Milwaukee Brewers: They must turn their focus to Game 6

The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in a win or go home scenario, down 3-to-2 in the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In order for Milwaukee to advance, they need to forget about the past games and have their full attention on game six.

The Milwaukee Brewers will enter game six trailing the Dodgers 3-2 in the series, even though many Brewer fans feel that the Milwaukee should be ahead of L.A. since they have controlled a majority of the series thus far.

Missed Opportunities

Games two and four of the NLCS both resulted in losses for the Milwaukee Brewers and were both games that Milwaukee had the opportunity to win.

Starting pitcher in Game 2, Wade Miley, pitched a gem, limiting this explosive Dodger offense and allowing the Brewers to take 3-0 lead early in the game.

Miley went 5 2/3 innings, giving up just two hits, no walks and didn’t allow any runs. Unfortunately, the Brewers usually very reliable bullpen had an uncharacteristically poor performance. Corbin Burnes came in to relieve Miley and gave up two quick runs, that was followed by Jeremy Jeffress giving up the eventual game winning two run homer.

The Milwaukee Brewers let another potential victory get away from them in Game 4. Once again the pitching staff did a phenomenal job, allowing just seven hits in 13 innings and holding the Dodgers to just one run for most of the game.

However the Brewer bats were cold, over the 13 innings in game four the Brewers managed just eight hits and struggled with runners in scoring position. The Milwaukee offense was unable to take advantage of another stellar performance from the pitching staff.

Offense continues to struggle

Entering the NLCS, many of the questions surrounding the Milwaukee Brewers was about their starting pitchers and whether or not they had enough depth to compete with the Dodgers.

But as the series has developed, the starting rotation has been keeping the Brewers in these games. Through the five games Milwaukee has a team ERA of 2.83 and has held this Dodgers offense to 3.2 runs per game. During the regular season L.A. averaged over five runs per game.

Offensive production for Milwaukee has been a different story. Over the three games in L.A. the Brewers offense managed just seven total runs.

An enormous factor has been the quiet bats at the top half of the order. Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, and Jesus Aguilar are combined 16-for-84 this series, giving them a combined batting average of .190.

Focusing on game 6

As ugly as it may have looked at times, the Milwaukee Brewers are still sitting in a good position to move on to the World Series. But it all starts with forgetting about the three games in Los Angeles and focusing on what’s in front of them.

Milwaukee gets to come home to a raucous Miller Park crowd that has played a big factor in pumping this team up. The Brewers were able to win an NL-best 51 games at home during the regular season and have a 3-1 record at home during the post season.

Offensively as difficult as it can be, they need to wipe out the last few games from their memories. In big moments it can be easy to press when at the plate, which is a contributor to their current struggles. This Milwaukee Brewers offense is too good to be slowed down for an entire series and has the ability to get hot at any moment.

The Dodgers are a very good team and everyone knew this wasn’t going to be an easy series but the Milwaukee Brewers have a tremendous opportunity in front of them. They were able to win essentially 12 playoff games in a row to get to this point, but to win two more it all starts with moving forward.