Few would’ve thought at the beginning of the season, that Milwaukee would be leading the Central division with only a few rounds left to be played. The Brewers have greatly increased their runs production, while bolstering their defenses and as a result they are ahead of St. Louis and Pittsburgh. The advantage is not as significant as one might think and not even Cincinnati should be ruled out, so pretty much anything can happen in the remaining games.
For the time being, the Brewers are doing a hell of a job and they are on the verge of sweeping the LA Dodgers, after scoring 13 runs in the first two games. The opening match resulted in a lopsided victory for the hosts, who doubled down on that victory to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Even though they are guaranteed to win this confrontation against the Dodgers, Milwaukee won’t settle for a narrow margin victory and will try to sweep the National League favorites.
It won’t be easy to do it against a stellar starting pitcher, because Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to play for Los Angeles tonight. He has the best earned run average of all pitchers in major league baseball and could win his 11th consecutive decision tonight if he prevails at Miller Park. Everything suggests that he is quite capable of winning here, after posting an ERA of 0.78 in the previous games played on this arena.
He won 10 decisions in a row and limited opponents to an average of 1.62 runs per match, which is a remarkable performance. Clayton doesn’t need too many runs of support and he shouldn’t rely on them either, because the Dodgers look toothless. On the bright side, they have some hot bats in their rotation and anything can change if their top players catch a lucky break.
The visitors need to worry about Milwaukee’s potent offensive, which scored plenty of runs not only against them, but in all the matches played in August. The Dodgers might have the best starting pitcher ready to play, but the bullpen is far less effective, so it is important for Kershaw to last at least seven innings. There are fewer concerns revolving around the Brewers’ starting pitcher, because Jimmy Nelson is not exactly an ace with an earned run average of more than 4.00.