Dodgers vs. Brewers – Preview
Monday, 8:08pm ET • American Family Field
Our Pick: Dodgers Moneyline

The reigning champions head to Milwaukee with the matchup tilted on the mound and in recent October form. Los Angeles hands the ball to left-hander Blake Snell, who has been nails this postseason (13 IP, 2 ER, 18 K across two starts) and owns a 6-3, 2.92 career playoff ERA.  The Brewers, meanwhile, will lean into run prevention by committee: they announced left-hander Aaron Ashby as the starter in a bullpen game, with Quinn Priester likely providing bulk and Freddy Peralta slated for Game 2. 

Milwaukee dominated the regular-season series, sweeping L.A. 6–0 during a blistering July stretch—a feat only the third such sweep of a 5+ game season set against the Dodgers in modern times. That context matters, but so does how different October looks: the Dodgers just dispatched Philadelphia in four and remain on track with a rested, set rotation (Snell G1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto G2, then Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow at Dodger Stadium). 

At the plate, both offenses are producing in October, but L.A. has been a tick better: the Dodgers are hitting .259 this postseason versus Milwaukee’s .250. That small edge sits behind a star-studded top four—Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández—that tends to stay intact regardless of opponent, giving Dave Roberts consistent early pressure. 

The late-inning map also leans Los Angeles. Roki Sasaki has emerged as the Dodgers’ multi-inning hammer to close games, with Emmet Sheehan and Alex Vesia among the trusted leverage options—useful insulation in a tight opener. Milwaukee’s leverage arms (Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill) were excellent against the Cubs, but a best-of-seven with fewer off-days stresses a pen-first plan from pitch one. 

One more layer: Brandon Woodruff remains out (lat), trimming Milwaukee’s margin for error if the bullpen gets taxed early, whereas L.A.’s injury picture stabilized with Will Smith back catching despite a hairline hand fracture. 

Bottom line: Milwaukee’s season sweep underscores how dangerous the Brewers are—but Game 1 specifically sets up as Snell’s stability vs. a planned mix-and-match. With the hotter frontline starter, a defined rotation, slightly stronger October bats so far, and a calibrated back end, the Dodgers are in the best position to cover the moneyline tonight.