Championship Series Week Opens: Brewers Take Game 1 Before a Two-Game Monday

The Brewers beat the Dodgers 2-1 on Sunday night at American Family Field to open the National League Championship Series. It was the first NLCS meeting of two 100-win clubs since Cincinnati and Philadelphia in 1976, and Milwaukee needed it. The Brewers had dropped seven straight postseason games to Los Angeles, including a four-game sweep in last year's NLCS.

The Dodgers scored first. Shohei Ohtani walked to open the second inning and came around on Andy Pages' single to right. Jacob Misiorowski needed 35 pitches to get through that inning. Kyle Tucker worked a 10-pitch walk in the same frame, and the inning only ended when Kiké Hernandez bounced into a double play that Cooper Pratt started and Brice Turang turned. Misiorowski lasted 4 1/3 innings and allowed one run on five hits and three walks. He kept Milwaukee in the game without ever looking comfortable.

Turang tied it in the fourth. Tarik Skubal fell behind 2-0 and Turang sent the next pitch 384 feet into the home bullpen. An inning later, Garrett Mitchell walked, Pratt bunted him to second, and Luis Lara, 21 years old, hit Skubal's first pitch of the at-bat into center to score him. That was the game. It took 2:55 in front of 42,617 at American Family Field. The Brewers also won the regular-season series against Los Angeles 4-3, so Sunday was not the first time this year Milwaukee had handled the Dodgers. It was the first time it happened in October. For a franchise that has never won a pennant in the National League, that matters.

The rest of Sunday belonged to the Milwaukee bullpen. DL Hall got the win. Abner Uribe threw a scoreless sixth. Aaron Ashby handled the seventh and the eighth. Trevor Megill took the ninth and made it tense, walking Tucker and pinch-hitter Josue De Paula before Mookie Betts flew out to Mitchell at the warning track. Megill picked up his third save of the postseason.

Two runs does not sound like much, but it was more than Milwaukee scored in any of the four games of last year's NLCS. It also continued a pattern. The Brewers have now played five straight playoff games decided by two runs or fewer. This is a club that wins small, and Sunday was the purest version of that.

Game 2 is Monday at 5 p.m. ET on FOX/FS1, still in Milwaukee. Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts for the Dodgers. Logan Henderson starts for the Brewers. Then the series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET and Game 4 on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, both on FS1. Game 5, if needed, is Friday at 9 p.m. ET. Games 6 and 7, if needed, return to Milwaukee on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m. ET and Monday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. ET.

How the Four Teams Got Here

Milwaukee beat San Diego 3-1 in the Division Series and clinched with a 3-1 win in Game 4. The first three games were all one-run affairs: Brewers 3, Padres 2 on Oct. 3, Brewers 4, Padres 3 on Oct. 4, and Padres 4, Brewers 3 on Oct. 6. Milwaukee finished the regular season with 103 wins. The pitching staff has been the story all October, and Sunday's bullpen night fits it.

The Dodgers beat Atlanta 3-1. They won 5-3 on Oct. 3, lost 3-2 on Oct. 4, won 3-1 on Oct. 6 and closed it with a 4-1 win at Truist Park on Oct. 7. Los Angeles pitching held the Braves to eight runs and a .145 batting average across the four games. The offense was a different story. Pages' two-run single in the seventh inning of Game 4 was the Dodgers' first hit in 20 trips with runners in scoring position in that series. No club had ever won a best-of-five or longer series without a hit in those spots until that point. Tyler Glasnow started the clincher, walked five in 4 2/3 innings and still allowed only one run on one hit. The Dodgers are 7-0 in his postseason appearances. This is their third straight NLCS trip, and they finished the regular season at 100-62.

Tampa Bay swept the Yankees. Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth in a 1-0 Game 1 win, the longest postseason no-hit bid in franchise history. Tampa Bay won Game 2 5-2 and finished it 4-3 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. It was the first sweep in franchise history in a best-of-five or longer series, and the Rays' first postseason series win since the 2020 ALCS. Tampa Bay was the top seed in the American League and gets a rested bullpen and home field to open this round.

