The Milwaukee Brewers opened the National League Championship Series with a thrilling 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night, in a rematch a year in the making. Rookie Luis Lara delivered the decisive blow, stinging a first-pitch changeup from Tarik Skubal up the middle in the fifth inning to score Garrett Mitchell, who had drawn a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Cooper Pratt sacrifice bunt.
The moment that decided it
Milwaukee can score in many ways, but taking a fifth-inning lead on a manufactured run and holding it for the rest of the game captured the Brewers’ path to the NLCS. It also showed that this is not the same team that the Dodgers swept last year.
Bullpen steals the show
Milwaukee’s bullpen was the star of Game 1. DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined to throw 4⅔ scoreless innings, working out of several tense situations with composure. Ashby deserves special credit. He covered two innings and induced a pair of eighth-inning infield popups, from Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
Defence bails out Misiorowski
Milwaukee’s infield defence was the stat that defined the game. Jacob Misiorowski struggled early, but the Brewers turned three double plays to keep the Dodgers from building momentum. Two came as 6-4-3 twin killings that ended the first and second innings. After Misiorowski left in the fifth, Hall immediately recorded another inning-ending double play to snuff out a potential rally.
Skubal was dominant at the start, recording six strikeouts through the first three innings, and Misiorowski threw a fastball as hard as 102 mph before his exit. Brice Turang also tied the game for Milwaukee at one point, showing the Brewers’ ability to answer.
What it means for the Dodgers
Since the Dodgers’ championship-winning run began in 2024, this is only the second time they have lost the opening game of a playoff series. The first came in last year’s World Series. On that occasion, they bounced back to beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. Yamamoto starts Game 2 on Monday at 5 p.m. ET, and the Dodgers know that falling behind 2-0 against a team as strong as the Brewers could cause serious problems.
Where the series goes next
Milwaukee now holds the early advantage in the NLCS, and Los Angeles must respond quickly. Game 2 on Monday will show whether the Dodgers can recover from a loss that exposed their bullpen and lineup challenges, or whether the Brewers can push further ahead.