On Sunday night, the Milwaukee Brewers gained the first advantage in the National League Championship Series. The result? A hard-fought 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at American Family Field. For the Dodgers, the first game highlighted the growing offensive problems that are still endangering their chances in October.
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Although they kept putting pressure on the base-paths against Milwaukee’s pitching, the Dodgers failed to score when they had the opportunity. They left nine runners on base and ended up in an early disadvantage on their road trip. Here’s everything that took place.
Hostile welcome: Brewers fans waste no time booing Shohei Ohtani
When Shohei Ohtani walked up to the plate, Milwaukee fans made it clear where they stood. Inside American Family Field, the crowd gave him thunderous boos both during his pregame introductions and on every occasion he came to bat. They set a hostile atmosphere for the superstar hitter.
Ohtani had tormented the Brewers in the previous postseason. That was particularly notable due to his historic three-homer, 10-strikeout performance in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS. However, ongoing injuries have kept him from pitching and have made his batting presence much more subdued this October.
Ohtani did manage to get a four-pitch walk and hit a flare single. But Milwaukee’s pitching staff managed to neutralize his power. He has failed to record an extra-base hit in five games this postseason. Besides, he has a batting average of .163 over his last 23 games.
Umpire accused of cheating for Dodgers: social media erupts
Controversy is rarely avoided in high-stakes postseason baseball. Eventually, Game 1 sparked intense discussion on the internet about the home-plate strike zone. When borderline pitches were called in favour of the Dodgers in key early-inning situations, fans raged.
They accused the umpiring team of giving the reigning champions an unfair advantage. One spectator stated, “Oh no. Umps can’t make it blatant and obvious early.”
Another expressed the same opinion by asking, “THAT’S A F**KING BALK?! Jacob Misiorowski gets called for THAT against the Dodgers?! Give me a f**king break. MLB might as well roll out the red carpet to the World Series for LA. What an absolute JOKE of a call.”
Controversy erupted during Sunday night’s NLCS opener at American Family Field, as fans criticized home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso over a balk ruling against Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. The decision also benefited Teoscar Hernandez, who had been picked off at first base in the fourth inning but was able to advance to second after the call.
The suspicion of favoritism towards a large market spread rapidly.
“MLB want an LA-New York World Series so bad that they’re allowing the umpires to call balls six inches off the plate as strikes against Milwaukee,” wrote a social media user.
Dodgers’ offensive collapse
The reason why the Dodgers lost Game 1 was that they suffered a complete collapse each time they had the opportunity to score runs. The team managed only one hit out of six attempts when runners were in scoring position.
Additionally, grounding into three double plays which killed the team’s momentum. It was a reflection of the same lack of success in critical situations that had seen them go 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position during their series against Atlanta in the NLDS.
In the second inning, Los Angeles had loaded the bases with only one out against Misiorowski. But Kiké Hernández then produced an inning-ending double play. In the sixth inning, Andy Pages struck out swinging with runners on third and first. The final blow came in the ninth when Mookie Betts flew out to deep centre field with two runners on base, leaving the tying and go-ahead runners stranded. After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put the loss into context.
He stated, “You can’t go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win four.” He also added, “It’s going to be a long series. We knew it coming in. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to.”
Brewers ball outlasts the Dodgers’ star power
In relief of Misiorowski, Milwaukee’s bullpen put in 4 and two-thirds shutout innings. DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and Trevor Megill smoothly passed the ball and put an end to the late-inning attacks. Manager Pat Murphy lauded his team’s performance.
“You can’t get to this point without great defense, you really can’t,” Murphy said. “We haven’t turned as many double plays in the postseason as you’d like, but tonight it was key. And our bullpen continues to be really special.”
The Brewers had shown in Game 1 that accurate pitch execution, and solid glove work to counteract MLB’s most star-studded batting order. Unless the Dodgers are able to overcome their problems with situational hitting and restore Ohtani’s power stroke, the Brewers’ could cause more trouble.
The debate between Misiorowski and Tarik Skubal
In Game 1, there was a very attractive pitching matchup on the mound involving Milwaukee’s right-hander Jacob Misiorowski and the Dodgers’ starter Tarik Skubal. Skubal looked sharp in the early innings, keeping the Brewers’ batters on their toes with accurate and swing-and-miss pitches over five innings.
But Milwaukee managed to gain ground on his second visit through the order. Brice Turang got the crowd excited by hitting a solo home run to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. The Brewers scored the winning run off Skubal in the fifth when Garrett Mitchell was walked. Cooper Pratt hit a sacrifice bunt, and the rookie Luis Lara then drove Mitchell home with an RBI single up the middle.
At the same time, Misiorowski had difficulty producing his usual swing-and-miss figures. Having thrown a low 13.8% strike rate with his fastball in the Division Series, his four-seamer managed only an 18.5% strike rate against Los Angeles. The Dodgers kept fouling off pitch after pitch in order to increase his pitch count. They ended up chasing him after 4 1/3 innings, which in turn restricted him to just Andy Pages’ single in the second inning.
After the game, Misiorowski looked back on the tough performance.
It’s the same as the last outing I had against the Padres,” he said about the Dodgers fouling off so many fastballs. “I think that was the same goal. Both teams did it really well. Last game, I kind of went away from my strategy going in, and this one I stuck with it and focused like, ‘OK, I’ve still got the heater. They’re not on it, but I’ve got to trust it.”
The Brewers gained the early advantage in this National League Championship Series by strong pitching and scoring the crucial runs throughout. They troubled the Dodgers at the start and tolerated the controversial calls by the umpires. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are facing bright warning lights before Game 2.
The team cannot afford to allow their string of failures when there are runners in scoring position. Nor can they keep on waiting for Ohtani’s power hitting to come back to life on the pitch. If Roberts does not make strategic changes to deal with the Brewers, the latter’s bold style of play might set the tone for the entire series.