MILWAUKEE — The team that stands between the Dodgers and a return trip to the World Series is one that they were not able to beat in six tries during the regular season.
In the span of nine games in July, the Brewers went a perfect 6-0 against the Dodgers, becoming the third team on record to sweep L.A. in a season series of at least five games. Milwaukee would go on to end the year with the best record in baseball.
Even so, the Dodgers remain the favorites to win the World Series as they look to become the first team in a quarter century to repeat as champions. Regardless of what the odds say, they’re not underestimating their NL Championship Series opponents, especially not after what they experienced during the regular season.
“I’m not falling for the ‘average Joes‘ — they’re not,” Game 1 starter Blake Snell said on Sunday night. “They have the best record in the NL. They’re a really good team.”
The state of the Dodgers now, though, is markedly different than it was in July.
When the Dodgers and Brewers met during the regular season, Snell, Max Muncy, Roki Sasaki and Kiké Hernández were all on the injured list, among others. But those four in particular have proven invaluable to the Dodgers at various points in the year:
“I think we’re in a much better spot just as far as on the health side, on the position player side, on the pitching side,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And we’re playing better. It should be a great series.”
On the eve of the NL Championship Series, the Dodgers are as healthy as they’ve been all season. Their postseason rotation features four ace-type starters in Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts has emerged from the offensive slump that consumed the first two-thirds of his season. The bullpen remains problematic at times, but Sasaki stepping into the closer’s role has answered a lot of questions.
The Dodgers look to be playing their best baseball at the right time. Will it be enough for them to win four games against the team that they had few answers for three months ago?
“We haven’t beat them,” Snell said. “So that’s good motivation, if you need it. I just think we’re playing good team baseball. We’re all in it. The chemistry between us is really strong, and the want to win every game is strong as well.”
Despite losing all six games, the Dodgers were not completely overpowered by the Brewers in the regular season. All but one of the games were decided by two runs or fewer.
There’s also an encouraging precedent the Dodgers can look to in this situation. This is the seventh postseason series between teams where one swept the season series. In the prior six, four of the teams that were swept in the regular season wound up winning the postseason series.
Playoff baseball is a different beast. Nothing that happened beforehand needs to matter at this time of year, as the Dodgers hope will be the case against the Brewers.
“They showed the whole league and the world that they were the best team in the league during the regular season, and they deserve it,” Miguel Rojas said. “We didn’t play good against them in the regular season. But we have another chance. Here we are, the last two teams standing in the National League. And we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
