Sunday night’s NLCS opener in Wisconsin comes with a simple power question for both clubs: who’s most likely to leave the yard?
The Dodgers arrive having done the most damage of any team in the postseason so far, with eight home runs through four games. Milwaukee, by contrast, has managed just three in its four playoff contests. Still, there’s a home run play on each side for Game 1.
For Los Angeles, Max Muncy is the name to watch. He’s the kind of hitter built around the long ball, and that’s showing up again in October.
Through four playoff games, Muncy is 3 for 12 with three home runs. He’s also struck out only twice, which suggests he’s seeing the ball well enough to keep swinging with conviction.
With the total set at six, the power expectation is already in the price - but Muncy still looks like the best Dodgers candidate to go deep.
On the Brewers’ side, William Contreras has been responsible for most of the thunder. Milwaukee has only three postseason homers, and he owns two of them. He’s 6 for 16 (.375) with two solo shots in four games, including one at home in Game 1 and another on the road in Game 4.
The home splits also point in his direction. Contreras hit 11 of his 17 home runs this season at American Family Field, batting .283 with a .796 OPS there compared with .258 and a .720 OPS on the road. In a matchup that starts in Wisconsin, that makes him the Brewers’ most appealing long-ball option for Sunday night.
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For the Dodgers, the debate carries extra weight because they have spent recent seasons in the upper tier of the bracket, the sort of position that could turn a format change into a real advantage. If the league moves forward with giving top seeds more control over their path, it would only add to the leverage that comes with playing deep into October from a familiar perch, and the ripple effect could be felt well beyond Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
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Los Angeles, meanwhile, will answer with Tarik Skubal in Game 1, setting up a high-end pitching duel right away. For fans tracking the series from afar, the article also lays out the full NLCS and ALCS schedule along with the TV and streaming details, a useful road map as the postseason tightens and every game becomes must-see viewing. [Read more 🡒]
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Mookie Betts has reportedly chosen to stay elsewhere since 2022, and Teoscar Hernandez once left the hotel during last years NLCS because his wife was uncomfortable. Muncys reaction lands on the other end of that spectrum, the kind of shrugging confidence that fits a veteran team on the road, even if the old hotel stories keep drawing fresh attention every time the Dodgers come through Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]