Unstoppable Yamamoto: Dodgers Crush Brewers with Complete Game in NLCS

Dodgers’ Domain: Glasnow at the Crossroads Against Unstoppable Pitching

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitching staff has proven to be a dominant force in the first two games of the National League Championship Series. This puts Game 3 starter Tyler Glasnow in a complicated situation. After Blake Snell pitched eight impressive innings in Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto topped that performance in Game 2. Yamamoto threw the first postseason complete game in eight years, propelling the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and sending Los Angeles home with a 2-0 lead in the Championship Series. The question is: How can Glasnow top that? Pitching 10 innings? With the Dodgers’ starting rotation, anything seems possible, looking to achieve the first repeat championship since the New York Yankees won three consecutive World Series between 1998 and 2000.

It’s been incredible. They’re probably the two best consecutive games I’ve seen. I’m glad they’re on our side.

Will Smith, Dodgers catcher

Yamamoto, who struggled in an opening on July 7 in Milwaukee, where he only pitched two-thirds of an inning, gave up a home run to Jackson Chourio in the first inning. However, instead of repeating that poor performance, he surpassed it. The Brewers didn’t threaten again, as Yamamoto allowed only two more hits and recorded the Dodgers’ first postseason complete game since José Lima in 2004, striking out Andrew Vaughn to end the game.

Regrettable, that home run. But I reset my mind and focused on executing my own pitches.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Yamamoto’s gem comes one night after Snell dominated the Brewers for eight innings in Game 1, meaning the Dodgers’ bullpen has only had to cover one inning in the series. In contrast, Brewers relievers have pitched 11⅓ innings in the series.

I am very happy because the Dodgers manager and the people trust me. As a player, I thought that was great.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Dodgers’ rotation has an ERA of 1.54 in eight postseason games, with Los Angeles starters recording six wins in the team’s seven playoff victories. That ERA is a minuscule 0.53 against the Brewers, whose young and athletic team has looked helpless so far.

Those pitchers were as dominant as two pitchers have been.

Pat Murphy, manager of the Brewers

During an era in which quick changes, openers, and frequent pitcher changes have become hallmarks of postseason baseball, the Dodgers are going back in time. Consecutive starts of eight or more innings are the first in the playoffs since the San Francisco Giants did it in 2010 on their way to the World Series title. The Dodgers’ offense did enough in the first two games, with home runs from Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández in Game 2, which alone would have been enough to support the unstoppable Yamamoto.

By winning the first two games as visitors, the Dodgers are well-positioned to return to the World Series: entering the 2025 postseason, only three of the 28 teams that lost the first two games at home in a best-of-seven series have managed to come back to win.

That story is almost as disheartening for the Brewers as the Dodgers’ pitching.

I know we are going to improve and put some things together.

Jackson Chourio

The bad news for Milwaukee is that it won’t get any easier at Dodger Stadium. Glasnow, the Game 3 starter, has pitched 7⅔ scoreless innings during the Los Angeles postseason. In Game 4, it will be Shohei Ohtani, who had a quality start and struck out nine in his first playoff start in Game 1 of the divisional series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers surprised many by recording the best baseball record during the regular season and obtaining the first place in the playoffs. But they have encountered a Dodgers team that seems to be planning to win another championship.

Our entire team is playing the best baseball we’ve played all year. The focus, the level of concentration, is at its highest level. We are reaching our peak at the right time.

Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager