LOS ANGELES — For the Dodgers and Brewers, the math has become quite simple. Los Angeles must win one more game to reach the World Series for a second consecutive season. Milwaukee must win four in a row to complete one of the most significant comebacks in professional sports history.
That’s a tall climb. The Brewers have lost 10 consecutive postseason games on the road, starting with losses in Games 4 and 5 of the 2018 National League Championship Series here at Dodger Stadium. It’s the second-longest road losing streak in postseason history to a 12-game skid for the Senators/Twins franchise that spanned 1925-87.
“Look, we’re in a big hole,” Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich said on Thursday following L.A.’s 3-1 victory in NLCS Game 3. “We have to break it down into little goals. Our goal right now should be to get the series back to Milwaukee and worry about the rest of the stuff [later].”
The Dodgers would love to deny them that goal and clinch the National League pennant at home. They’ll have two chances to do so, beginning with Game 4 on Friday.
“We’re really excited,” second baseman Tommy Edman said. “You know, it’s been a bit of a trying year. We didn’t play the best during the regular season. But we’re getting hot at the right time, just one win away, and, hopefully, we can finish it off.”
Here’s everything you need to know for Game 4:
When is the game and how can I watch it?
Game 4 is on Friday at Dodger Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 8:38 p.m. ET/7:38 p.m. CT/5:38 p.m. PT on TBS, truTV and HBO Max.
All series are available in the US on MLB.TV with authentication to a participating Pay TV provider. Games also are available live internationally, although not in Canada. Sportsnet is MLB’s exclusive English language broadcaster in Canada for every Postseason game, while TVA Sports will be covering the entire AL Postseason and the World Series in French and Broadcaster RDS will cover the entire NL Postseason in French.
Who are the starting pitchers?
Brewers: TBD
Their starter is to be determined once again. Since he didn’t pitch in Game 3, veteran left-hander Jose Quintana (11-7, 3.96 ERA in the regular season) is a candidate to try to save the Brewers’ season in Game 4. So is right-hander Chad Patrick (3-8, 3.53 ERA). He was a starter most of the season but has done his best work lately in relief. Neither is fully built up to pitch deep into a game. In fact, Quintana hasn’t started a game since suffering a left calf strain on Sept. 14, an ailment that sent him to the injured list and limited him to one three-inning relief outing in the NL Division Series against the Cubs.
Dodgers: RHP Shohei Ohtani (1-1, 2.87 ERA)
It has been nearly two weeks since Ohtani last toed the rubber, but irregular rest has not seemed to bother the two-way superstar. Ohtani made his postseason pitching debut in Game 1 of the NLDS in Philadelphia, striking out nine in a quality start. This will be Ohtani’s first career pitching start against Milwaukee.
What might the starting lineups look like?
Brewers: With Jackson Chourio possibly down with a hamstring injury, the Brewers could be missing their most potent postseason performer in a must-win game. Here’s one way they could line things if he can’t go:
Dodgers: With Quintana likely to factor into the Brewers’ pitching plans, the Dodgers could adjust their lineup to account for facing their first left-hander in a bulk role this series. That would shift Teoscar Hernández up to the No. 3 spot and Freddie Freeman to cleanup. It is also a possibility that Max Muncy would come off the bench, opening the door for Miguel Rojas or Alex Call to start.
How will the bullpens line up after the starter?
Brewers: The downside of bullpenning through a best-of-seven postseason series is that the Dodgers have had multiple looks at the leverage arms the Brewers will throw at them in an effort to get on the board in the series. Aaron Ashby and Abner Uribe have pitched in all three games. Jared Koenig has pitched twice. Trevor Megill has pitched only once.
Dodgers: None of the four relievers who appeared in Game 3 — Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda and Roki Sasaki — threw more than 13 pitches. So the entire ’pen should be available in Game 4. Sasaki has emerged as the team’s top option in save situations, with Treinen, Vesia and Emmet Sheehan also serving as important leverage arms this postseason.
Any injuries of note?
Brewers: Chourio hopped off the field on one leg in the middle of a seventh-inning at-bat in Game 3, yet said it’s only a cramp and he intends to play Game 4. That’s a huge question mark, considering he said the same thing in July when he originally injured that hamstring legging out a triple against the Cubs and wound up missing a month. If Chourio cannot start, it would probably mean playing time for Perkins, who has bounced between the starting lineup and the bench for weeks and has yet to take an official at-bat in the series (his seventh-inning strikeout after he inherited an 0-2 count was charged to Chourio).
Dodgers: Smith, who is dealing with a hairline fracture in his right hand, returned to the starting lineup during the NLDS and hasn’t missed a start since. Edman continues to manage his right ankle, which landed him on the injured list twice this year. Reliever Tanner Scott, who struggled in leverage in the regular season, is ineligible for the NLCS after being removed from the NLDS roster due to an injury but could return if the Dodgers advance.
Who is hot and who is not?
Brewers: After ranking third in the Majors in runs during the regular season with a pesky offensive approach that relied on refusing to chase and reliably getting on base, the Brewers have gone lights-out against the Dodgers. Milwaukee has scored three runs on nine hits in three games while posting a slash line of .101/.165/.180. It’s a tiny sample size, but only Durbin (1.067) and Bauers (.715) have an OPS north of .450 in the first three games of the series. It’s a lineup-wide problem, with Vaughn (0-for-10), Contreras (0-for-10), Turang (1-for-12), Chourio (1-for-11), Yelich (1-for-11) and Frelick (1-for-10) all scuffling.
Dodgers: Edman, who is hitting .290 this postseason, continued a strong NLCS with a key go-ahead knock in Game 3. Ohtani (.158) and Pages (.094) each picked up a hit on Thursday but have scuffled over the course of the postseason.
Anything else fans might want to know?
• According to Elias, this marks the eighth time a team has gone up 3-0 in a best-of-seven series vs. an opponent with MLB’s best regular-season record. All of the previous instances ended up being 4-0 sweeps:
• Dodgers starting pitchers Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow have combined to record 68 outs in the series. Brewers starters — mostly openers — have combined to record 21 outs.
• The Dodgers are the sixth team to win four straight games in a single postseason without allowing more than one run in any of them:
