The Milwaukee Brewers are marching on in their quest to win the franchise's first World Series title, and they could not have asked for a much better start in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Facing Tarik Skubal, the Brewers scored just enough runs in support of their own ace in Jacob Misiorowski, taking a 2-1 victory on Sunday night.

The Brewers have made a living to this point of the 2026 MLB postseason out of winning close ballgames. They may have defeated the San Diego Padres in four games in the NLDS, but none of those games were blowouts. In fact, the Brewers' postseason run differential heading into the NLCS is plus-three.

In making a habit out of being in these cardiac games, the Brewers became just the 10th team in MLB postseason history to have their first five games of a postseason run be decided by two runs or fewer, as per Sarah Langs of MLB.com. They're only the fourth team over the past 110 years to be in the middle of such a phenomenon, joining the 2024 Kansas City Royals, 2022 Houston Astros, and 2010 San Francisco Giants.

Article Continues Below

To Brewers fans, seeing those two teams come up in this discussion has to be very promising. After all, both the 2010 Giants and 2022 Astros went on to win it all. Meanwhile, the 2024 Royals were on the receiving end of some of the most heartbreaking postseason losses, as they may have lost in four games to the New York Yankees in the ALDS, but every game was close.

At the end of the day, earning a win in the postseason is what matters the most. Winning by just a one-run deficit or 10 runs means nothing in the grand scheme of the postseason. And now, the Brewers need to win just seven more games to be champion.