Cleveland took the long way. The Guardians lost the first two games at home to the White Sox, 3-0 and 4-3, then won three straight: 9-3 and 9-5 in Chicago, then 2-0 back at Progressive Field on Saturday. Jose Ramirez homered in the fourth inning of Game 5. Gavin Williams struck out 12 in 5 2/3 innings and did not allow a hit until Kyle Teel's two-out single in the sixth. Cleveland pitchers struck out 21 White Sox hitters in that game, the most ever recorded in a nine-inning game, regular season or postseason. Chicago struck out 75 times in the series, the most in any best-of-five series and the fourth-most in any postseason series.

That number matters because the White Sox were not an easy out on paper. Chicago led the American League with 776 runs and 589 walks during the season and ranked third with 211 home runs. Cleveland shut that offense out when it mattered most.

It is worth remembering how much of this bracket was decided in the first week. The White Sox swept Houston 2-0 in the Wild Card round, which is how a third Wild Card ended up pushing Cleveland to five games. The Yankees swept Boston 2-0 before running into Tampa Bay. San Diego swept the Cubs 2-0 and then lost three one-run games to Milwaukee. Atlanta needed three games to get past Philadelphia and then scored eight runs in four games against Los Angeles.

Tampa Bay is the top seed in the American League. Milwaukee won 103 games. Cleveland and Los Angeles both had to grind through a long first week to join them. For the Yankees, it was only the second time they have been swept in a best-of-five series. The first was the 1980 ALCS. For Tampa Bay, it was the first series win since the 2020 ALCS, after the 2021 Division Series loss to Boston and Wild Card exits against Cleveland in 2022 and Texas in 2023.

ALCS Game 1 Is Monday Night at the Trop

The American League Championship Series opens Monday at 8 p.m. ET on TBS, truTV and HBO Max, with the Guardians visiting the Rays at Tropicana Field. The schedule was set before Cleveland finished off Chicago, and the Guardians now have to turn around after a Saturday clincher and a flight to St. Petersburg.

Game 2 is Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, also in Tampa Bay. The series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET and Game 4 on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Game 5, if needed, is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in Cleveland. Games 6 and 7, if needed, go back to Tampa Bay on Monday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m. ET and Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. ET. One scheduling note from MLB: if the NLCS ends in a sweep, ALCS Game 4 moves from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

Cleveland's rotation is the thing to watch early. Williams threw 18 pitches to close out Game 4 in Chicago and then started Game 5 on Saturday, so he is unlikely to be ready before Thursday. Parker Messick is set up for Tuesday. That leaves Game 1 to Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo or a bullpen plan built around an opener like Daniel Espino. Tampa Bay, by contrast, has had its five regular starters rested since Wednesday, and closer Bryan Baker saved all three games against New York.

What to Watch on Monday

The NLCS has a clear question after Game 1. Skubal gave up two runs and still took the loss. The Dodgers had seven hits and scored once. Their offense against Atlanta came in a few big swings, and on Sunday Milwaukee's bullpen did not give them one. If Yamamoto gives Los Angeles length on Monday, the Dodgers can leave Milwaukee even. If Henderson matches him, the Brewers will head west with a real chance to take control.

The ALCS starts with two clubs that reached this point in opposite ways. Tampa Bay did it quietly and quickly. Cleveland did it loudly, from two games down, with a pitching staff that just set a strikeout record. The Rays have the rest. The Guardians have the momentum and a staff that has to be managed carefully.

Both series get a doubleheader night to open the week. FOX/FS1 has the late afternoon in Milwaukee. TBS has prime time in St. Petersburg. That is two Championship Series games on one Monday, and four teams with a realistic path to the World Series.

Gameday Signal will keep the numbers straight as the week moves. The Signal, Not The Noise.