With the Brewers’ win over the Cubs last night, the matchups for both the NLCS and ALCS are officially set in stone. For a more in-depth look, check out Paul’s preview of each League Championship Series
here.
Seattle Mariners vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Seattle edged out the Detroit Tigers in five games in the divisional round. The clincher was a 15-inning instant classic that blessed baseball fans with absurd stats — 37 combined strikeouts, 472 pitches thrown, 15 total pitchers. Four of those pitchers appeared in relief in Game 5 after starting a game earlier in the series, which is the first time that has happened since 1952. Seattle will tab their only healthy starter who didn’t pitch in Game 5, right-hander Bryce Miller. Miller started Game 4 of the NLDS, so he’ll be pitching on only three days of rest.
One of the Mariners’ biggest strengths is their rotation, which features Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Miller. It’s probably reasonable to wonder how much that strength will be negated early in this series, partially due to fatigue but also because of the formidable Blue Jays offense. Toronto’s offense is headlined by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, and the currently injured Bo Bichette (who might return later in the series). The AL’s No. 1 seed hit .338 as a team against their ALDS opponent, the Yankees, in a decisive four-game victory.
Game 1 is set for tonight (7 p.m. CT) at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Miller will go for the M’s, while veteran righty Kevin Gausman will pitch for the Blue Jays.
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Milwaukee roared out to a 2-0 series lead against their divisional rivals, the Chicago Cubs, before dropping games 3 and 4. The Crew pulled out a 3-1 victory in Game 5 on the strength of solo home runs from William Contreras, Andrew Vaughn, and Brice Turang and a dominant showing from the bullpen. Milwaukee is one of the more well-rounded teams in baseball and should match up well against the Dodgers, despite the fact that the Dodgers’ payroll is roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Micronesia. The two teams last faced off in the NLCS back in 2018, with the Dodgers winning in seven games.
Los Angeles is a veritable superteam, but they had a slightly disappointing regular season relative to expectations — having to make it out of the Wild Card after failing to secure a bye. They are now the only team remaining from the Wild Card round after beating the Phillies in four games to advance to the NLCS. LA features star power up and down the lineup, headlined by two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. Although they haven’t announced a Game 1 starter, the buzz around the league is that Blake Snell will get the ball. The Dodgers are rested, so their other options include Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow (who started Game 4 of the NLDS).
Game 1 is set for tomorrow night (7:08 p.m, CT) at American Family Field in Milwaukee. As stated above, neither team has officially announced a starting pitcher.
