After getting swept by the Brewers twice during the regular season, the Dodgers finally picked up a win in this matchup in Monday’s Game 1, narrowly avoiding a ninth inning collapse in the process.
Game 2 will stay at American Family Field, as Freddy Peralta ($11,200) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($11,600) square-off in a battle of aces. Can Los Angeles take a commanding 2-0 lead? Will Milwaukee be able to get its bats going?
Let’s break it all down from a Showdown perspective.
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Dodgers vs. Brewers NLCS Game 2 Showdown
Captain’s Picks
Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($17,400 CP) – Expectations were high for Yamamoto when he came over from the NPB last winter, but the right-hander has lived up to the hype in every way possible. In 48 career regular season starts, Yamamoto has maintained a 2.66 ERA and a 2.83 FIP. Yamamoto’s also struck out 29.1% of the opposing hitters he’s faced. Somehow, the 27-year-old has taken things to another level since the All-Star break, holding opponents to a .165/.240/.230 slash line with a 2.47 FIP. The usual fear with captaining a starter in Showdown slates in the MLB postseason tends to be volume, as managers are often quick to bring in their bullpen. That’s not a worry with Dave Roberts — especially after Roki Sasaki ($4,000) nearly blew Game 1. The Dodgers’ strength is their rotation and they’ll ride those arms as long as necessary. Look for Yamamoto to pitch deep in a matchup with a Brewers lineup that is hitting just .225 with a .683 OPS in the playoffs.
Mookie Betts ($12,000 CP) – After a rough start to 2025, Betts is back to looking like Mookie Betts. The former MVP closed out the regular season with a .258 ISO and a 144 wRC+ in September, and now Betts is hitting .333 in his 33 plate appearances in the playoffs, batting in a fantasy friendly lineup spot between Shohei Ohtani ($10,000) and Freddie Freeman ($8,600). Peralta has been nearly superhuman when pitching in Milwaukee this season, yet the RHP has had his issues with opposing RHBs the past few years. In fact, dating back to the beginning of 2023, Peralta has surrendered 1.62 opponent home runs per nine in right-on-right matchups. If you’re going to attack the Brewers’ starter, I’d be doing so with right-handed bats like Betts.
FLEX Plays
Will Smith ($6,800) – Smith is still working his way back into a rhythm at the dish after a late-season IL stint, but the backstop managed a pair of hits in Game 1 of this series. Remember, Smith was having arguably the best campaign of his career prior to the injury, posting a .389 wOBA and a 153 wRC+ over 436 plate appearances. Those stats were also backed up by a 94th percentile expected wOBA (.386). It’s not easy to shake off the cobwebs and start hitting in the playoffs, yet Smith is looking healthy and he does have some success against Peralta in the past. Take a chance on the All-Star sitting below $7,000.
Andrew Vaughn ($6,600) – While Vaughn’s specialty is hitting left-handed pitching, let’s not completely overlook his overall numbers from 2025. Vaughn finished the regular season ranking in the 86th percentile of the league in expected batting average (.282) and that was primarily due to his 84th percentile average exit velocity (91.6). The former third-overall pick has also performed well in the postseason, with a pair of home runs and zero strikeouts over 20 plate appearances. There’s not a lot of raw power in this Milwaukee lineup, yet Vaughn provides some pop at a very modest price tag. Lastly, in a small size that could not be smaller, Vaughn did take Yamamoto deep in his lone career at-bat against the RHP. At a salary this low, I’m willing to buy into some BvP nonsense.
Fades
Christian Yelich ($7,800) – Yelich has drawn his share of walks so far in the playoffs, but he’s been underwhelming aside from his OBP, particularly on the heels of an amazing regular season where he smashed 29 long balls and drove in 103 runs. In fact, Yelich has just one extra-base hit in his 26 postseason plate appearances. That’s simply not going to cut it. Unfortunately for the veteran outfielder, I don’t think Game 2 exactly screams breakout performance. Equipped with a hellacious splitter, Yamamoto has been a monster against left-handed batters since debuting last season. Among qualified pitchers since the beginning of 2024, Yamamoto has given up the fewest home runs per nine within the split (0.41) and the lowest opponent wOBA (.226). In layman terms: Yelich better hope he gets an at-bat or two off Los Angeles’ bullpen.
The Outcome
Freddy Peralta has been almost untouchable in Milwaukee, but he’s also looked shaky in his two postseason starts. Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has consistently been one of the league’s top arms over the past two years. This feels like a low-scoring tilt that’s going to be won on a single swing, so I’ll side with the lineup that possesses far more game-changing power.
