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Blake Snell allowed the minimum through eight innings. The Dodgers’ wobbly bullpen allowed the maximum it could to still preserve his lead in the ninth.
And after the Brewers swept the season series against the Dodgers, the reigning champions demonstrated that the postseason is a different entity as they narrowly escaped a bases-loaded jam to end Game 1 of the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory in Milwaukee.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Blake Snell untouchable again in a flawless performance
All six regular season games between the Dodgers and Brewers this year — each of them Milwaukee wins — came in a condensed slate in July, during which Snell was out with an injury. As Monday night demonstrated, his presence makes a considerable difference.
Before this postseason, Snell had never gone six innings in a playoff game. He has now done that in each of his first three starts of the 2025 postseason. On Monday, he followed up six scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Game 2 of the NLDS with a postseason career-high eight scoreless innings. He was in full command carving through the Brewers lineup, facing the minimum and also setting a playoff high with 10 strikeouts.
He’s the first Dodgers starter to go eight scoreless innings in a playoff game since Clayton Kershaw did it in Game 2 of the 2020 wild-card series. That game was also against the Brewers.
The only hit the Brewers mustered against him came on a single in the third from Caleb Durbin, one of the many Milwaukee players capable of causing havoc on the basepaths. But Durbin’s aggressiveness didn’t pay off, as Snell erased the baserunner on a pickoff and held the Milwaukee offense down the rest of the night.
Through three starts this postseason, Snell has a 0.86 ERA with 28 strikeouts and only five walks in 21 innings. The $182 million man is living up to his lucrative deal, delivering when it matters most.
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
2. Roki Sasaki stumbles for first time this postseason
Through their first two series of the postseason, Roki Sasaki was the one reliever Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could trust. In his first four outings of October, Sasaki allowed just one baserunner total. He was coming off an appearance in the deciding Game 4 of the NLDS in which he fired three scoreless innings.
Rather than keep Snell in for the ninth at 103 pitches and still cruising, Roberts turned to his new closer. For the first time this postseason, the 23-year-old didn’t have it.
Sasaki’s velocity was down a tick from where it had been. He followed a popout with a walk to Isaac Collins that represented the Brewers’ second baserunner of the night. Then came a ground-rule double from pinch-hitter Jake Bauers and a sacrifice fly from Jackson Chourio that put the Brewers on the board and moved the tying run 90 feet away. Another walk from Sasaki ended his night. Roberts turned to Blake Treinen, who allowed a free pass to William Contreras to load the bases. He nearly hit Brice Turang on the next plate appearance, but he eventually got Turang swinging on a fastball above the zone to allow the Dodgers to finally exhale.
Snell allowed one baserunner in eight innings. The Dodgers’ bullpen allowed four baserunners in one inning. It remains a serious concern.
(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
3. A 404-foot … force out at home, 8-6-2 double play!?
In their last game to finish off the NLDS, the Dodgers ended the Phillies’ season on a comebacker to the pitcher that was thrown home wildly. Now, make it back-to-back Dodgers games with one of the craziest plays in postseason history.
In the fourth inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out against Quinn Priester when Max Muncy nearly broke the game open with a grand slam to dead center. Sal Frelick reached up, brought it back into play…and somehow got the force out at home.
Confusion ensued as none of the baserunners seemed sure whether Frelick caught the ball or whether it bounced off the fence. Will Smith, who was at second base, ran back to second thinking it was caught, clearly not seeing left field umpire Chad Fairchild signaling that the catch was not made. That doesn’t explain, however, why Teoscar Hernandez was unable to score from third on a ball that nearly left the park.
Hernández went back to tag, started to go home when the ball hit Frelick’s glove, then went back again as the ball was juggled. That delay allowed time for the relay from Frelick to shortstop Joey Ortiz to catcher William Contreras to beat Hernández home. Then, with Smith stationed at second base, Contreras walked over to third to get the other force and end the inning.
In one of the most chaotic plays you’ll see, it will go down as an 8-6-2 unassisted double play. And at the time, he kept the game scoreless.
4. Freddie Freeman gets going
Freeman helped the Dodgers move on from their earlier baserunning gaffe.
There was a lot of focus going into the series about Shohei Ohtani’s struggles in the NLDS (1-for-18, nine strikeouts), but both of the Dodgers’ top lefty hitters had their fair share of troubles against the devastating lefty trio in the Phillies’ rotation.
Freeman was 3-for-18 with one extra-base hit in the NLDS and was hitting just .217 with two extra-base hits in six games this postseason before the 2024 World Series hero hit his first playoff homer since Game 4 of last year’s Fall Classic, opening the scoring in the sixth with a solo shot to right.
He finished the night with two of the Dodgers’ three extra-base hits, also adding a double later in the evening. That was all Snell would need to leave with the lead.
4.5 Might have to think twice about walking Ohtani for Betts?
For the second straight Dodgers game, an absolutely unreal play took place.
And for the second straight Dodgers game, a manager’s decision to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani (despite his struggles this October) to load the bases for Mookie Betts backfired.
In Game 4 of the NLDS, Phillies manager Rob Thomson elected to do it while leading by a run in the seventh inning with his star closer on the mound. Jhoan Duran proceeded to walk Betts and tie the game when he missed on a 3-2 pitch.
On Monday, Brewers manager Pat Murphy did the same with his closer on the mound, as Abner Uribe also missed in a full count to bring in a run. This one added an insurance run in the top of the ninth that would be crucial after the Dodger bullpen’s near collapse.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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