The Milwaukee Brewers have spent the first three games of the National League Championship Series looking like the sharper, tougher, more complete club - and Pat Murphy is not pretending otherwise.
After taking Games 1 and 2 at home, then rolling through Game 3 for a 3-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee has put itself in position to finish off a sweep. That kind of control is a world away from last season, when the Brewers failed to protect home field and were swept.
Murphy pointed to one word when asked what has changed.
"They're hungry. That's the big difference," Murphy said of his team.
"They were good last year; we won the most games in baseball last year, and they were good. We ran into a buzzsaw; a team pretty similar to the team we're playing right now.
They were really good. ... This year, they don't want to be denied, and they're going against arguably one of the best teams in baseball ever put together, and they don't care.
They won't be denied."
That attitude has shown up in everything Milwaukee has done. The Brewers have played with a more confident edge this season, backed by a deeper and more dominant pitching staff. They no longer carry the underdog label, and the way they’ve handled Los Angeles suggests they believe their brand of baseball is built for October.
The Dodgers have noticed plenty from the other dugout, too.
"I think they have more experience," Roberts said of the Brewers. "They're really taking great at-bats.
They're taking better at-bats than they did last year. Their ball-in-play averages, gosh dang, it's got to be .400.
When they put the ball in play, it's a hit. They're also slugging, which they didn't do last year.
Those are good combos.
"Defensively they're everywhere and making plays, and it's hard for us to certainly create, build innings and score. Where I thought last year we did a better job of slugging and having those guys play from behind."
Now the Dodgers are staring at a steep mountain. According to MLB researcher Sarah Langs, teams that have grabbed a 3-0 lead in best-of-seven postseason series have gone on to win 41 of 42 times, a 98% clip.
Thirty-two of those series ended in sweeps. Only two teams have even forced a Game 7 after falling behind 3-0, and only the 2004 Red Sox in the ALCS have come all the way back.
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