Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday afternoon was a must-win for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite widespread perception that the Dodgers are the unbeatable superteam, it was Milwaukee, the team that finished with the best record in the league, that played essentially flawless baseball in a Game 1 win. While Jacob Misiorowski wasn’t his typically dominant self, every time Los Angeles had an opportunity to break the game open, “The Miz” and his team’s defense clamped down.
Already up a run in the second inning, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with postseason star Kike Hernandez at the plate. Once again, the Brewers defense was perfectly positioned to turn the inning-ending double play. After Milwaukee’s offense scratched across two runs against Tarik Skubal, their bullpen continued its remarkable run of success, going 4.2 scoreless innings to secure the win.
BRIGHT LIGHTS NOT TOO BRIGHT FOR THE BREWERS OR SUPERFAN FRONT ROW AMY IN GAME 1 OF NLCS
Still, the Dodgers felt good about their chances with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, postseason hero from 2025, starting in Game 2 against Logan Henderson. Yet for all the hype about LA’s remarkable rotation, the Milwaukee BABIP (batting average on balls in play) machine once again kicked into high gear to secure a massive 2-0 series lead and put the Dodgers’ three-peat hopes on life support with a 7-4 win.
LA jumped out to an early lead thanks to some uncharacteristic sloppiness from the Brewers. Mookie Betts walked, Freddie Freeman moved him to second, and he took third on a wild pitch from starter Logan Henderson. Teoscar Hernandez knocked him in with a sacrifice fly, and the Dodgers had a 1-0 lead without a hit. Sure enough though, Milwaukee immediately tied it in the bottom of the first.
The Dodgers missed an opportunity to challenge an obvious missed strike three call on Brice Turang, who then doubled and scored on a patented Brewers bloop single. William Contreras stuck his bat out with one hand, somehow making contact with Yamamoto’s pitch to dump it into left field. It wouldn’t be the last time.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates his home run during the fifth inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
The third inning was a near-repeat. LA mounted a quick rally on back-to-back singles from Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts. Sal Frelick robbed Freddie Freeman of a double with a nice running catch in the right center field gap, but an error on a pickoff attempt at first base brought Edman in to score. But the Brewers, knowing that the Dodgers’ greatest weakness is having an opportunity to score runs, had them right where they wanted them. Easy outs from Teoscar Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani ended the “threat,” and Milwaukee answered right back in the bottom of the inning.
David Hamilton poked another bloop single, stole second, and yet again, Brice Turang reached base on a missed strike three that went unchallenged by catcher Will Smith. Jake Bauers, one of the worst hitters in baseball before putting on a Milwaukee uniform, worked a walk after a lengthy at bat against Yamamoto, and Christian Yelich made him pay for it with a single to center.
After all this playoff heroics in 2025, Yamamoto went just 2.2 innings, allowing four hits and three runs. Missed challenges, bloop singles, exceptionally well-timed line drives from below average hitters, the ideal Milwaukee offensive outing.
Now trailing 3-2, the Dodgers “fought” back in the fifth. Kyle Tucker led off with a double, before a throwing error from Henderson on a Tommy Edman bunt let him score and sent Edman to second. A grounder and sac fly gave LA a 4-3 lead, once again without getting a hit with runners in scoring position.
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Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich runs after hitting a two-RBI base hit during the third inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Sure enough, William Contreras immediately tied it in the bottom of the inning with a mammoth homer to left-center.
The Brewers bullpen, which is apparently unhittable, put up another scoreless inning, before the Milwaukee superteam once again kicked into high gear in the bottom of the sixth. Hamilton reached on a hit by pitch, advanced to second after a poor pickoff attempt, went to third on a Jackson Chourio grounder, and scored on yet another end of the bat blooper from Contreras.
Again, the Brewers’ relief pitchers proved to be the single greatest pitching unit ever assembled, extending their streak to nearly 29 innings with just one run allowed. Monday was the first time in playoff history that a team’s bullpen went over five innings in a postseason game without giving up a baserunner. JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby, DL Hall…that’s the real superteam, and it cost about $17 to build it.
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The BABIP continued into the eighth, as David Hamilton crushed a 73mph single to right field, stole second, and scored on yet another obliterated 71mph single from Brice Turang. That hit pushed the Brewers to 5-12 with RISP.
Jake Bauers added on with yet another 73mph bloop single to make Milwaukee 6-13 with RISP.
Somehow, Milwaukee has perfected the art of running into singles on poorly hit balls in play. Some might say it’s a skill, but decades of data and information have told us it isn’t. Players and teams with poor exit velocities don’t outperform with batting average on balls in play, in fact, it’s the opposite.
The league leaders in hard hit percentage this season were, in order:
- James Wood
- Elly De La Cruz
- Pete Alonso
- Yordan Alvarez
- Shohei Ohtani
All five had BABIPs at or above league average, Wood and De La Cruz were .344 and .359, respectively. Jac Caglianone was eighth in hard hit percentage and second in baseball in BABIP. Hitting the ball hard is a skill, soft contact isn’t. Yet the Brewers have three hitters in the top seven in BABIP anyway.
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Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang celebrates his RBI base hit during the eighth inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Does it matter that Milwaukee has likely been lucky this season? No, not at all. A playoff series is the epitome of a small sample size, and reversion to the mean doesn’t have to happen over five-to-seven games. Contreras could hit 17 straight bloopers off the end of the bat, because that’s baseball. Which is why predictions of a guaranteed Dodgers’ World Series win because of their talent were always so laughable.
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Milwaukee had more hits with runners in scoring position in this game, not one hit hard, than the Dodgers have all postseason. And they’re going back to LA with a 2-0 series lead and overwhelming likelihood of advancing to the World Series. The gaps between teams in baseball are so small that a bounce here or there, a team’s ability to magically ensure that 71mph bloopers are placed perfectly, despite there being no ability to do that, can change a playoff series. David Hamilton, who is objectively an awful baseball player, reached base four times and scored two runs. Shohei Ohtani, the best player in the history of baseball, was useless. That’s not unusual or unexpected, it’s part of the sport. Which is why it’s impossible for one team to guarantee themselves anything.
Will this matter to the “ruining baseball” crowd? Of course not, reality never does.
