The stage for the NLCS is officially set. And the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, after winning their last 5 games out of 6, will play against the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished the season with baseball’s best record at 97-65. But the first pitch of this series wasn’t thrown on a mound. It was thrown before Game 1 when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joined the FOX Sports crew that featured Yankees legends Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

October baseball always brings pure and unscripted drama. And nothing different this time, too, when Roberts began describing the Brewers’ style of play. “I don’t want to bring up old sores to Derek, which I sort of do because the guy’s got, you know, rings to cover up his whole hands,” Roberts started. “It’s like what the Marlins did to the Yankees back then, right? In the World Series. The bunting and the stealing of the bases, and so this team, you know, feasts on momentum and havoc and little ball and trying to disrupt timing.”

Roberts explained that the Brewers’ play strategy is to outsmart their opponent fundamentally, where they act like a helpless team, and in the end have the edge before the opposition team realizes how it happened.

Jeter, on the crew, who was also on that losing Yankees team against the Florida Marlins in 2003, didn’t like the reference, as his smile, too, felt forceful as the LA skipper recalled the Yanks’ loss.

“Uh Dave, uh first of all, I don’t appreciate that,” Jeter remarked. “And now I have Dontrelle Willis peeking around the camera. So this is the last time I’m talking to you in October. Good luck.” While Roberts laughed, clapped, and even said “sorry,” the mention of the 2003 Marlins’ star Dontrelle Willis was the cherry on top, and it made everyone laugh. But Dave Roberts wasn’t completely joking.

After talking about “the bunting and the stealing of the bases,” the skipper shared their own strategy.

“So I think that we just got to stay to our game, you know, go attack these guys, play fundamental baseball. And, you know, all this narrative that Murph’s trying to throw out there that they’re the little engine that could… this team won most games in baseball, so we’re not buying that. We got to go out there and play good baseball and, uh, may the best team win.”

The 2025 Brewers feel like a mirror image of the 2003 Florida team.

They ranked second in MLB with 164 stolen bases. They don’t rely on the long ball, ranking 22nd in hitting home runs. Instead, they get on base regularly, ranking second in on-base percentage. Plus, they create chaos, as Roberts cited.

Coming from Roberts himself, who is famous for his own “small ball” and known as “The Steal,” for his legendary stolen base in 2004 that sparked the Boston Red Sox’s epic comeback against Jeter’s Yankees, tells the story of how good the current Brewers team is.

And this brand of baseball is already proven as a Dodgers’ kryptonite this season

The Dodgers don’t need to look at history books to fear the Brewers.

The Brewers swept the season series 6-0, outscoring them 31-16. And the Dodgers’ lineup was hitting at a .179 collective across the six games. Plus, in four of the six, they held the Dodgers offense to two runs or fewer. Young arms like Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski outsmarted them, striking out 22 combined in their starts. This regular-season sweep gives the Brewers a massive psychological edge before the NLCS.

And while Dave Roberts dismisses the underdog narrative, his team has a troubling history against those kinds of teams. The Dodgers, for all their glory, have a habit of falling in October.

In 2023, the Arizona Diamondbacks team swept them in the playoffs, and the year before, their historic 111-win season ended after a shocking loss to the 89-win San Diego Padres. In the 2021 NLCS, they lost in the same manner against the Atlanta Braves team. This history adds extra pressure to the defending champion that they can’t ignore.

Now all eyes will be on Game 1 in Milwaukee. The Dodgers will start with lefty Blake Snell, who posted a 2-0 record and a 1.38 ERA in his two appearances in the postseason. The Brewers, on the other hand, are coming off a Game 5 win against the rival Chicago Cubs, will counter with a bullpen game, starting with lefty Aaron Ashby.

What are your speculations about this game? Join us in the conversation…