National League Division Series Recap Games Three, Four and Five

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers will meet once again in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers took care of the Phillies in four games, though their margin of victory in their three wins was just four runs. The Philadelphia pitchers, notably Christopher Sánchez, Ranger Suarez, and Jesús Luzardo, performed admirably against the potent LA lineup. It was the vaunted offense that let the Phillies down, as Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber struggled mightily outside of game three in this series. Although the Dodgers will be the lower seed in the NLCS, they appear primed to not only defend their NL pennant, but perhaps become the first repeat World Series champions since the 2000 Yankees.

The Brewers dominated the Cubs in the first two games in Milwaukee, but the script was flipped once the series moved to Chicago. The Cubbies continued their first strike offense with early homers from Michael Busch and Ian Happ, and the bullpen held on to send this series to a decisive fifth game. The Brew Crew finally kept the Cubs off the board in the first inning, and their electric bullpen held Chicago to a solo home run from Seiya Suzuki. Homers from William Contreras, Andrew Vaughn, and Brice Turang were all Pat Murphy’s squad needed to secure a series win. These “Not So Average Joes” will have home-field advantage as they look to secure their first ever NL Pennant.

Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (96-66)

Philadelphia Radio WIP - Scott Franzke, Tom MacCarthy, Larry Andersen, and Kevin Stocker

Los Angeles Radio AM570 - Stephen Nelson and Rick Monday

Chicago Cubs (92-70) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (97-65)

Milwaukee Radio WTMJ - Jeff Levering, Bill Schroeder, and Josh Maurer

Chicago Radio WSCR - Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer

Audio clips from MLB.tv

As always, thank you to Baseball Reference and SABR for statistics, box scores, background information, and much, much more.

Catch you next time,

P.C.O.