Mookie Betts Drops Kobe Bryant Reference After Dodgers Take Commanding 3-0 Lead in NLCS Against Brewers

The Los Angeles Dodgers took a 3-0 lead in the NLCS following a 3-1 win in Game 3 against the Milwaukee Brewers at their home stadium in California.

Mookie Betts Drops Kobe Bryant Reference After Dodgers Take Commanding 3-0 Lead in NLCS Against Brewers

Mookie Betts and Kobe Bryant (Image via Imago/NY Times)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

The Los Angeles Dodgers are steamrolling through the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Milwaukee Brewers. On Thursday, the team clinched a 3-1 win in Game 3 and took a 3-0 series lead. After the game, Mookie Betts channeled his inner Kobe Bryant and dropped a reference to him as his side edged closer to another Fall Classic.

The Brewers had the number of the Dodgers in the regular season. The NL Central champions swept them and won all 6 games en route to finishing the season with the best record in the league.

In the postseason, things have switched. The Dodgers have dominated the Brewers with their pitching performances and left their opponents stunned.

Game 1 saw a fierce performance on the mound from Blake Snell. The 2-time Cy Young Award winner threw 8 scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. Despite a little stumble from the bullpen, the Dodgers held on to a 2-1 win.

In Game 2, the Dodgers had the worst possible start as the Brewers jumped to a 1-0 lead following a lead-off home run from Jackson Chourio on the very first pitch against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Japanese international quickly shrugged off this disappointment. The right-handed pitcher ended up throwing a complete game, as home runs from Teoscar Hernandez, Max Muncy, and RBI singles from Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman led them to a 5-1 win. Yamamoto’s complete game was the first complete game in the MLB postseason since 2017.

With two wins on the road, the Dodgers returned home to California for Game 3. Ohtani, who is having an offensive slump in this postseason, hit a triple in the first inning. Betts would follow it up with a double to give their side an early lead.

After throwing 99 pitches through 5.2 innings, Tyler Glasnow was taken off the mound by Dave Roberts. The Dodgers’ bullpen, which has been a bit shaky in recent times, was tested. Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Roki Sasaki were able to keep the opposition batters at bay and led their team to a 3-1 win.

The Dodgers are now 3-0 up in the series and barring a historic collapse, they will likely return to the Fall Classic. Following the game, Mookie Betts would drop a similar comment like late-great Kobe Bryant did in the 2009 NBA Finals after going 2-0 up, and expressed that the job was not done.

I have zero emotions. We’re up, but like Kobe said, job’s not done.

Mookie Betts told the reporters

That year, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic 4-1 in the finals and claimed the championship. Bryant was named the MVP of the finals.

2024 NLCS MVP Tommy Edman hoping for Dodgers to complete sweep of Brewers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are one win away from returning to the Fall Classic. The reigning champions are 3-0 up and a win in Game 4 will see them get one step closer to defending their title. 2024 NLCS MVP Tommy Edman is hoping for his team to finish off the job on Friday.

LA Dodgers' Tommy Edman
Tommy Edman (Image via MLB)

The Dodgers, who started with an 8-0 record, did stumble a bit in the midseason. The NL West Champions finished as the 3rd seed team, as the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers finished with a better record than them.

The LA side, however, has got hot at the right time according to Edman. While speaking with the reporters after the game, he expressed that his team did not play the best baseball in the regular season.

We didn’t play the best during the regular season, but we’re getting hot at the right time. Just one win away and hoping we can finish it off tomorrow.

Tommy Edman told the reporters

Only one team in MLB history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-seven series in MLB postseason history, the 2004 Boston Red Sox. In 2020, the Houston Astros did manage to force a Game 7 after winning Games 4, 5, and 6 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

However, they ended up losing in Game 7. For now, the Brewers would be hoping to avoid getting swept in Game 4, after finishing the season with the best record in the league.

Also Read: