Sunday, October 11, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

The Dodgers had plenty of traffic on the bases but couldn’t capitalize on scoring opportunities.

On a beautiful Sunday night at Great American Family Field, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 2–1. The Brewers lead the NLCS, 1-0.

While Jacob Misiorowski wasn’t as dominant as he could have been, the Dodgers couldn’t break through. They left twenty runners on base and hit into three double plays. In the second inning, Andy Pages singled in Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers made pitchers work. Teoscar Hernández had two hits. The Dodgers had no extra-base hits, which caused problems.

Tarik Skubal started the game beautifully, retiring eight out of nine batters. Then, he lost his rhythm and command. Brice Turang hit a home run to begin the fourth inning, and the Brewers scored another run in the fifth inning. In his five innings, he struck out seven and walked two.

Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, and Tanner Scott were sharp in relief.

If the Dodgers don’t exhibit power in the NLCS, this will be a short series. They must have timely hitting. While the Brewers used sacrifice bunts, the Dodgers don’t. This is a different philosophy. The Dodgers don’t need to become the Brewers. They need Will Smith to start hitting. So far, Smith has a .053 batting average in the postseason.

Unlike the previous postseasons, the Dodgers have dominating pitching. They can keep the Brewers’ offense quiet. However, can the Dodgers score enough to advance to the World Series?

On Monday, the Dodgers will try to even the series before it goes to Los Angeles. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be on the mound, and the Dodgers hope he will perform his postseason magic. The Dodgers must score to have a chance.