“Mears has been unbelievable for us this year,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before Monday night's opener. "He’s been that get-out-of-a jam guy. But he’s really been most effective when used in small spurts. We’re in a seven-game series and we basically have one and a half starters available or maybe a total of two starters available as far as length and where they are right now in the season.
“So with that, we’ve got to look for more length. Most people drop the position player and add another pitcher. We chose not to for particular reasons, and then gained some more length out of that.”
Left-hander Aaron Ashby was to start Game 1, likely filling a role similar to when he served as an opener in Game 2 of the NLDS. The Dodgers already had announced left-hander Blake Snell as their Game 1 starter.
Los Angeles also altered its bullpen for this series. The Dodgers added one more pitcher by including right-hander Ben Casparius and leaving out Dalton Rushing, among three catchers on their NLDS roster. Rushing struck out in his lone NLDS at-bat.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Casparius was added to provide more bullpen options in the best-of-7 format.
The Dodgers' NLCS bullpen will also include left-hander Justin Wrobleski, who was added to the NLDS roster after Tanner Scott had a surgical removal of an abscess from an infection on his lower body before the final game of the NLDS matchup with Philadelphia.
Scott is eligible to return for the World Series if the Dodgers advance.
Mears went 5-3 with a 3.49 ERA for the Brewers during the regular season. He pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in the NLDS.
Myers was 1-2 with a 3.55 ERA for Milwaukee in six starts and 16 relief appearances. That followed a 2024 rookie season in which he went 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 25 starts and two relief outings. Myers allowed only two hits over five shutout innings while starting Game 3 of the Brewers' NL Wild Card Series loss to the New York Mets last season.
Milwaukee's NLCS roster also didn't include two-time All-Star pitcher Brandon Woodruff as he continues to recover from a right lat strain.
Casparius went 7-5 with a 4.64 ERA in 46 appearances this season. He had a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 postseason innings last year — including 4 1/3 scoreless innings in the NLCS — to help the Dodgers win the World Series.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB