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The Dodgers spent $163 million on the back end of their bullpen the past two years. The Milwaukee Brewers did not.

So two games into the National League Championship Series, guess which team’s relief corps has been lights out and which one has been lit up? (Spoiler alert: it’s not the team with all the money.)

Milwaukee sent a parade of four relievers to the mound for a second straight game Monday, and for a second straight game they didn’t give up a run, retiring the last 15 Dodgers in order in a 7-4 win that gives Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which moves to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers’ bullpen has pitched 9 2/3 innings in the series, yielding just two hits — both off Abner Uribe — and three walks. That’s it. Both wins have gone to relievers, DL Hall in the opener and JoJo Romero in Game 2.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

Dodger relievers, meanwhile, have pitched 9 1/3 innings in the two games, giving up four runs on nine hits. Reliever Brock Stewart took the loss Monday.

In a series that’s rapidly shaping up as a battle of the bullpens, the Dodgers clearly aren’t getting what they paid for.

“I don’t have an answer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shrugged when asked why the Dodgers relievers have struggled while the Brewers have shined. “I know that they’ve got good arms; so do we. I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”

Slugger Max Muncy has a theory on the same question.

“They’re really good,” he said.

The Brewers’ 48 bullpen wins was the most in baseball during the regular season and its 3.40 ERA was best in the National League. And it has been even better in the postseason, giving up just one earned run in 28 2/3 innings against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres. In the divisional era (since 1969), only the 1991 Minnesota Twins have a lower bullpen ERA through six playoff games and with a reliever earning the victory in all five of Milwaukee’s postseason wins, the Brewers have done something only the 2014 Kansas City Royals had done previously.

“There’s a reason they’re where they’re at right now and the bullpen’s a big piece of that,” Muncy said. “If there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys. But when they’re as good as they are, I don’t know how much that helps.

“They’re all throwing 100 [mph] plus and they all have really nasty stuff.”

Especially Aaron Ashby, who has pitched in both games, holding the Dodgers to a walk in 3 2/3 innings, striking out three. He’s the Brewers’ best-paid reliever, earning $5.5 million this season.

The Dodgers have three relievers making at least twice that — and one of them, Blake Treinen, didn’t even make the postseason roster. One of the others, Tanner Scott, gave up twice as many runs in his first postseason appearance as the Brewers’ bullpen has given up this month.

“They attack the hitters,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said of Milwaukee’s relievers. “They throw strikes. They got good stuff. They throw hard. We’ve just got to do a better job.”

Hernández then echoed Muncy in pointing out the Dodgers have now seen six of Milwaukee’s nine relievers, with Ashby and Uribe throwing in both games. And while the Dodgers haven’t done anything against them yet, that familiarity could help going forward.

“We know what we’re going to get,” Hernández said.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded the point — sort of.

“Familiarity, as the numbers tell us, does provide an edge,” he said. “So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re one-inning guys.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

“Can’t always do that.”

Sometimes you can, though. Uribe, who has appeared in all six Brewers games this postseason, has already faced eight Dodger hitters in the series, but only one of them, Andy Pages, twice. And when he does face someone a second time, Murphy said with a smile, who’s to say he’ll him pitch the same way?

“Uribe might have something up his sleeve based on how those other times went,” he said. “Like, well, I never gave him this.’”

That would count as a surprise. However the dominant performance of the Brewers’ bargain-basement bullpen would not. Because even in baseball, the Dodgers are finding out, there are some things money can’t buy.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This time, Jose Ramírez didn’t hit a majestic home run to decide the game. An innocent infield dribbler was enough to light an eighth-inning fuse that sent the Cleveland Guardians to a startling 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Nathaniel Lowe’s line-drive single up the middle drove in Ramírez and Chase DeLauter with the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth and the Guardians struck for seven runs over the final four innings of the game to stun the Rays, who took a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

Yet from there, DeLauter and Ramírez - who each had three hits - and Cleveland’s pitching staff took over.

DeLauter hit an opposite-field homer to cut the Guardians’ deficit in half and then doubled in the eighth for his third hit, the rookie setting the stage for Lowe’s heroics.

In the ninth, Ramírez tacked on an RBI single off reliever Cole Sulser and Joe Adell rapped a two-out, two-run double for the Guardians' final runs. 

That decisive eighth inning began with right-hander Tyler Wells on the mound and he induced a soft grounder from Ramírez. But it bunny-hopped along the Tropicana Field turf long enough for Ramírez to scamper to first base.

After DeLauter’s double and a groundout, Wells was lifted for lefty Ian Seymour. But Lowe, who was drafted by the Rays and spent the first two years of his career in Tampa Bay, sent a fastball right back up the middle to plate the go-ahead runs.

Cedric Mullins’ solo homer in the eighth pulled Tampa Bay within one, but the Guardians' add-on runs in the ninth made it simple for closer Cade Smith, the sixth Cleveland pitcher of the night, who powered through the Rays in the ninth. 

The Guardians certainly might feel like they stole this one.

Rays ace Drew Rasmussen took a shutout into the sixth inning but was dinged by DeLauter's opposite-field solo homer to make it 2-1. Patrick Bailey's homer to center leading off the seventh ended Rasmussen's night.

Meanwhile, starter Foster Griffin – who hung around to complete four innings - and five relievers combined to hold Tampa Bay to one run over the final eight innings, yielding just two hits.

Perhaps this is just a quick-strike surprise from the Guardians, still running on adrenaline after Ramírez’s two-run shot powered their winner-take-all Game 5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. The Rays won 98 games to the Guardians’ 85, were rested and had their ace going.

But perhaps the Guardians’ offense, perceived as less potent than Tampa Bay’s, is timelier and more playoff-built than perceived. In Game 1, they at least proved that if their pitchers simply stay in the game, they can counterattack quickly.

As always, that started with Ramírez. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guardians steal ALCS Game 1 vs Rays. Or maybe they're just that good?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a 0-2 deficit in the NLCS and could do the unthinkable.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic, manager Dave Roberts is considering benching Shohei Ohtani, who is in the midst of an egregious slump.

“Yeah I mean obviously it hasn’t been good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.”

Rosenthal and Woo went on to report that Roberts said he would go ahead and have a conversation “with him tomorrow.”

This time last year, Ohtani had one of the greatest games in baseball history, when he struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers.

But given his performance this postseason, it might be the right thing to do.

Through seven games in the playoffs, Ohtani is 3-for-20 and hasn’t had an extra-base hit.

In Monday night’s 7-4 loss, Ohtani lowered his postseason batting average to .150 after going 0-for-4 at the plate and striking out twice.

On top of that, the four-time MVP was recently dropped to fifth in the lineup and attempted to lay down a bunt to lead off the sixth inning against Brewers left-handed pitcher Jojo Romero.

He’s spent a majority of the season dealing playing hurt, including a bicep and knee injury that he suffered at the midway point of the year.

Prior to his postseason slump, his struggles date back to the regular season, as he has not hit a home run since August 18.

Between August 19. and September 7. Ohtani had not driven in a single run for the Dodgers and landed on the team’s injured list a few days later.

He was reactivated two weeks later and hit an RBI in his second game back, but still didn’t look like himself.

Rosenthal and Woo wrote that if the Dodgers elect to sit Ohtani, rookie Josue De Paula would be the top candidate to take his spot as the designated hitter in the starting lineup.

The two reported that the Dodgers have been impressed with De Paula’s “elite plate discipline.”

It’s unknown what the outcome of Game 2 of the NLCS would have been if Will Smith had utilized two ABS challenge opportunities against the Milwaukee Brewers.

But the fact of the matter is, he didn’t, and now Los Angeles is facing a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS following a 7-4 loss on Monday night.

Smith had two missed ABS challenges against Brice Turang in the first and third innings, costing the Dodgers a chance change the game.

The first missed opportunity happened after starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was about to pick up his second strikeout of the game when he worked Brice Turang to an early 0-2 count.

Yamamoto threw a 91.2 splitter to the bottom corner of the strike zone and it was ruled a ball.

Smith had a chance to ABS challenge the pitch but ultimately decided to check with the third-plate umpire if Turang’s bat crossed the plate.

The umpire ruled that his bat didn’t, keeping his at-bat alive.

“Will’s got a great view of that; you try to defer to your catchers for challenges,” Roberts said. “If you look back, that changes the outing.”

A Will Smith challenge here could have changed the bottom of the first inning https://t.co/3ZdG3Obt52pic.twitter.com/fXfvRFjpAn

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 12, 2026

Three pitches later, after the botched attempt, Turang reached base on a double, then was brought home in the next at-bat, following an RBI single by William Contreras.

Yamamoto eventually got out of the inning after the missed challenge opportunity from Smith by getting Jake Bauers and Christian Yelich to hit out.

Smith’s second chance to get Turang to strike out came in his second at-bat, when he was facing a full count.

After Yamamoto threw a cutter in the middle-outside part of the zone, the pitch was ruled a ball, and Smith had a chance to challenge the call but elected not to.

Smith said during postgame that he went and looked at the two missed opportunities.

“It was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes,” Smith said. “I figured we could get him out there. The walk one was a bummer. But it happens. It’s baseball.”

After Turang was walked, the Brewers offense exploded in the third inning, after Christian Yelich drove in two runs, sending Yamamoto to the showers early after he threw 75 pitches in 2 ⅔ innings.

When the game was over, the Dodgers remained with their two ABS challenges at their disposal.

