The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers are set for a battle in the National League Championship Series.
Game One kicks off the potential seven-game series with perhaps the best pitching matchup of the entire MLB season between 2X Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and likely NL Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski.
Ahead of the star-studded pitching matchup, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy took a shot at Skubal in a bizarre way.
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Pat Murphy Takes Jab At Tarik Skubal
There’s no doubt that Tarik Skubal is a very stingy pitcher, and it’s very hard to string together success against him, especially in the playoffs.
Skubal has rounded into postseason form over his last handful of starts (Which included a strong Game 1 start against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS), and looks to be at his peak at the right time.
Per @DodgersNation, Pat Murphy said this about how to beat Skubal:
“Step on his throat… Respectfully.”
“I mean that respectfully because I really like Tarik. My brain can’t go any place else. Go to work, that’s the only mentality I can have.”
“I mean that respectfully because I really like Tarik. My brain can’t go any place else. Go to work, that’s the only mentality I can have.”
It’s a pretty bizarre statement to make before facing a pitcher, but it shows how intense Murphy is and how fired up he is for this matchup.
“I just wanna step on his throat. I mean that respectfully, ’cause I really like Tarik. […] I’m sure he’s gonna be able to feed his family and be a great dad. He can lose tonight and be fine.” 😭
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Dodgers Set for Battle In NLCS with Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are clearly coming into this NLCS with a bit of an edge in terms of being fired up for the matchup.
That’s not to say that the Dodgers aren’t amped up, because they very much are, but after LA swept the Brewers in the 2025 NLCS, it’s hard to think that the Brewers haven’t been thinking about that all year, and in terms of regular-season wins, Milwaukee had an even better campaign in 2026.
However, this Dodgers team is absolutely battle-tested, and they are set up perfectly for another World Series run.
Having Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching games one and two, and once the series shifts to LA after two games, will allow some comfort for starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow to pitch at home, which might be a huge boost in the series for the Dodgers.
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Milwaukee Brewers Manager Takes Shot at Tarik Skubal Before NLCS Game One