Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy attributed the taxing Chicago Cubs series as a big reason his team got swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
The Brewers were pushed to five games by the Cubs, forcing Murphy to deploy several high-leverage arms in the tight series.
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The Dodgers, meanwhile, only played four games in the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, sparing the bullpen and extending the starters, which gave them a well-rested bullpen heading into the NLCS.
According to Murphy, the Cubs series took a lot out of Milwaukee, and the Game 1 loss at home to the Dodgers was a proper gut-punch.
Following the game, Murphy explained how the series against Chicago affected the team.
“The emotional series in the Cubs, you guys have to know the Brewers-Cubs thing well, you have to have been part of it to understand how it really zapped a lot out of us emotionally,” Murphy said after Game 4.
“And then to have to come back and play right away — and then we lose a one-run game, it just took us off it a little bit. And then the pitching performances by the Dodgers basically put the hammer down.”
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The Brewers were really flat offensively, scoring just one run in each game of the NLCS. Milwaukee specialized in putting runs on the board in the regular season, advancing several baserunners through patient approaches at the plate, while also focusing on making contact.
The Brewers hitters showed none of those characteristics. They ended up chasing several pitches across the games and struggled to make quality contact.
Even when the Dodgers’ bullpen got the ball from the quality starters, the Brewers could not get baserunners on regularly, limiting their offensive firepower.
The Dodgers’ offense did not exactly light the world on fire — leaving runners on base multiple times — but they were able to do enough with the hittable pitches to make the difference.
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