Brewers Take NLCS Opener Behind Dominant Bullpen
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers have been here before. Well, not exactly here — not with a series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, not after being swept by them in the 2025 NLCS. But through one game of this October's rematch, the Brewers look like a team that has finally cracked the code.
Behind 4 2/3 scoreless innings from its bullpen — including a key contribution from right-hander Abner Uribe — Milwaukee edged Los Angeles 2-1 on Sunday at American Family Field to seize a 1-0 lead in the National League Championship Series. Game 2 is set for Monday at 5 p.m. ET, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-9, 2.53 ERA) starting for the Dodgers against Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA) for the Brewers.
Uribe entered Monday's Game 2 in the top of the seventh and needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order, preserving a 5-4 Milwaukee lead at the time. That outing followed his scoreless appearance in Game 1, which formed part of a bullpen chain — DL Hall, Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill — that combined to blank the Dodgers over the final 4 2/3 innings.
"Abner's been enormous for us all season," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Game 1. "He comes in, he throws strikes, he doesn't flinch. That's the guy you want in October."
A Bullpen Built for October
The Brewers' bullpen has been the defining feature of their playoff run. Through six postseason games, Milwaukee's relief corps has allowed just three earned runs across 24 1/3 innings — a 1.11 ERA that leads all remaining playoff teams. Uribe, in particular, has emerged as the linchpin: the right-hander has now thrown 5 2/3 scoreless innings this October, striking out seven and walking none.
That reliability has allowed Murphy to manage his rotation conservatively. In Game 1, Jacob Misiorowski — who posted a historically dominant regular season — labored through 4 1/3 innings against a patient Dodgers lineup that fouled off fastballs and refused to chase. Rather than push his ace deeper, Murphy turned to his bullpen early and often. The result was four relievers combining to finish the game without allowing a run.
The formula has become almost mechanical: a starting pitcher goes four or five innings, the same core of relievers maintains the status quo, and the offense scrapes together just enough runs. In Game 1, that meant Brice Turang's game-tying solo homer off Tarik Skubal in the fifth — the third lefty-on-lefty opposite-field home run on an inside pitch in MLB this season, per Yahoo Sports. In Game 2, it meant William Contreras going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, including a go-ahead single in the sixth.
"We don't need to score 10 runs," Contreras said. "We just need to score more than them."
The Dodger Problem
For Los Angeles, the series has exposed a familiar postseason vulnerability: an inability to produce hits with runners in scoring position. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the second inning of Game 1 against Misiorowski but managed only one run, then went quiet over the final seven innings. In Game 2, they repeatedly threatened but stranded runners, with Shohei Ohtani striking out twice in key spots.
Tarik Skubal, acquired at the trade deadline to bolster the rotation, was dominant through three innings in Game 1 — striking out six and allowing just one baserunner. But the Brewers' patient approach ground him down. After Turang's homer, Skubal allowed five baserunners over his next two innings and was lifted earlier than manager Dave Roberts would have liked.
"They make you work," Roberts said. "Give them credit. They've got a plan at the plate, and they're executing it."
Why This Series Matters
The stakes extend beyond a single NLCS. The Brewers are attempting to become the first small-market team to win the NL pennant since the 2015 New York Mets, and they are doing it against a Dodgers club that has spent lavishly to assemble a superteam. Milwaukee's payroll ranks 19th in MLB; Los Angeles' ranks first.
That disparity has made the Brewers something of a cause célèbre among fans frustrated with baseball's competitive balance. As Defector's Ray Ratto wrote, the Brewers are "throwing a daily custard creme sheet cake in Rob Manfred's face" — a reference to the commissioner's stated desire for more parity and the league's ongoing labor negotiations. Milwaukee's success, built on player development and shrewd trades rather than big-money free agency, offers a counter-narrative to the idea that only big spenders can win.
It also matters personally for a franchise that has never won a World Series and has reached the Fall Classic just once, in 1982. Last year's sweep at the hands of these same Dodgers left a bitter taste. Through one game — and partway through a second — this year feels different.
Uribe's Rise From Obscurity
Abner Uribe's path to October prominence is itself a story of Milwaukee's developmental machine. Signed as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2018, Uribe spent years in the minors refining a fastball that now sits in the upper 90s and a slider that has become a reliable out pitch. He made his MLB debut in 2023 and gradually carved out a role in the Brewers' bullpen.
This season, he posted career bests in ERA (2.41), strikeout rate (31.2%) and walk rate (8.1%). In the postseason, he has been even better — a testament to a demeanor that teammates describe as unflappable.
"He's got ice in his veins," closer Trevor Megill said. "Nothing bothers him. You'd never know it's his first playoffs."
What's Next
Game 2 will test the Brewers' formula against Yamamoto, one of the game's premier pitchers. But Milwaukee has already proven it can get to elite arms: Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, was touched up for four runs in Game 1. If the Brewers can win one of the next two games in Milwaukee, they will return to Los Angeles with a chance to take control of the series.
For now, though, the focus is on the present — and on a bullpen that has given Milwaukee exactly what it needs.
"We're not done yet," Uribe said through an interpreter. "We've got more games to win. But this is what we've worked for."
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