The Milwaukee Brewers head to Los Angeles with a 2-0 lead in the NLCS. With three games in LA, this is a critical game in the series. If Milwaukee can win it, they might be able to close out the Dodgers quickly. For LA, this is must-win territory. The strategy in Game 3 changes too, as teams can’t just burn through their bullpens with three consecutive game days. That means teams will either need depth from their starters, or if they find themselves trailing, they may just punt the game and save arms. Regardless, the Dodgers are a heavy favorite here in a must-win situation at home, and it is hard to imagine this super team going down 0-3; nevertheless, there is a lot working in the favor of the Brewers, and at +150, I am smashing that.
First, we have Blake Snell and Robert Gasser on the mound. That is a clear pitching advantage to the Dodgers, one would think. But in the postseason, we just cannot put too much weight on the starters because teams are so quick to yank them. Snell, for example, only went 3.2 innings against the Braves in his last outing, and he was anything but struggling. Likewise, Gasser also only threw four innings of one-run baseball.
So what works in the Brewers’ favor? First, they have the best slugging percentage vs left-handed pitching in the postseason. They struggled against lefties in the regular season, but they are raking now. Second, their bullpen is a significant weapon. The Brewers had the 3rd best bullpen ERA in the league during the regular season, and they have only allowed one earned run in the postseason, giving them a 0.31 ERA. That counts for a lot in the modern game and the way managers are handling pitching in the postseason these days. The Brewers are doing everything right at the moment; let’s ride that momentum.
Brewers vs Dodgers Game 3 prediction: Brewers ML (+150) available at time of publishing. Playable to +130.
