Game 2 of the NLCS looks like a tight, run-starved game. Two quality right-handers take the mound, both bullpens were sharp in Game 1, and the two lineups have been scraping for runs rather than piling them up. The game should be decided from the fifth inning on, probably by a single swing or a single rally.
The Dodgers send Yamamoto, who went seven innings with one run in his last start and held Milwaukee to a 1.38 ERA over two starts this season. He can work deep, which keeps the Brewers' relievers away from the Dodgers' hitters for six or seven innings. Milwaukee answers with Henderson, a 24-year-old in his second playoff start, who allowed one run in twelve innings against this Dodgers lineup in 2026. His last outing ended after five innings and 72 pitches, and the Brewers' manager has used a quick hook in this postseason, so the middle relief will get work.
The lineups tell a similar story. The Dodgers have scored 3, 4, 3, 2, 5 and 1 in their last six official games and are hitting .222 over their last ten, living on a few homers. In Game 1 they went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, left nine on base and grounded into three double plays. The Brewers are a contact and small-ball team that picked up two runs in Game 1, one of them a solo homer. Across both teams' official postseason games, only three of nine have gone past six runs. Milwaukee's pen put up 4.2 scoreless innings in Game 1, and the Dodgers' pen threw only 42 pitches.
I expect Yamamoto to give six or seven strong innings, Henderson to give four or five decent ones, and both closers to hold the late innings. A one-run game is the most likely shape, with a total somewhere around five or six runs. That is why I'm on the low-scoring side of this game and not on either team to win it.
