MILWAUKEE — Forget Hollywood.
There’s no need for a movie script.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are doing their own real life version of ‘Back to the Future.’
Remember the golden age of baseball when starters pitched deep into games or even went nine innings?
Well, the Dodgers are bringing old-school back into vogue, with a starting rotation that hasn’t dominated the postseason like this since the 2005 Chicago White Sox.
The Dodgers, after silencing the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1, in front of a subdued crowd at American Family Field, are putting on one of the most dominant pitching clinics in baseball history.
The Dodgers’ starting rotation, after Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s three-hit complete game, has given up just four hits and one run over 17 innings in their two victories against the Brewers in this National League Championship Series.
It’s not only impressive, but historic.
It’s the first time a starting rotation has permitted four or fewer hits over at least 17 innings in the first two games of a postseason in baseball history, eclipsing the Chicago Cubs’ previous record of five hits allowed in Games 1 and 2 of the 1906 World Series against the White Sox, according to STATS Perform.
“It’s just unbelievable,’’ Dodgers veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said. “Really, it’s crazy.’
The Dodgers’ rotation is yielding a 1.54 ERA this postseason, the second-lowest ERA after eight postseason games in MLB history, trailing only the 1983 Baltimore Orioles. The opposition is hitting just .133, with 63 strikeouts in 52 ⅔ innings.
Their dominance is so ridiculous that Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernandez, who hit his fourth postseason homer, has not had a single ball hit to him in two nights.
Really.
“I’m OK if it stays like that,’ Hernandez said. “I don’t need any fly balls.’
Hey, with the way the Dodgers are dominating, why not pull a Satchel Paige and tell his outfielders to come into the dugout and relax?
“I feel like it’s been an honor to be part of something like this,’ Rojas said. “I’ve never seen anything like this where a rotation has just dominated the last 2 ½ months like this. I’m pretty sure that’s what the organization envisioned when they got those guys. …
“People who have been watching us know how spoiled we are because we don’t need to do much on offense. All we have to do is catch the ball, make plays for them and put a couple of runs on the board. I think we’re capable of doing that.’
There’s no stopping them, not pitching like this.
Dodgers run it back in Game 2
Just 24 hours after Blake Snell became the first pitcher since Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956 to face the minimum number of batters through eight innings in a postseason game, Yamamoto gave up a home run on his first pitch of the game, and just two hits in his next 110 pitches, striking out seven with one walk. He was so dominant that he permitted just two fly ball outs the entire game, with 15 grounders.
“It’s been incredible,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “That’s probably the two best back-to-back games pitched ever that I’ve seen.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy wasn’t about to argue: “We chased way more than we’ve chased all year. We’ve been the best in baseball at not chasing. These pitchers brought out the worst in us.’’
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Snell after eight innings in Game 1, this time he wasn’t even tempted to pull Yamamoto, who threw the first complete game in the postseason since Justin Verlander for the Houston Astros in the 2017 ALCS.
It was the first complete game by a Dodger pitcher in the postseason since Jose Lima in 2004, and Snell and Yamamoto are the first pair of Dodger teammates to pitch at least eight innings in consecutive games since Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher in the first two games of the 1988 World Series.
“He’s phenomenal,’ Brewers DH Christian Yelich said, with the Brewers going 0-for-11 with three strikeouts against his splitter.
“I think this was the best I’ve ever seen him,’ Rojas said. “I know he came within one out of that no-hitter against Baltimore. He was even better tonight.’
Yamamoto, who retired the last 11 batters he faced, became only the fourth pitcher to throw his first career complete game in the postseason, and the first Japanese-born pitcher to accomplish the feat.
“As a player, I’m really glad [Roberts] and the people trust me out there,’ Yamamoto said. “I thought that was great.’
Really, it was a reward, Roberts said, knowing how much a complete game would mean to Yamamoto, who wound up throwing 111 pitches, 81 for strikes. He won’t be needed again until Game 6 and considering the Dodgers have won 12 of their last 14 postseason games since last year, probably not until the World Series.
“I see a real confidence,’’ Roberts said. “I think last year there was a transition and even in the postseason I didn’t give him a whole lot of leash. And we also had a really talented bullpen.
“But I think this year, he’s got true confidence from me that the third time through [the lineup], at pitch 90, he feels that he’s the best option.’
Well, it gives the entire Dodger organization and their world-wide following the same confidence too that they are moving closer to becoming the first National League team in 50 years to win back-to-back World Series championships.
‘We haven’t accomplished anything yet’
This is a rotation, including Tyler Glasnow who will pitch Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani in Game 4, that has produced seven starts of at least six innings and permitted five or fewer hits. They haven’t accomplished that feat in a single postseason since 1981 behind Fernando Valenzuela, Tommy John, Jerry Reuss and Burt Hooton.
They have yielded a 2.73 ERA since Aug. 1, easily the best in baseball, with an MLB-leading 340 strikeouts and .195 opposing batting average. In September, the starters a .173 batting average against, the lowest in a single month in MLB history.
“It’s not a shock to us, they’ve all been doing that since they’ve been back,’ Dodgers three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw said. “They’re unbelievable. Good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week, and you’re seeing that right now.’
They are terrorizing everyone in their path, first the Cincinnati Reds in the wild card round, then the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS, and now the Brewers.
“It’s just incredible,’ said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who hit his 14th career postseason homer in the sixth inning, the most in franchise history. “We said before this postseason started, our starting pitching was going to be what carried us. And so far it’s been exactly that. If you’re trying to build the recipe to win games, that would be where you would start.’
The Dodgers know that their business isn’t finished, but with the way they’re going, it’s hard to envision a scenario they won’t be the last team standing.
“We’re good, we’re really good,’ Dodgers infielder/outfielder Enrique Hernandez said. “Our goal is to win a World Series, not to win two games on the road in Milwaukee. We haven’t accomplished anything yet.’
Just wait.
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