As one of the three captains in MLB, Christian Yelich stands in some esteemed company with the Brewers, and when he talks, people listen. Yelich was among the first players interviewed by FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci after the Brewers clinched their first World Series berth since 1982, a 4-0 series beating of the Dodgers.
Yelich’s Brewers, up 3-0 in the series, looked to be in trouble early in Game 4 after Shohei Ohtani’s 3-run home-run put the Dodgers up 4-0 and got the crowd into it. But, in typical Brewers fashion, they slowly clawed their way back – first a Jake Bauers two-run double, a RBI single by David Hamilton, then Bauers tied it with a bases-loaded walk before solo home runs by Garrett Mitchell and Hamilton sealed an eventual 6-4 win.
Yelich, however, never flinched. “We kept telling each other, ‘This is gonna be a great story when we come back and win this,'” he told Verducci in the postgame.
And, how sweet the revenge it is. For Yelich and the Brewers to beat the Dodgers in this fashion, a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions, a dynasty in the making that swept these same Brewers in four games last year, had to be an incredible feeling.
The Brewers Never Stopped Believing in Themselves
It’s a scary thing when a team gets punched in the gut early and never gives up. That the belief got stronger after the face of MLB hitting a defiant iconic three-run home run to go up 4-0.
“We went down early, the belief in the dugout got stronger and stronger,” Mitchell said after the game. “We fought our butts off and got back in there.”
Yelich and the Brewers will now await the winner of the Rays and Guardians, and will have a whopping eight days of rest to celebrate and get ready ahead of Game 1 of the World Series on October 23.
But for Yelich, it has to be a sweet week of rest, as the Brewers’ captain and TK-year big leaguer will finally experience the Fall Classic for the first time, and do so without all of the onus on him to perform.
Yelich is surrounded by young sensations Jackson Chourio, William Contreras, Brice Turang and breakout star Bauers. The offense has been highly productive, the rotation fearsome led by Jacob Misiorowski, and the bullpen lights out with Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill waiting in the back.
Ultimately, Yelich understands the belief in the dugout as the captain and the most senior member of what is a very young, raw team. Considering the Brewers did a mini-overhaul last offseason, dealing Freddy Peralta to the Mets for a pair of prospects, the fact that the team believes in each other this much and in their ability to win, should be a concerning prospect for whichever team comes out of the American League.
Brewers’ Christian Yelich Sends Clear Message After Beating Dodgers