The Dodgers are trying to climb out of an 0-2 hole in the NLCS, and the message from three of their biggest names is the same: Milwaukee has made everything feel hard.
Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez all reached for the same word when asked about the Brewers, and that word was “tough.” It’s been that kind of series for Los Angeles, which now heads home with three games left in Los Angeles and an offense looking for answers.
Freeman pointed straight at the pitch mix.
"It's tough to hit," Freeman said, "when their bullpen is throwing 100 mph with different arm angles."
Hernandez echoed the challenge from a broader angle, calling out the way Milwaukee plays from top to bottom.
"It's just tough to beat those guys. They play hard.
They never give up. You know, they play clean baseball.
That's the thing, we've got to play a better game."
That’s the part the Dodgers are dealing with right now: not just one nasty arm or one bad inning, but a Brewers group that has made the whole thing feel crowded and uncomfortable. Freeman was focused on the bullpen.
Hernandez was talking about the team as a whole. Same conclusion, different lens.
Betts, meanwhile, said it was “tough” to watch Yoshinobu Yamamoto get beat by Milwaukee.
Betts continued, "But he's a human being, too, you know. I think everybody's used to him being a robot that if he didn't go eight innings, no hits, whatever, then he wasn't Yamamoto."
There’s also the situation with Shohei Ohtani, whose play has been affected because he is clearly not at 100%. Hernandez said it’s also tough to watch Ohtani struggle with his health and performance in the NLCS, a situation that has gotten bad enough that the Dodgers are considering benching him.
So with the Dodgers staring at a 0-2 deficit, the word from their own clubhouse is simple. This Brewers series has been “tough” in every direction - against the pitching, against the way Milwaukee plays, and against the way Los Angeles has had to watch its stars struggle.
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