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MILWAUKEE – After seven fascinating games full of strategy, decisive moments, constant replacements and occasional tests, the talent was simply defeated.
The slogan of Game 7 and a bit of bragging gave the Dodgers the lead they needed to finally overtake the Brewers and return to the Fall Classic.
The Dodgers' slodgers fed on the cravings they received in the NLCS, angering fans while putting an end to Milwaukee's post-season hopes.
From the Wild Cards round to the World Series, we'll be covering the 2018 playoffs.
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That's the lingering sentiment of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the Saturday's National League game. The best of the best brewers can be with anyone on the Dodgers. But in a confrontation between teams that rely on depth and confrontations more than any other baseball team, it's a battle that takes place on the Dodgers' field.
"We will definitely be beating our hat at the Brewers," said NLCS MVP Cody Bellinger, as he sat behind the tall comic statue he had just won. "It was an excellent team, obviously they had a very difficult fight, and as I said, we did it, we did it."
We know that it should not end this way. The best team does not always win in baseball. In fact, this is often not the case. This is what makes baseball unique among major sports. The underrated players get hot, the superstar players collapse, Lady Luck visits and the teams get on their knees because of a bad decision.
Even in the seventh game, which was never really in doubt after the innings in the middle, the Brewers were on the verge of crushing a 36-year-old drought.
Chris Taylor, who, based on the unlikely readings of Statcast's capture probabilities, has transformed what should have been a humiliating game into a climax. Well, sorry Statcast – that was a highlight.
Christian Yelich's Taylor training came in the fifth inning, with Lorenzo Cain dancing to second and the Brewers still lagging behind. Taylor ran from the left field and prepared to catch the ball in the strap of his glove, while Bellinger jumped over his chest in free fall.
"It was the catch of the year," Bellinger said. "I do not know what would happen if he did not make it, it would have been a draw, who knows, it was an amazing catch, and it was really cool to see him." firsthand."
At the next round, Yasiel Puig's three-point circuit opened the way. The bullet was a laser beam that reached the fence so quickly that Cain himself could not find it for one of his burglaries. The ball had a pitch angle of 9 degrees, according to Statcast, the lowest player Puig has hit since the start of these measurements. The ball actually jumped from the top of the fence.
"It's barely out," Cain lamented. "That's how the game works."
It's a game of thumbs, they say. But in this game, the Brewers needed 50-50 games, and they just did not do it.
Milwaukee was delighted with the way things went after the Brewers' 7-2 win in Game 6. They had their No. 1 star on the mound in Jhoulys Chacin. They had their ace, Josh Hader, well rested and ready to play several rounds. Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress and Brandon Woodruff were full of opportunities to fill the gaps. They did everything to animate the team throughout the season.
That's why, when the MVP candidate, Yelich, just crossed the finish line for a first round run after a playoff run, he began to feel as if Milwaukee might have just enough for this magical season to continue.
"We have won 96 games – 95 regular season games," said Craig Counsell, the Brewers coach. "We have won our division, we have finished a World Series game, in many ways there is another series after this one in which we would like to play, but you start again and you end up in those situations, that's 39 is all you can ask for. "
This feeling of hope for Milwaukee quickly faded as Bellinger pitched a Chacin shot at the Dodgers scorer, scoring Manny Machado's goal. Machado, who was once again booed as a Santa in a Philadelphia Eagles game, had reached the goal of the win with a 3-2 record.
From there, it was rare for the Miller Park crowd to reach about the same level of decibels that fans maintained in match 6 on Friday. Hader emphasized Chacin after two innings and was dominant as usual. But the Brewers were off script. Instead of protecting a lead, Hader was trying to freeze a deficit. Then he was just thinking of a big picture.
"All season, be part of this team," said Hader, "I guess we're not really doing the normal things, but we've found ways to do it." That's the biggest thing about of this group. "
For brewers to survive the Dodgers, it was imperative that their main bullpen options still apply. The old criticism of the excessive dependence of the pen is that if you keep pedaling in the pitchers, you will eventually find one sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. Obviously, if it was an argument that had to withstand rigorous analysis, the Brewers would not have managed their staff the way they did.
Yet, the lament was once too often true in October for Jeffress. It's he who made Puig's rope. Suddenly, it was 5-1 and the Dodgers were able to show everyone that their paddock was well aligned too. Until then, the Dodgers were 53-0 this season after getting a four-run lead.
"They played better," said Travis Shaw. "They made big jumps and made a few shots and they played better than us."
After Julio Urias got a batter to finish the fifth for Walker Buehler, Ryan Madson came in to get five outs. So how does it come up for a fantastic finish: the Dodgers got four outs of a possible close to the Hall of Fame at Kenley Jansen, then three outs of a certain player from the Hall of Fame. fame of Clayton Kershaw, who finished his third career game. (This does not include his full games.)
That's what we're getting at. The Brewers are armed with crack analysis staff and their manager, Counsell, is an elite – perhaps the best baseball player at the moment. The Brewers put their players in the right situations to win. Counsell has ensured that his pitching staff line up on the long list of Dodgers and at least on Captain Dave Dodgers in this regard.
"This series could have gone both ways," Roberts said. "They gave us everything we could handle."
But the options of the Dodgers were simply simpler. There is the squad of position players, an arrangement formed not because they have to do it – all LA position players are able to play every day – but because they can. In the pitching department, the four starters of the Dodgers in the NLCS would likely be chosen to start a seventh game rather than for anyone in the Brewers' rotation. Even Chacin.
Look, there was a reason why the Dodgers were favorites. They scored 50 points more than the Brewers in the regular season and left 49 fewer. The payroll of their opening day was nearly $ 90 million higher than that of Milwaukee, and this year's expenses were low for L.A.
But Milwaukee hung up and it was exciting to watch. In the series, the Brewers dominated the Dodgers 24-23. The Brewers managed to get a better average and propelled one more player than boys in blue. Their paddock has been a record holder, recording more runs than any other in a playoff series. The 17 draws out of Woodruff during the match were the most successful of all time. However, even a large mall is just one facet of a team and, although the Brewers have a lot of strengths elsewhere, it was as if it was as far as their self-confidence could lead them.
"We will move away from defeat," said Ryan Braun, the cornerstone of the Brewers, "we can all step back and appreciate what we have accomplished, what a long way to go, it was an incredible feat. that no one expected us to get where we are, that there is still a game below the World Series. "
Milwaukee played an excellent series and if Jesus Aguilar and Yelich were hot, the Brewers would head to Boston. They were not hot, but the best hitters of the Dodgers either. This was the series of pitchers – a pencil series, in fact. But it was not the brewers' series. It was not the Brewers' time.
Milwaukee's comfort in all this was in the electrical equipment of their young launchers. Not only Hader, but also Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta, who do not light the gun but have a rotation potential. All of these pitchers helped bring the Brewers to a 7. Game Other than Hader – who could have found his place as the ultimate long man – none of them has been used in such big roles that they will probably be able to fill a day.
Add it up and the Dodgers just have more. But you also feel that these brewers are not going anywhere.
"They had the chance to return to the World Series," said Braun. "Win a seventh game here, this is not the position we were hoping to be in. I think we went into the day feeling very good about our chances."
In an old coda, Dodger fans may recognize it, Braun could just as easily have said, "Wait until next year."
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