2024, now 2025, the Brewers have not had the Dodgers number when it matters most. So definitely a scary team and a team that, you know, the pitchers are healthy. I know Tani's not going to be on the mound, but when you have the combination that they do, I mean, Yamamoto and Snell, they both carved the heck out of the Brewers last year. They've looked, I mean, Snell's been a little bumpy, but Yamamoto's looked great in the postseason. Then you got even like a Tyler Glasnow who's back and healthy. The pitching is what worries me the most. It's nice to have the Mizorowskis of the league, but you have to face it on the other end. Well, that's kind of my thing. I think both sides were looking at the pitching matchup thinking, ah, that's, I don't like that. Because when I was looking at the series of the Brewers and the Padres, the reason I wanted the Padres is because I know we could score 15 runs against them every single game. I'm not confident in doing that against the Brewers pitching staff, especially the Miz. But let's start first with the Dodgers. And you mentioned it, Tarik Skubal's going to headline the Dodgers rotation and all this. Skubal's been great. I mean, you think about him getting the trade that everybody was, I'm going to say, fearing in all the MLB. And he's been fantastic. 186 strikeouts. top seven percent of the league his whip is below one that's top five percent his era is actually elevated from years prior at 2.72 which is just scary that's at that that is elevated for him but that yeah exactly this is elevated it's not even a three era which is crazy and then you also mentioned it yamamoto is also a big kind of you know nuisance in the side of the brewers but i mean just from a pitching perspective here you mentioned glass now obviously since he pitched that game for. Probably going to set it up pretty similar to what we did in the NLDS and seeing a combination of Snell, Yamamoto, and Skubal in games one, two, and three. If I had to bet, I think it's probably going to be Skubal, then Yamamoto, then Snell. Just from a Brewers perspective, which one of those pitchers scares you the most? Definitely Yamamoto because we've seen him do, we saw him do really well against the Brewers last year. I mean, literally pitched the entire game. We saw Snell do well against the Brewers last year as well. So that's why I kind of called a tiebreaker how are they doing right now and Yamamoto clears and that was he 5-0 in his last five starts with a 1.07 ERA I mean you can't you can't really do better than that um and yeah definitely I feel like the Brewers also their lefty to the righty disparity is a little interesting uh Andrew Vaughn he was their their playoff hero their their uh trade acquisition hero last year for the Brewers and he's a righty but he's not in there much at all because the Brewers best bat was Jake Bowers who is a lefty that plays first base so I feel like with the Snell on the mound maybe you get like you know those and someone like Andrew Vaughn actually opportunities get get the lineup a little bit more a little bit more exciting Jake Bauers was one of the best Brewers hitters this season but it's really struggling in the postseason so i gotta go Yamamoto um for for what we've seen him do to the Brewers in the past and what we're seeing him do now now i do want to give you some credit because Milwaukee is a very good team and they are a real like challenger 103 regular season wins best team will be home field advantage in the NLCS and obviously the 4-3 record in the regular season. Now, we know regular season doesn't matter. It doesn't happen, but it comes into the fact. But as you mentioned, the lineup, as much as I don't want to give it credit, it is pretty scary. You've got some guys in there, and that's where the pitching plan has to be able to really, one, contain Jackson Chourio. That guy scares me to death. We saw the clutch hitting that he brought to the NLDS against the Padres. And a big thing that people don't realize is the Brewers do a great job of making the starter work. And I think that's a big thing of the Brewers like mindset. And it's very similar to Tampa Bay Rays of like, okay, we're going to make you pitch a lot. So even if you have good starters, you're going to have to get in your bullpen. And we're also going to use our strategies. We're going to play small ball. We're going to work the corners and make you work for every single out. So overall, I think there's a lot of things the Dodgers can do to put themselves in a good spot, but at the same time, containing Cheerio, getting deep in the games and making sure that you can actually use those high leverage arms in the high leverage moments is a key thing. Yeah, it's very key for the Brewers. And when you, I mean, I know it was do or die for the Padres in that game for that the Brewers ended up winning. But you look at the amount of arms that they used in that game. And my gosh, if it started to not work because they gave up a hit or two, they would flip a different arm. I know there's that three out minimum or getting out of the inning. But the Brewers put up 21 total hits over the Padres in those last two games, even though one of them was a loss and one of them they just scraped by in what was the three to one win. So this offense can string things together. they have incredible speed as well as second most stolen bases in Major League Baseball the Washington Nationals were the only other team with more so shout out to Sal Frelick and that crew oh yeah but but yeah the brewers play small ball now now the one thing they don't do is hit home runs and we have seen some home run baseball from the brewers this postseason which in my opinion makes them a little bit scary they single-handedly you go to game one against the padres they all their runs were scored because of the long ball that's the only reason they won and that's not what they do so if you can get that mix in there with the Contreras with Churio and the long ball if you can add one or two more bats that are actually a threat of power can maybe find himself again Garrett Mitchell you know Sneaky does have pop, he showed in a post season in 2024 against the Mets if you can get a little bit more power I think these these bats could be very dangerous on top of what you talked about, you know just kind of that Brewers baseball the singles, the bunts, the speed, all that you can add power to that, that's what gives me confidence in this series but that power, that's something that the Dodgers definitely have advantage in i know the answer, i'm going to ask the question was uh was France's ball a homer um the rule book no watching it here's my only, here's my only thing, here's my only thing like like watching that i i i'm not gonna act like