Brewers' NLDS Game 3 Lineup Raises Some Questions, Hints at Answers to Others

The Brewers' starting lineup is out, and Game 3 of the NLDS is just two hours away. This is the first chance the team gets to close out the Chicago Cubs and advance to their first NLCS since 2018. With right-handed starter Jameson Taillon on the mound for Chicago, you figured we'd see a couple of changes in the batting order—but as it turns out, we're seeing more than a minor shakeup or a single swapout.

Here's the card manager Pat Murphy has filled out for Wednesday's start:

1. Christian Yelich - DH
2. Jackson Chourio - LF
3. Brice Turang - 2B
4. William Contreras - C
5. Sal Frelick - RF
6. Caleb Durbin - 3B
7. Jake Bauers - 1B
8. Brandon Lockridge - CF
9. Joey Ortiz - SS

If you're anything like me, you spent the first five items on that list nodding in approval and confirmation. We saw Murphy move Christian Yelich into the leadoff spot during the final week of the regular season, and it was always likely he'd be back there once the team saw a righty starter in the playoffs. It's very good to see Jackson Chourio back in the lineup, after the skipper acknowledged that he was removed from Game 2 due to feeling a new twinge in the hamstring he appears to have strained again back in Game 1.

Because it's a righty on the mound, we knew there was at least some chance that Jake Bauers would take over at first base from Andrew Vaughn, so that surprise is a mild one. However, Brandon Lockridge—who hadn't been with the parent club at the end of the regular year, and whom everyone assumed to be on the roster largely as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement—has pulled a start, batting eighth and playing center field. That is an extremely informative choice, and it sets off a cascade of interesting questions.

Blake Perkins, whom the team had settled on as their starting center fielder at least against lefties by the end of the year, is on the bench. Presumably, that's because he's been much worse against righties this year, and because Taillon's new kick-change has made him very effective against left-handed batters. Murphy is playing a bit of anti-platoon matchup information against the Cubs by starting the righty-batting Lockridge. However, it's fascinating to note that he's doing so only in that case. He still chose the lefty Bauers over the righty Vaughn (perhaps because Bauers, with excellent bat speed and a more refined eye this year, has a swing path and approach better suited to take advantage of Taillon than Vaughn, handedness be damned).

Murphy is also choosing Lockridge in center, Chourio in left, Yelich at designated hitter and Sal Frelick in right field over at least three alternative alignments that one might have regarded as more likely, under various scenarios:

• Isaac Collins playing right, while Frelick slides to center field, leaving Lockridge on the bench
• Chourio in center, with Collins in left
• Bauers in left, Vaughn at first, and Chourio in center

If everyone was fully healthy, we'd probably see the second of those. It sure feels like Chourio staying in left against the righty starter is a way to hide his balky hamstring in a corner spot, although the corner outfielders at Wrigley Field often have plenty of running to do in their own right. That does raise the question, though, of why we're not seeing Yelich play left, with Chourio slotted in as the DH instead. It feels like confirmation that Yelich, who missed a few days during September when his back flared up yet again, simply isn't available to play the field at the moment. He hasn't started there since August 27.

With Yelich locked into the DH spot, if we also assume Chourio had to be in left, then the outfield question comes down to a few things. Starting Lockridge indicates that Murphy prefers him to Perkins, even though Perkins is at least as good a defender and would have the platoon edge. It also says that the team isn't currently treating Frelick as an option in center (he last started there August 19, and before that, it had been multiple months). If he was, they'd have to seriously consider sliding him there and starting either Collins or Bauers (with Vaughn at first) instead of Lockridge. Again, Taillon's splits add a wrinkle to all of this, but it seems as though the team is down to two center-field options and is locked into one player being their DH each day. If that's true, it does constrain the rest of Murphy's choices.

This could also turn out to be some combination of a deke and a hedge. If Craig Counsell (managing in feral mode, with his seaosn under threat) goes with a bullpen-centric approach to this game, the matchup propositions at each of the spots in question will change quite a bit. By batting Bauers seventh, Murphy bought time, such that if the moment comes when Counell goes to lefties Caleb Thielbar or Drew Pomeranz and Murphy wants to pinch-hit for Bauers with Vaughn, it's likely to come in the fifth inning or so. He won't be down to his last first baseman in the third, with trouble ahead.

Similarly, by starting Lockridge and batting him eighth, Murphy might just be leaving himself a maximum of options. Whenever the crucial at-bat for that lineup spot comes, it might be that Murphy will send up Perkins or Collins or even Vaughn to hit for Lockridge. The Crew might be unwilling to start Chourio or Frelick in center, but they'll probably move them there for the final three or four innings if needed.

This is a very intriguing lineup card. It's clear that the Brewers are operating at less than full health and full flexibility, but then again, of which team is that not true by this time of year? With a creative and slightly eyebrow-raising starting nine, Murphy is giving us some insight into what he's dealing with—but he's still assembled a group that can finish off a sweep and send the Cubs home for the winter.