IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL FOUR

THERE WILL BE A WORLD SERIES MATCHUP THAT’S NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOES

“For the first time I don’t think they need anything else to beat any team. They have the right ingredients. They’re the above average Joes!

They’re not your average Joes when it comes to facing them within the white lines.” - Pedro Martinez

The best team in baseball is facing the best team that money can buy. After completing the regular season with 97 wins, the most in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers are about to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team some people thought could win 120 games this year (they won 93).

Last night, Milwaukee defeated the Cubs in a very baseball-y, 3-1 win. It was pedestrian compared to the two series that were just completed, but that’s how Milwaukee plays.

William Contreras and Andrew Vaughn each hit go-ahead solo home runs, and then Brice Turang, who had been my pick to star in this series (he went 3-20, I don’t mean to brag), hit another solo shot to give the team a little breathing room. Five Brewers pitchers permitted just a Seiya Suzuki homer and a total of six Chicago baserunners to snap a streak of six consecutive postseason series losses. Manager Pat Murphy, whom I really like (and find a little scary), used his All-Star closer, Trevor Megill, as the starter. He featured rookies Jacob Misiorowski (12 outs on just 54 pitches), Chad Patrick (five outs), and Aaron Ashby (one out). Murph closed with Abner Uribe for the first multi-inning save of his career.

When Contreras homered with two outs in the bottom half of the 1st, it became the first series of at least five games in postseason history to feature a 1st-inning home run in each game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (they know all).

“I bet you could have robbed a bank in this state tonight. Everyone was watching this game, and I hope we can win a couple more for them.” - Brewers GM Matt Arnold, talking about the love his team received from fans.

Le Miz was clueless as to how he would be used last night, and in his best Sgt. Schulz imitation (I’m confident that Misiorowski would have no idea what I’m talking about; I mean, he’s 23 years old), he admitted, “Nothing. I knew nothing.”

JUST DO IT

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio wore the same Nikes he wore the last time the Brewers won a winner-take-all postseason game in this ballpark: Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS against the D-backs. The shoes were so old that Brewers equipment manager Jason Shawger had to glue them back together.

ANDREW VAUGHN IS PROBABLY NOT POPULAR IN CHICAGO

Andrew Vaughn finished the NLDS hitting .286 with an OPS of 1.126. He hit two homers, including the go-ahead shot last night, so you know that Cubs fans have no use for him. Vaughn was a first-round pick of the White Sox in 2019. He started this season with the Sox, playing 48 games and hitting .189 with five homers. On June 13, he was traded by the White Sox to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Aaron Civale and cash. In 64 regular-season games, he hit .308 with nine homers. So Sox fans have no use for him. Meanwhile, Civale had a 5.37 ERA in 13 games for the Sox before the Cubs claimed him on waivers at the end of August, and he posted a 2.08 ERA in five appearances.

I’M SURE THE DODGERS WERE ROOTING FOR THE CUBS LAST NIGHT

Had the Cubs won last night, the Dodgers would have been awaiting their arrival at LAX for the start of the NLCS. But, because the Brewers had a better regular-season record than the Dodgers, it’s the Dodgers who will be flying into Lenny and Squiggy Airport today in Milwaukee.