Jake Bauers v. Yoshinobu Yamamoto: A Breakdown

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of baseball's elite postseason pitchers, was pulled from Game 2 of the 2026 NLCS before completing the third inning after the Brewers employed a disciplined approach to wear him down. Rather than chasing pitches out of the zone like they did in last year's NLCS, Milwaukee focused on making Yamamoto work within the strike zone, fouling off pitches and working deep counts. Jake Bauers exemplified this strategy with a 12-pitch at-bat that forced Yamamoto to throw 75 total pitches through just 2⅔ innings, an unprecedented feat against the Japanese right-hander. The Brewers' patient approach succeeded in getting to the Dodgers bullpen early, with Christian Yelich following Bauers' walk with a single that ended Yamamoto's outing.

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