Brewers strike first in NL Championship Series | NL Central roundup

The Milwaukee Brewers made home field count on Sunday, striking first in the National League Championship Series. The NL Central champions edged the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in Milwaukee, opening the clash between the top two regular-season teams on a winning note.

Lara delivers the winner, Misiorowski gets the ball

As reported by La Presse, Luis Lara snapped a tie with an RBI single in the fifth inning, giving the Brewers a lead they held the rest of the way in the 2-1 victory over Los Angeles. In a tight, low-scoring opener, that swing stood up as the decisive blow.

MLB Trade Rumors notes that Milwaukee, coming off a 103-win regular season and a four-game Division Series win over the San Diego Padres, turned to Jacob Misiorowski for Game 1. According to the site, the right-hander is viewed as the frontrunner for the National League Cy Young Award, underscoring the strength at the top of the Brewers’ rotation.

The Dodgers, who won 100 games during the regular season, also announced their NLCS roster along with Milwaukee’s, per MLB Trade Rumors, though no further details on the makeup of those squads were provided. On the field, however, the early edge in the series belongs to the NL Central powerhouse.

Rest of the NL Central watching from home

Behind the Brewers (103-59) at the top of the NL Central, the rest of the division is now strictly in spectator mode. The Chicago Cubs finished at 89-73, clearly second in the division but still well back of Milwaukee in the standings.

The Pittsburgh Pirates closed out a winning season at 82-80, just ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals at 77-85. The Cincinnati Reds rounded out the division at 75-87. None of those four clubs were in action yesterday and no headlines focused on them, leaving the Brewers as the NL Central’s lone on-field storyline as the NLCS gets underway.