The Dodgers Brewers NLCS Game 1 is the pitching matchup baseball fans have been waiting for. On Sunday at American Family Field, the Los Angeles Dodgers will start Tarik Skubal against the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski — a duel between a two-time Cy Young winner and this year’s presumptive Cy Young winner, and a rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series that Los Angeles swept.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed the rotation Friday during a video conference with reporters: Skubal gets Game 1 on Sunday, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last year’s World Series MVP, will start Game 2 on Monday in Milwaukee, according to Fox Sports. It is the second straight series in which Skubal opens for Los Angeles.
Skubal vs. Misiorowski: The Dodgers Brewers NLCS Game 1 Duel
Few pitching matchups in recent postseason memory carry this much electricity. Skubal, acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline, opened the NLDS against Atlanta with six dominant innings — one run, two hits, seven strikeouts, two walks — in a 5-3 Game 1 win, per the New York Post. He won the American League Cy Young Award with the Detroit Tigers in both 2024 and 2025.
Misiorowski is the young flamethrower who took over baseball this season. He led the major leagues in ERA and strikeouts, and he is the hardest-throwing pitcher in the game, according to Yardbarker. His history against the Dodgers is superb: two regular-season starts plus a relief appearance in last year’s NLCS, spanning 17 innings with a 1.59 ERA, 27 strikeouts and just three walks.
Runs have been hard to come by this postseason, and Sunday figures to be no different. As Baseball Now noted, both teams wrapped up their NLDS wins on the road Wednesday and arrive rested — and the Dodgers Brewers NLCS Game 1 pitching duel is the headliner.
How Both Teams Reached the NLCS
The Dodgers eliminated the Atlanta Braves in four games. After Skubal’s Game 1 gem, Game 2 starter Blake Snell struggled — 3 2/3 innings, five walks, one run — in a 3-2 loss that briefly tied the series. Then Yamamoto calmed everything down with a seven-inning, one-run masterpiece in Game 3, striking out 10, which lowered his career postseason ERA to 2.14 — the second-best in the last 100 years among pitchers with at least 10 playoff starts, behind only Madison Bumgarner, per the New York Post. Los Angeles closed out the series in Game 4.
The Brewers, baseball’s best regular-season team at 103-59, handled the San Diego Padres in four games, clinching Wednesday at Petco Park behind Garrett Mitchell’s tiebreaking triple and a leaping catch to rob Manny Machado of a tying homer. Read our full recap of Milwaukee’s NLDS Game 4 win and the Dodgers’ NLDS clincher over the Braves.
Milwaukee took the regular-season series 4-3 and owns home-field advantage. But the Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions — and they swept this exact matchup a year ago, scoring the NLCS opener’s narrative all over again.
NLCS Storylines: Tickets, Rosters and a Revenge Series
Anticipation in Milwaukee is sky-high. According to Gametime data reported by Yahoo Sports, the median ticket price for Sunday’s Game 1 was $484 as of Thursday — up sharply from $345 at the same point last year — with a get-in price of $249 compared to $160 in 2025.
Rosters are due Sunday morning, and Roberts said the Dodgers are discussing adding a pitcher for the best-of-seven series, which would require dropping a position player. Utility man Miguel Rojas, 37, exited the Braves series with lower back pain, underwent imaging that mostly showed prior back issues, and took ground balls and batting practice Friday — his status remains undecided.
For Milwaukee, this series is about exorcising last October. The Brewers were swept out of the NLCS a year ago despite holding home-field advantage, scoring just four runs in four games. Pat Murphy’s club spent 162 games building the best record in baseball to earn another shot. As Milwaukee’s manager put it this week: this year is different.
Dodgers Brewers NLCS Game 1: Frequently Asked Questions
When is NLCS Game 1 between the Dodgers and Brewers?
Dodgers Brewers NLCS Game 1 is Sunday, October 11, at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Game 2 follows Monday, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting for Los Angeles, per Fox Sports.
Who is pitching NLCS Game 1?
Tarik Skubal starts for the Dodgers and Jacob Misiorowski for the Brewers — a matchup of a two-time Cy Young winner and this year’s presumptive NL Cy Young winner.
What happened in last year’s Dodgers-Brewers NLCS?
The Dodgers swept the Brewers in four games in the 2025 NLCS en route to their second consecutive World Series title, despite Milwaukee holding home-field advantage.
Which team has home-field advantage in the 2026 NLCS?
The Brewers, thanks to their major-league-best 103-59 regular-season record (the Dodgers finished 100-62).
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