10/10/2026 04:41:00
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10/10 16:40 CDT Christian Yelich and the Brewers looking to get past Shohei
Ohtani and the Dodgers in NLCS sequel
Christian Yelich and the Brewers looking to get past Shohei Ohtani and the
Dodgers in NLCS sequel
By JAY COHEN
AP Baseball Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) --- All along, Christian Yelich felt this was going to be part
of the road for the Milwaukee Brewers.
It was always going to be the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers --- with their
consecutive World Series titles and a payroll that casts a long shadow over
Yelich and the small-market Brewers.
"We've been expecting having to play them in this round since spring training,
in the regular season," Yelich said Saturday. "You kind of just know that's
what's going to happen."
The 2026 NL Championship Series is a sequel, with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers
taking on Jackson Chourio and the Brewers. Los Angeles swept Milwaukee in last
year's NLCS on the way to the franchise's 26th NL pennant and ninth World
Series championship. The Dodgers also eliminated the Brewers in the NLCS in
2018 and the wild-card round in 2020.
Game 1 on Sunday night features a pair of stingy aces. Tarik Skubal goes for
Los Angeles after the two-time Cy Young Award winner was acquired in an Aug. 1
trade with Detroit, and Jacob Misiorowski --- the front-runner for the NL Cy
Young Award --- starts for Milwaukee.
The return engagement for the NLCS also shines a light on the competing
arguments at the center of MLB's collective bargaining negotiations. Baseball's
five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1, and management is expected to lock out
players in a confrontation that could affect the 2027 season.
The Dodgers went 100-62 this season and won the NL West for the fifth straight
year after they had an opening-day payroll of $323.6 million, second only to
the New York Mets. Milwaukee's opening-day payroll of $125.9 million ranked
20th, and the Brewers set a franchise record with a major league-best 103 wins
on the way to their fourth consecutive Central title.
"We're focused on trying to win, and I think we have for a while," Brewers
president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. "Regardless of what the
economics look like, the guys in there believe, and so do I."
Milwaukee was shut down by Los Angeles in last year's playoffs, hitting .118
while managing just one run in each game in the sweep. Ohtani punctuated the
series by swatting three solo homers and striking out 10 over six shutout
innings in Game 4.
Ohtani won't pitch this time around because of injuries, and the Japanese
slugger went 2 for 13 with four strikeouts in the four-game NL Division Series
against Atlanta. But the Dodgers still have a formidable rotation, fronted by
Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
"Every night when you play these guys, you know you're going to face a great
pitcher, a Cy Young-caliber pitcher," Yelich said.
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