The Los Angeles Dodgers took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series with a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night. The story of Game 2 was Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who became the first pitcher since Justin Verlander in 2017 to throw a complete game in the playoffs. Yamamoto allowed only one run in those nine innings on a leadoff home run from Jackson Chourio.
The visiting Dodgers didn’t trail for long, as they took the lead in the second inning with Teoscar Hernández’s fourth home run of this postseason and then a two-out RBI double from Andy Pages. From there, Yamamoto put up zero upon zero, and Max Muncy’s sixth-inning solo homer gave the Dodgers some breathing room. More came when the struggling Shohei Ohtani notched an RBI single in the seventh to push it to 4-1. The Dodgers would add another run in the eighth. Milwaukee, meantime, has been limited to a total of two runs thus far in two NLCS games.
The Dodgers now head home for Games 3, 4, and if necessary 5, and on the other side the Brewers are facing long odds of a comeback.
Now for some quick takeaways from NLCS Game 2.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto spun a rare gem
Yes, he allowed that home run to Chourio on the first pitch he threw, but from that point forward the right-hander was in peak form.
He was at 65 pitches after the fifth, 76 pitches after the sixth, 89 after seven, and 97 after eight. That efficiency allowed Dave Roberts to trot out Yamamoto for the ninth, and he indeed authored the first postseason complete game by a Dodger pitcher since Jose Lima pulled it off in 2004. Here’s Yamamoto’s line for the night:
He wound up throwing 111 pitches, an impressive 81 of which were strikes. Such length from a starting pitcher is always welcome in the postseason, and that’s especially the case in this instance. In Game 1, Blake Snell gave the Dodgers eight shutout innings, and then Yamamoto almost matched him. That’s not only a lot of rest for the L.A. bullpen – always a welcome thing this time of year – but it also keeps the suspect L.A. bullpen from having to get too many high-leverage outs.
Max Muncy made franchise history
Here’s that aforementioned sixth-inning home run by the Dodgers’ third baseman:
Muncy came into Game 2 without having shown much in the way of power in these playoffs (although his .458 OBP for the 2025 postseason shows he was very much doing his job). That power came, and it also made franchise history. That was Muncy’s 14th postseason home as a Dodger, and that’s a franchise record. Here’s a look at the updated leaderboard:
1. Max Muncy
14
T2. Corey Seager, Justin Turner
13
4. Duke Snider
11
T5. Steve Garvey, Kiké Hernández
10
Yes, it’s easier to rack up postseason counting stats these days, what with all the rounds and games, than it was during Snider’s day, but it’s still an impressive achievement for the Dodger stalwart Muncy.
The Brewers are facing long odds
Having dropped the first two games of this series at home, the Brewers are now tasked with taking two of three in L.A. just to force a Game 6 back in Milwaukee. Stated another way, they need to win four games before the Dodgers win two. Not surprisingly, history is working against the Milwaukee cause. Across all best-of-seven MLB postseason series, teams losing the first games at home have gone on to win the series in question just 13.3% of the time. Specifically, teams in the Brewers’ current position are just 4-26 in those series. Throw in the notion that the Dodgers are the defending champs with a roster tailored for maximizing October success, and perhaps the Brewers’ chances are even slimmer. The first thing that must change is the Brewers have to find ways to score runs. Going back to Game 3 of the Division Series against the Chicago Cubs, the Brewers have scored a total of just eight runs over their last five games.
Speaking of the road ahead, Game 3 between the Brewers and Dodgers is set for Thursday at Dodger Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. ET.