The Milwaukee Brewers' season appears to be going south as they are now five games behind National League Central Division leaders St. Louis Cardinals.
Having led the division for 95 days while only ever holding a maximum of a 4.5-game lead, the Brewers always had the Cardinals on their tails and overhauling their rivals now looks highly unlikely.
There are no such problems for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they march towards the NL West title.
LA surprisingly gave up their Divisional title to rivals San Francisco Giants last season, which ended a run of eight consecutive NL West crowns for the Dodgers.
This time around they lead the second-placed San Diego Padres by 18 games and are on course for their 20th Divisional title.
What | Milwaukee Brewers @ Los Angeles Dodgers, Game One of Three |
Where | Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California |
When | 03:10 BST, Tuesday 23rd August 2022 |
How to watch | MLB.TV, bet365 Sports Live Streaming platform |
Odds | Milwaukee Brewers 43/20, Los Angeles Dodgers 5/13 |
The Brewers defeated the Chicago Cubs on Sunday for a much-needed win and that gives the Brew Crew hope going into a three-game series with the best team in baseball currently, the Dodgers.
Pitching on Monday night for the Brewers at Dodger Stadium will be left-hander Eric Lauer who has performed well in August with a 2.70 ERA.
However, he has lost two of his last three starts because Milwaukee only scored one run in each of them.
Lauer was a critic of the trade deadline sale of closer Josh Hader to the Padres, which seems to have upset the rhythm of the Brewers.
Speaking to the Brewers' website, Lauer said: "There was a shock factor to it. Everybody was taken aback to it a little bit. As far as who we have in the clubhouse and what we have here, I don't think we are in any worse position to win as many games as we should.
"The only thing I can think of was, from the top down it seemed like there was a weird behind-the scenes message that was sent that a lot of people didn't jive with."
As for the Dodgers, they will have Julio Urias on the mound for game one and he has a 13-6 record with a 2.40 ERA for the season.
The 25-year-old's last outing was against the Brewers last week and he pitched five innings, giving up four hits but no earned runs, with six strikeouts and two walks.
The Dodgers collected their fourth series sweep in August alone as they defeated the Miami Marlins on Sunday and LA has only lost three games since the end of July, a run which included a 12-game winning streak.
The Dodgers have been in first place in the NL West for 125 day and their 18-game lead over the Padres is their highest this season.
They have a further nine games against the Padres, but other than playing the Cardinals and the New York Mets following this series against the Brewers, they have no real pitfalls and should win the Division quite easily.
Their real ambition is to regain the World Series title which they won in 2020 and gave up in 2021, losing to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship series.
Since being traded to the Dodgers from the New York Yankees, Joey Gallo has been a shining light.
New York wasn't a happy place for the 28-year-old former Texas Rangers outfielder and when the Yankees traded for Andrew Benintendi, Gallo knew his time was numbered and required a change of environment.
Speaking to the official Dodgers website, Gallo said: "I've been feeling pretty good. We have a great team. It's easy to come in here and take at-bats and just try to be a team guy. It's exciting."
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