that wasn't gonna be a homer, i i probably watched that clip 50 times i probably watched that clip 50 times, Ty France's body language is an underrated part of that clip But the way he hit it and looked at it, some guys stand there and look at it like I just crushed it, like we saw Contreras do against the Padres in San Diego. Some guys hit it. He was kind of like, where's it going? Now, you can see the people on X, they'll draw a line where the ball was going, and they'll just curve that line. Like, that's not analytics. The fact that that hit the roof like that, and probably the only other example of it, also came in a playoff game, which was in 2008 against the Phillies at what was Miller Park. it's pretty incredible to me um i'm i'm gonna i'll give you the the basic answer of no i don't think it's a homer because that is what the rules are when a baseball sat 105 miles an hour and it's hit like that it probably is a homer 49 degree launch angle that's a different story i say no, my detailed foul but like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna be upset if you guys have a different view I gotta I gotta be pretty honest that pretty whack pretty wacky way to end that first game fair enough fair enough well let's kind of start running through the offense here for the Dodgers real quick obviously Ohtani has been in a bit of a slump and trying to try and reset here as the NLCS gets kicked off on Sunday um there's a couple guys that are heating up you know Mookie Betts been playing great Pa has been doing great Tucker looks good there's also some guys slowing down and Shohei Ohtani is at the top of that list but I think the underlying statistics really do speak to what he's doing his average exit velo is still at a very high mark of 93 his barrel percentage is still at 15 point sets he's striking out more which isn't great but we know that this is a guy who is year in and year out the best player in the MLB or one of the best I think there's a lot to be patient for and I like what Dave Roberts says You know, he's scuffling right now, but you've got to believe that bat's going to come to life And the Dodgers, in some ways you've got to think of it positively You went into the NLDS and won that series without Shohei Otani. And so that's scary, I think for the Brewers in a lot of ways. But, you know, you've got guys who've been producing. Obviously, Freddie Freeman has looked great over the past couple of games He homered in back-to-back games in that NLDS. Kyle Tucker is looking like he's in a much better spot was slow but that OPS now up to .715 and still looks like he's in top 15 percent of pretty much every hitting statistic category plus PA's who really struggled in the postseason last year started to struggle early in the postseason this year but he looks good and one thing I do want to point out is the Dodgers injuries the one thing you look at is Miguel Rojas he's a guy who plays a very good defensive second baseman he was a you know a guy who was the World Series hero last year like we can't put much more or less than that so um big thing is that the offense as good as it's been i think there's still some adjustments that you need to make more production obviously you want to see if Miguel can come back and then make sure that Tucker and bats continue to get involved and i'm curious to see how the lineup stands out but with that being said i kind of want to move into the calendar here and look at what we're going to see for this series first game again will be on Sunday 9 p.m. Pacific Time is the scheduled time again we'll see it's probably going to be changed because it's in Milwaukee but Milwaukee they're on the 10th the 11th back in LA on the 13th 14th 15th and then should it needed 17th and 18th back in Milwaukee um i think we've spent enough time in a lot of ways and i want to i want to get your your take on it what do you think about this series what's what's your prediction what do you think happens and get in the comments as well obviously i'm Dodger centric so you only got you got two options of the Dodgers winning and one for the Brewers but uh looking at this series um give me your keys to the series and give me your kind of final thoughts on it yeah uh keys to the series I mean I know you can speak the Dodgers key so I'll speak the Brewers key it's offense sounds basic sounds super simple the Brewers have the pitching but the Brewers also have an offense that can string hits together but are you going to string two or three hits together against Yamamoto and some of his friends that sit behind him where you're starting for him it's pretty insane um I'm not so sure if that's going to happen I mean like the the Brewers also need to be able to drive runners in that was the Padres issue in those first two games it's a huge reason the Brewers took a two nothing lead but again the brewers had 21 hits over those last two games lost one of them and barely won three to one in game four so like 21 hits over two playoff games you probably expect to go to an oh and you and if you go one and one you don't expect to be barely winning and scoring three runs and um so getting the offense going i would like the power but i would like to just drive runners in in any way more they got to get ahead early they cannot fall in a divot at all um for the series i mean i'm not gonna go on here i mean here's the thing i can't sweat out a game seven the last time we saw brewers dodgers game seven Christian Yelich hit a homer and everyone thought milwaukee was getting the world series and then Yasiel Puig had different plans so i will i'll go seven though i mean like i i don't see uh this is not negative at all i just don't see the brewers winning four out of six games that's just so hard i can see them winning i can see them like they did this regular season, winning four out of seven, exactly like they did in the regular season. So I'll go Brewers in seven. That'll be the sweatiest seven-game series of my life, but it should be pretty fun. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm going to go in six. I think the Dodgers get it done. I think their pitching staff is just a little bit better than the Brewers when it's all said and done. Yeah, deeper, way deeper. Exactly, deeper. And the offense looks really solid, especially if you put Jose DePaula as an option at DH with them. So I'm looking at the Dodgers take this game in six. But, man, thank you so much for being on the show. And, again, if you're watching this on a Brewer's channel, go check him out. Go subscribe to Brewer's Digest. We're going to do a video on there, too. So if you didn't get enough content right now, go check out his video there. And, of course, we'll see you next time here on Dodgers Digest. Peace out, guys.