Milwaukee — Japanese Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a masterful complete game and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 this Tuesday, to take a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) 2025.
In an era where Major League teams often turn to relievers and combined strategies to get the 27 outs, the Dodgers are betting on classic baseball: dominant starters who go the distance.
A day after Blake Snell faced the minimum during eight innings, Yamamoto completed the feat with a pitching gem that silenced Milwaukee’s offense. He allowed just three hits and one run, striking out seven rivals and controlling the game with his usual mix of precision pitches.
With this victory, Los Angeles heads home with a comfortable lead. In Major League history, teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-seven series have won the title 83.9% of the time, and those who do so as visitors achieve it almost 89% of the time.
The Brewers’ opener, Freddy Peralta, was punished early with a home run by Teoscar Hernández and a run-scoring double by Andy Pages in the second inning. Later, Max Muncy added a solo home run and Shohei Ohtani drove in another with a single.
The Dodgers, who led the National League in runs during the regular season but ranked eighth in ERA, have reversed roles in October, with a rotation that dominates every outing. Their starters have pitched more than six innings in seven of their first eight postseason games, something that hadn’t happened since the 2013 Detroit Tigers.
From the Milwaukee side, Jackson Chourio made history by hitting his second leadoff home run in the postseason, but the Brewers’ offense went cold again. Christian Yelich now has 15 consecutive playoff games without driving in a run.
The series now moves to Los Angeles, where Tyler Glasnow will start Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani will take the mound for Game 4. The Brewers will need to react quickly if they want to keep their aspirations of reaching their first World Series since 1982 alive.
In an era where Major League teams often turn to relievers and combined strategies to get the 27 outs, the Dodgers are betting on classic baseball: dominant starters who go the distance.
