The Los Angeles Dodgers bent but didn’t break Monday night and have defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. It was a pitcher’s duel with two totally different approaches. We’ll get to that in a second. The Dodgers now hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 will be Tuesday in Milwaukee with the Brewers hoping to even things up.

Here’s how it all went down in Game 1.

Blake Snell dominates

Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell was in complete control of this game, just as he has been most of the time since signing with Los Angeles last offseason. Though injuries held him to just 11 starts in the regular season, he had a 2.35 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 61 â…“ innings. In his first two playoff starts, he allowed just two runs on five hits in 13 innings (1.38 ERA), both Dodgers wins.

Game 1 of the NLCS was more of the same. Snell dominated the Brewers from the start. He only gave up one hit in eight innings of work. If there’s ever a wart on Snell’s pitching, it would be inefficiency — throwing too many pitches per inning — and walking too many opposing hitters. No such problems in this one: he walked none and only threw 103 pitches, an average of just 12.88 pitches per inning. As a result, this marked his longest-ever playoff outing in terms of innings. In Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, he set a new career high at seven, so he’s totally locked in right now in more ways than usual.

In fact, this was the second-longest outing of Snell’s career if we include the regular season. He had a complete game on Aug. 2, 2024. That was it. His 7 â…” innings on Aug. 25, 2021 was the only other time he got multiple outs in the eighth inning.

He struck out 10 on Monday. He’s simply on fire right now.

“This is as good as I can remember in the postseason against a very gritty team,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Snell after the game. “… The change-up was the pitch of the night. His command was great. And you’re not going to see too many performances like that, certainly in the postseason. This was pretty special.”

In relief, playoff closer Roki Sasaki got chased from the game after allowing two walks, a hit and a run, but Blake Treinen was able to shut it down and secure the win.

Playoff Freddie strikes again

Freddie Freeman won the World Series MVP last season after he launching four home runs and 12 RBI in five games, including a walk-off grand slam in Game 1. He entered Game 1 Monday with a career .500 slugging percentage, 14 home runs and 36 RBI in 68 playoff games. He steps up often in the postseason and has two rings (so far) to show for it.

Game 1 was a 0-0 tie when Freeman stepped to the plate in the sixth inning against Brewers rookie Chad Patrick, who had been outstanding in the postseason to that point. And Freddie went deep.

Freeman later doubled. He’s a great regular-season player with a great postseason resume and it’s going to land him in the Hall of Fame someday.

Brewers threaten in major way in ninth

The Brewers offense was stagnant all night against Snell, but they awoke in the ninth inning with a little assistance from Dodgers pitchers. Roki Sasaki had been dominant so far in the playoffs as the Dodgers’ temporary closer, but he allowed a one-out walk before a Jake Bauers double gave the Brewers the tying run in scoring position. Jackson Chourio would hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 2-1 and move pinch runner Brandon Lockridge 90 feet from tying the game. Christian Yelich then drew a walk and the Dodgers brought in Blake Treinen, who proceeded to walk William Contreras to load the bases. The Brewers had a real chance to win the game after feeling dead all night. Instead, Treinen was able to strike Brice Turang out swinging to end the threat.

Wild double play

The Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth inning. The official game log shows Max Muncy with a “grounded into double play.” Only he hit it 404 feet and it looked like maybe center field Sal Frelick made a jumping catch up against the wall. Is your interested piqued just yet? Mike Axisa has the full details here.

Game 2 on deck

It’ll be 8:08 p.m. ET at American Family Field on Tuesday. The Dodgers start Yoshinobu Yamamoto while the Brewers have their ace, Freddy Peralta, on the mound.

The road team has won seven-game series 59.3% of the time when they win Game 1, so the Brewers are already at quite the disadvantage.