The Brewers are changing course in the NLCS.
After sticking with Dustin May ahead of Robert Gasser in the NLDS, Milwaukee has flipped the order and named Gasser its Game 3 starter for the next round. It’s a move that lines up with how the two pitchers finished the division series: Gasser looked like the steadier arm, while May showed flashes but couldn’t stay in rhythm for long enough.
That wasn’t the plan when the Brewers opened the postseason against the Padres. Before Game 2 of the NLDS, manager Pat Murphy said May would get the ball for Game 3 in San Diego, a call that leaned more on postseason experience and upside than on recent form. Gasser, who had the stronger regular-season numbers in that stretch, was pushed to Game 4.
Both starts gave Milwaukee a chance. May came out throwing harder than expected and looked sharp early, but the Padres adjusted the second time through the order and he lasted just nine outs. Even so, he left with San Diego holding only a 2-1 lead, which kept the game within reach.
Gasser followed in Game 4 and handled the moment well. In his first postseason start, the 27-year-old lefty worked four innings, allowed one earned run, and helped close out the series in a Brewers victory. He had to navigate runners on base and some rough defense behind him, but the poise was there, along with the same form he showed down the stretch in the regular season.
That performance changed the conversation. By Monday morning, Brewers fans had what they were asking for: Gasser is now the official Game 3 starter.
His recent work makes the decision easy to understand. Since Aug.
26, Gasser has made seven starts, including that playoff outing against San Diego, and he hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in any of them. Over those 36.1 innings, he’s averaged more than five innings per start, and Milwaukee has lost only one of his last eight starts.
A mid-July adjustment helped fuel that run. Gasser had been pitching out of a modified wind-up, then shifted to working exclusively from the stretch.
Asked about the change, he said, "I think it was the Atlanta game, where I dropped it, I gave up a hit or a walk to start every inning. It was like let's not do that.
I went all stretch, and I don't think anyone got on. So we just kept riding that from there on."
That kind of steadiness matters for a Brewers team that leans on late rallies and wants to keep games close until it can wear down the other club’s pitching. Right now, Gasser gives Milwaukee a better shot at doing that than May does.
The matchup also comes with some comfort. Gasser pitched at Dodger Stadium in mid-August, and he said that familiarity matters.
"I enjoy having some familiarity with a lineup. I definitely look back to the game in August and watch those swings," he said on Monday morning.
He added, "Obviously hitters adjust, but being a good guy in the dugout, watching them right now and seeing how they've changed to now, and trying to build a plan for them."
Milwaukee still has not announced a Game 4 starter, though May remains a possibility. The right-hander spent the first five and a half years of his career with the Dodgers, so he has more than 150 innings of experience at Dodger Stadium.
He also faced Los Angeles on May 3 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, when he worked six innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out three.
That remains his only start against his former club since the Dodgers dealt him at the 2025 trade deadline.
With Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani at the top of the Dodgers’ order, the Brewers could also turn to a left-handed opener before May in Game 4, though that has not been decided. What is set now is the shape of Milwaukee’s rotation: Logan Henderson in Game 2 and Gasser in Game 3, giving the Brewers two rookie starters in the middle of the NLCS.
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