Tarik Skubal forces red-hot Christian Yelich out of Brewers' Game 1 starting lineup

Less than three hours remain before the Milwaukee Brewers' NLCS opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hoping to reverse the outcome of last year's identical League Championship Series matchup, in which the Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games, Pat Murphy's squad is confident the roster they are carrying this year has what it takes to topple Dave Roberts' star-studded team.

Perhaps this biggest difference between last year's Brewers team and this year's NLCS roster is the fact that a well-rested Jacob Misiorowski, who should be named the National League's Cy Young soon after the 2026 season comes to an end, is leading the rotation. Whereas last year the Brewers had to throw their then-ace Freddy Peralta in Game 5 of the NLDS, this year Milwaukee defeated the San Diego Padres in four games in the NLDS, which afforded them the opportunity to optimize their starting pitching lineups, while Miz and his fellow pitchers earned three days of rest before the NLCS rematch begins.

While the Brewers feel confident with the dominant Misiorowski taking the bump for them in Game 1 tonight, their offense will have the tough task of facing reigning back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, whom the Dodgers outbid them for at the midseason trade deadline. In addition to being one of the most dominant pitchers in the game, Skubal, due to being a southpaw, forces Murphy to make some difficult decisions in regard to his starting lineup. Surprisingly, Murphy is electing to have the red-hot Christian Yelich start Game 1 on the bench, while having Andrew Vaughn, who collected just two at-bats throughout the Brewers' NLDS victory, begin the game as the designated hitter. Here's the lineup the Brewers are rolling with in Game 1 tonight:

Christian Yelich to start Game 1 of NLCS on bench, expected to sub-in for late innings

Murphy was asked about the decision to start Vaughn over Yelich after not electing to do so when the Brewers faced left-hander Robbie Ray in Game 1 of the NLDS. Said Murphy on the lineup move, "It's about what's best for our team today. It might not be the whole game, but it's what's best for our team today. You look at matchups and you look at history...and what it could bring."

On the topic of matchups, Yelich has just two at-bats against Skubal in his career, and went 0-for-2 with one strikeout in that minuscule sample size. Vaughn, meanwhile, due to his time spent with the Chicago White Sox, who are the AL Central rivals of Skubal's old team, the Detroit Tigers, has 22 at-bats against the dominant southpaw. Vaughn's numbers aren't great against Skubal, as no one's really are, but he does have five hits, all singles, against the Cy Young left-hander. Said Murphy about Vaughn during his pregame, "This kid that's playing instead of Yelich [Vaughn] in the first part of the game, he's pretty good. And he's had a pretty good history against the guy pitching [Skubal]. That's what led to it."

Murph also acknowledged that Jake Bauers' lingering toe and shin injury is still preventing them from starting the breakout slugger in right field, which is what they frequently did against left-handed starters this year. That alignment allowed Murphy to start Vaughn at first base and Yelich as the DH. According to Murphy, "Then there's a guy named Jake Bauers, whose toe is broken, and he can't really get to the outfield. He was playing some outfield, but we can't do that right now."

With Bauers limited to first base and Murphy preferring a Vaughn-Skubal matchup over a Yelich-Skubal one, the Brewers are left with their captain on the bench to start Game 1. However, as Murphy alluded to above, don't expect Yelich to be on the bench for the entire game. Yelich becomes a huge pinch-hit weapon off the Brewers' bench -- one who is scalding the ball at the plate right now. Yelich, who had an average exit velocity of 88.9 mph during the regular season, which was slightly below league-average, had an average exit velocity of 96.7 mph during the NLDS. Therefore, when the situation calls for it, Murphy will certainly turn to his captain, but at least to start Game 1, it will be Vaughn in the DH spot rather than Yelich.

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