After last night’s loss to the Chicago Cubs, the NLDS is tied at 2-2. The series returns to Milwaukee for a decisive Game 5, with the winner going on to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s a stressful situation
for us as fans. After watching two mostly dominant games at home, watching the Brewers basically trail from the start in two road games is demoralizing. Not only does it feel like the Brewers blew two chances, but now the Cubs have a ton of momentum going into Game 5. Even though the Brewers still hold home-field advantage, that doesn’t look as important right now.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Brewers in a position like this. This series has played out very similarly to the NLDS from 14 years ago. In that season, the Brewers were the No. 2 seed in the National League and faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS. Though they didn’t hold home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, they had it for this series. It was the Brewers’ second time in the playoffs since they broke the 26-year drought in 2008, and had claimed a division title for the first time since 1982. Excitement was extremely high for this series.
The series started about as well as it could. In Game 1, starters Yovani Gallardo and Ian Kennedy battled for three scoreless innings. The Brewers were the ones that broke through first on a sacrifice fly from Jerry Hairston Jr. Two innings later, Jonathan Lucroy hit an RBI single to score the Brewers’ second run. Then came the decisive blow, a two-run home run from Prince Fielder. Meanwhile, Gallardo was dominant. Other than a solo home run allowed to Ryan Roberts in the eighth inning, he shut the Diamondbacks down. His final line: eight innings pitched, one run allowed, four hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts. John Axford pitched a clean ninth to lock it down, and the Brewers were up 1-0 in the series. (Game 1 Box Score from Baseball-Reference)
Game 2 ended up being a little more stressful. In contrast from Game 1, this ended up being a more offense-focused game. The Brewers led early again, this time from a two-run home run by Braun in the first inning. Paul Goldschmidt fired back with a solo home run to lead off the second. In the third, an RBI single from Fielder and RBI triple from Rickie Weeks added two more runs. However, the Diamondbacks got to starter Zack Greinke, hitting another two home runs off of him in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game at 4-4.
Once the Brewers chased Diamondbacks’ starter Daniel Hudson from the game, their offense erupted. After Hairston Jr. hit a double with one out in the sixth, the Diamondbacks went to Brad Ziegler. In Ziegler’s first 13 pitches, here were the results: balk, four-pitch walk, RBI bunt single (with an E1), intentional walk, RBI single, RBI single, RBI single. A 4-4 tie had changed into a 9-4 lead in a sequence of 13 pitches. It wasn’t quite smooth from there as the bullpen allowed two baserunners in each of the last four innings, but they combined for four shutout innings, and the Brewers took a 2-0 series lead. (Game 2 Box Score)
The series shifted to Arizona, and the Brewers needed just one win to advance to the NLCS for the first time in franchise history (they did have one ALCS trip in 1982). However, the Diamondbacks weren’t going to go quietly. With Shaun Marcum on the mound, the Diamondbacks got to him right away with two runs scored on three first-inning hits — two singles and a double. The offense got one run back thanks to a Corey Hart home run to lead off the third inning. The Diamondbacks responded with another run in the bottom of the third, and two innings later, a Goldschmidt grand slam gave the Diamondbacks an insurmountable 7-1 lead. They would tack on one more run as they cruised the rest of the way, closing the gap in the series to 2-1. (Game 3 Box Score)
Unfortunately, the next game didn’t go any better. Though the Brewers held a quick 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI double from Braun, that would be the only lead they held that night. Randy Wolf struggled through the first, loading the bases with just one out. He managed to stop Goldschmidt from repeating his grand slam from the previous night with a strikeout. He didn’t stop Roberts, though. For the second straight night, the starting pitcher allowed a grand slam. Chris Young followed it with a solo home run to make it a 5-1 lead. Though the offense tried to rally back, the Diamondbacks countered each time. A two-run third inning from the Diamondbacks countered single runs by the Brewers in the second and third. The teams also traded single runs in the sixth inning, as well as two-run innings in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth. The Diamondbacks won the game 10-6, and they had a lot of momentum as the series shifted back to Milwaukee tied 2-2. (Game 4 Box Score)
That brought us to the decisive Game 5. Both teams had their Game 1 pitchers ready to pitch again. Similar to Game 1, the two starters traded scoreless innings for the first two. The Diamondbacks broke through first with a Justin Upton solo home run in the third. The Brewers responded in the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Hairston Jr. to tie the game. Two innings later, an RBI single from Yuniesky Betancourt gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Gallardo was brilliant again, allowing just a solo home run in six innings of work. Takashi Saito pitched a clean seventh inning. Francisco Rodriguez made the game tense when he loaded the bases in the eighth, but escaped the jam and kept it a 2-1 game.
Then came the ninth inning. The Brewers had a one-run lead and needed just three outs to advance. Axford was in the game and hadn’t blown a save since April 18 of that season. The first three batters he faced: double, single, RBI bunt single. The Diamondbacks tied the game at 2-2. They were threatening for a big inning, and the playoffs looked like they were about to slip away. Axford came back with a strikeout, then got two groundouts to get out of the inning. He kept it a tie game, but the energy in the stadium had been subdued. The offense went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extra innings.
Despite the blown save in the ninth, Axford remained in the game to pitch the 10th. It was a gamble, especially since Axford had only pitched multiple innings once that season. He responded brilliantly, needing just nine pitches in the frame. He punctuated it with a strikeout of Lyle Overbay to keep the game tied at 2-2. Then came the bottom of the 10th inning, and most Brewers fans can tell you exactly what happened. With one out, Carlos Gomez singled to left. He stole second base to put the winning run in scoring position. Then Nyjer Morgan singled to center. Gomez ran home, the throw was late, and the Brewers won the series. (Game 5 Box Score)
Looking back at this series, some of the similarities pop out. The Brewers won the first two games with strong efforts at home. The Diamondbacks responded with two big wins of their own in Arizona. That set up the Brewers to return home tied at 2-2, with the momentum swung to the Diamondbacks, but the Brewers held home-field advantage. That series also featured two teams at 90-plus wins, with the Brewers at 96 wins and the Diamondbacks at 94 in the regular season.
There are also differences this year. The 2011 team was looking for its first postseason series win since 1982, while this team is looking to break a streak of series losses in the postseason. Neither team has a dominant starter lined up for Game 5. It’s more likely we will see variations of bullpen games on both sides. There’s no guarantee how much of an advantage home field will provide, with Cubs fans able to travel easily. The Brewers don’t have two MVP-caliber players on their team. What they do have is a team of players who have found ways to win all season. It wasn’t the MVPs that stepped up in Game 5 of 2011; it was two players who had basically platooned all season and put together the big hits when it was needed. That’s similar to this year’s team, which has consistently found ways to step up and win every game this season.
There’s no guarantee how Game 5 will go. It’s stressful going into this one with everything on the line. The words “house money” have been thrown around all season with this team and the preseason expectations, but that doesn’t mean much if you don’t cash out that money. As fans, we’ve felt the heartbreak of not only losing to a division rival but then having to watch them go on to do bigger things while we continue to wonder when we’ll finally get to experience that moment. It’s a vulnerable position to be in again.
This team has won before, and they can do it again. Let’s keep the faith going into this decisive game.
