Dodgers and Brewers open NLCS with Game 1 in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers both needed an extra day to win a tiebreaker game to win their respective divisions. Now, both teams are well rested heading into Friday night’s Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park in Milwaukee (8:09 p.m. ET, FS1, Fox Sports Go, FuboTV).

The Brewers swept away the Rockies in Round 1, allowing just two total runs in three games in the process. Their NLDS ended on Sunday, so they got four days off before opening their first NLCS trip in seven years at home. The Dodgers needed four games to beat the Braves, which qualified that as a competitive series in a rather lopsided first round (the higher seeds went 12-2 overall).

After bumping Clayton Kershaw to Game 2 in the opening round, giving him an extra day of rest in between starts, the Dodgers are back to the usual, with Kershaw starting Friday night, the ninth Game 1 start of his career. Kershaw will be on six days rest against the Brewers, and in 17 starts with extra rest in 2018 the left-hander posted a 2.48 ERA, compared to a 3.21 ERA in nine starts on regular, four days rest.

Milwaukee will turn to Gio Gonzalez in Game 1, the first start for the veteran in 12 days. Gonzalez was 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in five starts with the Brewers after he was acquired from the Nationals on Aug. 31.

The Brewers will start Wade Miley in Game 2, meaning a pair of southpaws out of the gate. The Dodgers on the season were in the middle of the pack against left-handed pitchers, hitting .240/.324/.409 on the season, a 101 wRC+. But they improved as the season wore on, buoyed by the acquisitions of Manny Machado in July and David Freese at the end of August. Since Aug. 1 the Dodgers hit .269/.349/.457 against lefties, a 121 wRC+ that ranked second in MLB.

No matter who starts the Brewers will be aggressive with their reliever usage, since they have the best bullpen in this series.

“It’s no secret that we’re going to use our pitching a little differently than traditionally, than the traditionalists would like,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters on Thursday.

FS1 will televise all but one game of this series, with Game 2 on Fox. The broadcast crew includes Joe Buck on play-by-play alongside analyst John Smoltz, plus reporters Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci.