Two games in the AL Championship Series against Seattle, Toronto Blue Jays look like a different team than the one that crushed the New York Yankees.
“I'll always be optimistic about this team,” manager John Schneider said after Monday night's 10-3 loss to the Mariners left Toronto with a 2-0 series deficit. “We have to find a way to limit the damage, one and then two to create more disruption.”
Of the 27 teams that won the first two games of the best-of-three 2-3-2 series, 24 were victorious.
Toronto, which led the tournament with 49 regular-season wins, is trying to reach the World Series for the first time since winning its second straight title in 1993.
Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 0-for-3 in Monday's walk and 0-for-7 in the series. Guerrero went 9-for-17 with three homers and nine RBIs in four games against the Yankees.
Toronto has four runs and eight hits — just two for extra bases — in two games against Seattle. Only one hit came in the second inning.
Toronto went 40-41 on the road during the regular season but won a three-game series at Seattle in May.
“Tomorrow is a good day for us to reset as a team and get ready for Game 3 and whatever happens there,” said rookie Trey Yesavage, who lost Game 2. “I wouldn't count this group out. This group is special.”
Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 Milwaukee Brewers
Blake Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before the Los Angeles bullpen barely held on in the ninth as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee Brewers.
Blake Treinen struck out Bryce Turang with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Dodgers were leading 2-0 when they gave up the ball to Rocky Sasaki in the ninth after Snell had thrown 103 pitches. Sasaki worked five and one-third scoreless innings while adjusting to a bullpen role in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia, but he wasn't nearly as sharp Monday.
Isaac Collins singled with one out and Jake Bowers hit a ground-rule double that bounced off the wall in center field. Jackson Churio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked downfield with a 3-2 count and out of bounds.
That's when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts cut Sasaki and brought in Treinen.
Yelich stole second to drive the potential winning run into scoring position before William Contreras walked on a low 3-2 pitch and grounded out. After Treinen nearly hit Turang with a pitch — which would have tied the game — Turang hit a fastball high at 2-2.
Game two of the best-of-seven series will take place Tuesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto competing for Los Angeles and Freddy Peralta competing for Milwaukee in the All-Stars game.
This NLCS is a study in contrasts, with the Brewers playing in MLB's smallest market while the defending World Series champion Dodgers have the most expensive roster in the game.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy addressed the difference in star power between the two teams, joking during his pregame press conference, “I'm sure most Dodgers couldn't name the eight guys on our roster.”
Despite this, the Brewers won six regular season games against the Dodgers. All of those games took place in July, and Snell was on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
On Monday, Snell showed just how much of a difference he can make. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 hits, walking no one and allowing only one hit, Caleb Durbin's leadoff single in the third.
Freddie Freeman broke the scoreless tie with a homer in the sixth. Freeman's drive came after the Brewers thwarted a couple of Los Angeles' innings, most notably on a freaky 8-6-2 double play that was inches away from being a Max Muncy grand slam.
Freeman connected on a 3-2 pitch from Chad Patrick and hit it so high that the ball came agonizingly close to the American Family Field roof, then barely cleared the right-field wall for his first homer this postseason.