Aside from the struggles on defense, Smith is 1-for-23 in the playoffs with one walk and eight strikeouts.

MILWAUKEE — Some people play do crossword puzzles for fun, other people listen to podcasts. Jake Bauers works opposing team's aces until their arms are ready to fall off.

Bauers drew a 12-pitch walk off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, Oct. 12. His at-bat lasted more than seven minutes, and he'd fouled off six pitches before finally getting the fourth ball.

"It was a blast, honestly. It was a blast. Any time you can get that locked in doing anything, it's, to me, one of the most enjoyable experiences I think a human being can have," Bauers said after the game, a 7-4 win that gives the Milwaukee Brewers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

More importantly, the at-bat changed the momentum of the game. The two-out walk to Bauers loaded the bases, and Christian Yelich followed with a two-RBI single. Though the Dodgers would re-take the lead with two runs in the fifth, it was obvious to everyone at American Family Field that it was temporary.

Bauers' had put the Brewers in control, of the game and maybe the entire series.

"That changes the game," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "It was a huge at-bat. How many pitches? A 12-pitch walk? It took seven minutes, somebody told me. You think about that and what it does to a pitcher. (Yamamoto) can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He's one of the best pitchers in the land.

"It was a great at-bat," Murphy added. "I think a turning point, I really do."

Bauers took two called strikes in the first four pitches he saw from Yamamoto. After a ball on the fifth pitch, he started fouling. One pitch after another. The Dodgers had a chance to put an end to it, with one ball dropping between Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez near the tarp down the third-base line and another dropping between Muncy and Will Smith.

"It just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode. A little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow, a little bit competing," Bauers said. "I knew that was a moment where the guys needed something, the team needed something. It was either I'm going to get something to hit here or I'm going to see enough pitches to take a walk."

More: Believe in the Brewers yet? Milwaukee in dreamland, Dodgers desperate after wild Game 2

Yamamoto said he was trying to work the edge of the strike zone, but Bauers wasn't giving an inch.

"He just stayed on it. He did a good job," Yamamoto said.

As Yelich waited in the on-deck circle, he said he knew he couldn't let Bauers' at-bat go to waste. He took the first pitch for a ball, then laced a curveball in the middle of the zone into left-center.

"You want to follow a great at-bat like that with a good at-bat," Yelich said. "I wanted to make sure I was going to swing at a good pitch and put a good swing on something, and fortunately I was able to do that."

For the second consecutive game, the Brewers had chased a Dodgers ace early. Yamamoto's 2⅔ innings matched his shortest postseason start, and the three runs were the most he's allowed in his last five starts.

"As the at-bat was going on, I was just enjoying it," Bauers said. "I was honestly just having a blast."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jake Bauers' at-bat 'changes the game' and he had a blast doing it

Another Brewers playoff game, another nine innings filled with stress and heightened blood pressure across the state of Wisconsin. Game 2 of the NLCS was a back and forth affair, with both teams scoring in the first, third, and fifth innings. But it was once again the Brewers who came out on top 7-4.

The Dodgers were able to strike first without the benefit of a base hit. Mookie Betts was able to overturn a strikeout with an ABS challenge and then work a walk from it. He then reached second on a grounder from Freddie Freeman and a wild pitch from Logan Henderson allowed Betts to reach third. Teoscar Hernandez’s job was simple and he did it, lifting a sacrifice fly to center and it was 1-0 Dodgers.

But the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half. Brice Turang ripped a double down the left field line and then William Contreras drove him in with a single to tie the game at 1-1.

Then in the 3rd, the Dodgers were able to get another run after a Cooper Pratt misplay at shortstop turned what could’ve been a double play ball into a single with runners now at the corners. Henderson then made a poor pickoff attempt at first and the ball got away, allowing the Dodgers to take the lead again.

Once more, the Brewers answered right back. David Hamilton started the rally with a single and then stole second base. Brice Turang then walked to put two runners on. Jake Bauers then had the at-bat of the night against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, working a 12 pitch at-bat that culminated in a walk.

“That changes the game. We’ve seen him do that before… Yeah, you think about that and what it does to a pitcher. He can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He’s one of the best pitchers in the land. It was a great at-bat. I think a turning point, I really do.” Pat Murphy said.

“Yeah, it just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode. A little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow a little bit competing.” Bauers said.

That loaded the bases for the Captain, Christian Yelich, who delivered the big hit.

THE CAPTAIN DELIVERS AND THE BREWERS LEAD pic.twitter.com/fsePHInawQ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

After going multiple years without an RBI in the postseason, Yelich has come through a couple of times for the Brewers this year.

However, the Dodgers would still answer back in the 5th inning. After Henderson had retired six straight, Kyle Tucker led off with a double. Then Tommy Edman dropped a sacrifice bunt down to get Tucker to third, but Henderson sailed the throw to first base, allowing the run to score and Edman to reach second base. Pat Murphy was out to make the pitching change immediately.

Dustin May came in and settled things down, though he did allow a sacrifice fly to Freeman that brought in Edman and gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Jackson Chourio did make it close, though. The Brewers challenged the safe call, but were unsuccessful.

But just like the first and third innings, the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half, with William Contreras supplying the very loud answer.

WILD BILL GOES OFF THE SCOREBOARD pic.twitter.com/tLgKSYREhX

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

“He’s a pitbull” Logan Henderson said.

Then, finally, the Brewers were able to score without having to make it an answer to the Dodgers. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Hamilton led things off with a hit by pitch. He then reached second on a failed pickoff attempt. Hamilton moved to third on a ground ball to the right side by Chourio. With the go-ahead run on third, the Dodgers chose to intentionally walk Brice Turang to face William Contreras.

A bold strategy that did not pay off. Contreras jumped all over the first pitch and lifted a single to put the Brewers on top for good.

A MAN THAT CAN'T BE STOPPED pic.twitter.com/eAXctrMZgu

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

Contreras becomes just the fourth player in MLB history to hit three game-tying or go-ahead base hits in a single postseason game. He joins George Brett, Steve Garvey, and Sandy Alomar Jr on that list.

“Fourth guy ever? Seems pretty good.” Cooper Pratt said.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was absolutely carving up the Dodgers lineup. After Dustin May came in to relieve Henderson two batters into the fifth inning, the Dodgers did not get a single baserunner. It was five perfect innings to finish out the game

“I don’t know that you’re necessarily planning to do that, that’d be awesome if you could. We’re in a really good spot right now with the way things are going in our bullpen.” Aaron Ashby said.

Abner Uribe was able to get four outs, he set up Aaron Ashby to get five outs to end the game. The Brewers were able to avoid using Trevor Megill for a second consecutive night.

The Brewers also added some insurance runs in the 8th inning to finally extend the run differential to more than two runs for the first time this postseason. David Hamilton singled and stole second, then Brice Turang singled to add the first insurance run. Contreras then walked and Jake Bauers singled home a second run to make it 7-4.

A little breathing room went a long way as the Brewers now extend their series lead to 2-0 over the Dodgers. They are just two wins away from the World Series and are at the very least guaranteed a return trip home to play at American Family Field.

The series now pivots to Los Angeles for Game 3. Robert Gasser will get the start for the Brewers and look to put the Brewers up 3-0 over LAD and further confirm their control over this series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS after Yoshinobu Yamamoto was sent to the showers following the worst postseason performance of his career.

After Monday’s 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Yamamoto isn’t sure what went wrong in the third inning.

“I don’t know the exact reason yet, I need to check the videos on what happened today,” Yamamoto said. “I wanted to get through the third inning but couldn’t.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 75 P) discusses his struggles against the Brewers lineup in the 7-4 game 2 loss in the #NLCS. pic.twitter.com/gODJLlK4OL

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) October 13, 2026

Yamamoto tossed 2 ⅔ innings on 75 pitches, while giving up four hits, three runs, two walks and only striking out one batter.

The Dodgers World Series hero from a year ago was pulled in the middle of the third inning, when Christian Yelich gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead from a two-run RBI single.

Before Yelich came up to bat, the Brewers were relentlessly working Yamamoto, making him throw 22 pitches between David Hamilton, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras.

Turang was down 0-2 in the count, then saw four pitches go past him for a walk.

During the at-bat, Yamamoto tried to get Turang to chase outside but couldn’t get him to bite.

He attempted to challenge the final pitch of the at-bat but was denied, leaving him appearing frustrated while on the mound.

Two at-bats later, Yamamoto had his biggest challenge yet of the postseason. Jake Bauers.

In two at-bats against Yamamoto, Bauers saw a total of 17 pitches against the Dodgers star, including a 12-pitch at-bat in the third inning, where he threw five different pitch sequences in the final six pitches of the at-bat.

“I was trying to work on the edge of the zone, some pitches were really good,” Yamamoto said. “He just stayed on it. He did a good job.”

Yamamoto was on the verge of getting out of the inning by forcing Bauers into a 3-2 count until Bauers fouled off six pitches and forced his way on base with a walk, setting the stage for Yelich to take the plate with the bases loaded.

Alex Vesia was brought in afterward, and he got Garrett Mitchell to go down swinging.

After the half inning was over, Dave Roberts told Ken Rosenthal during a live interview during the game that he “felt we had to stop the damage right there.”

Los Angeles tacked on three more runs after Yamamoto’s departure but couldn’t match the Brewers as Contreras went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs, including a game-tying home run in the fifth and a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth.

The Brewers tacked on two more runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Hamilton and Bauers to give the game its final score.