The Brewers punched their ticket to the NLCS by following the same formula that earned them a league-high 97 wins this season—timely hitting, dominant pitching and elite defense. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, its offense didn’t make the trip to the league championship round.

Milwaukee was held to exactly one run yet again in Game 3, falling 3–1 to the Dodgers on Thursday night in Los Angeles. The Brewers, trailing 3–0 in the series, are now just one loss away from being swept out of the NLCS, a round they’ve reached just four times in franchise history.

It’s not difficult to pinpoint where the Brewers have gone wrong. Through three games, Milwaukee has scored a total of three runs while batting .101 as a team with just nine hits. According to TNT Sports, the Brewers have the fewest hits (nine) through three games of a playoff series since the White Sox in 1906.

No, that is not a typo. The White Sox had just nine hits in the first three games of the 1906 World Series against the Cubs.

It is worth noting the White Sox won that World Series in six games—although they were able to take two of the first three games, unlike the Brewers, who could be packing their bags for the offseason as early as Friday night in Game 4.

Who needs to step up for the Brewers?

Is “everyone”a suitable answer?

Christian Yelich led the team with 29 homers and a .795 OPS in the regular season, but he’s batting just .200/.294/.233 in the postseason and an even worse 1-for-11 (.091) in the NLCS. Young stars Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio are a combined 2-for-23 against the Dodgers, and Andrew Vaughn—a hero in the NLDS—is still looking for his first NLCS hit.

Milwaukee’s best bat this series has been Caleb Durbin, a bottom-of-the-order option in manager Pat Murphy’s lineup who has three hits in nine at-bats against Los Angeles.

“We’re in a big hole,” Yelich said Thursday after the Game 3 loss. “Our goal right now should be to get the series back to Milwaukee. And worry about the rest later. We can’t look at it as we’ve got to win four in a row. Obviously we do, But we can’t win four [games] without winning one or without winning two.”

The Brewers will try to keep their season alive Friday night with the second game of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 8:38 p.m. ET.

More MLB on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brewers’ Offensive Struggles vs. Dodgers Summed Up With One Mind-Boggling Stat.