Are Dodgers done? Debating L.A.'s chances to recover from 3-0 NLCS deficit

Just one MLB team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a postseason series.

Can the Los Angeles Dodgers become the second?

The two-time defending World Series champs are down 3-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. To return to the Fall Classic, they will need to channel their manager's former team -- the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who, with help from a timely Dave Roberts steal, mounted a historic ALCS comeback against the New York Yankees.

So how did L.A. get here? Can the Dodgers dig themselves out of this hole? Are the Brewers really this good? We asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield those questions and more.

Are the Dodgers done or can they still get this series back to Milwaukee?

Doolittle: I can't see them getting back to Milwaukee. Maybe the Dodgers can avoid a sweep, but the Brewers will not be looking past Game 4 and, man, L.A. looked really disheartened over the last couple of innings in Game 3. The end for the Dodgers is nigh.

Schoenfield: I suppose Roberts could put his stolen base from Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS on loop on the TVs in the clubhouse in an attempt to inspire his team and remind it that there is at least one team in MLB playoff history that has won a series after losing the first three games. "I've lived it," he said after the game.

But the Brewers are young and athletic and fast and run everything down in the outfield and steal bases and are the ones putting together memory-making 11-pitch home run at-bats. The Dodgers look old. Sure, the Red Sox came back in 2004; but they were fighting for an elusive championship. The Dodgers already have their rings and might not have the fight in them at this point.

How surprised are you that this series is 3-0 Brewers?

Schoenfield: In our LCS predictions, most of us at ESPN picked the Brewers to win -- 13 out of 15. That made the series appear more lopsided than most of us thought. I'm sure most believed the series would go at least six, and most likely seven games, especially considering the strength of the Dodgers' rotation and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's recent postseason success. Now the Dodgers might not even get to another Yamamoto start. So, yes: surprised.

Gonzalez: As one of the two who didn't pick the Brewers, very much so. It was only a year ago that the Dodgers swept the Brewers out of the NLCS, outscoring them 15-4 in the process. And while this is a different year with different circumstances, at the end of the day, the Dodgers were going to trot out four aces in Tarik Skubal, Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. In other words, they would have the starting pitching advantage in at least three of the first four games and potentially all of them. I felt that might tip the odds in their favor. And the last thing I thought was that it might result in them getting swept.

What has been L.A.'s biggest problem in this series?

Doolittle: It would be hard to make an argument that the Dodgers have put their best foot forward, but in the end, their biggest problem is the Brewers. The Brewers were the best team in baseball during the season, they have been the best team in the playoffs, and they have been the best team in the NLCS. The series is what it is not because of the Dodgers, but because of the Brewers.

Gonzalez: They can't hit. More specifically, they can't hit with men on base. The Dodgers got the leadoff man on in three of the first five innings in Game 3 and never scored him. They got a big hit courtesy of Will Smith's two-run double in the sixth, but that was it. The Dodgers are batting .146 with men on base in this series, 147 points lower than the Brewers. For the playoffs, in every situation, they've produced a .572 OPS -- ranked 240th among the 246 teams that have played at least seven games in a single postseason. It's bad.

What has impressed you most about the Brewers so far?

Doolittle: There's a lot, but when you think about past teams that have won it all, a hot bullpen can really propel a team all the way through. The Royals in 2015. The Reds in 1990. The Braves in 2021. The Brewers are a strong team in every department but right now, it's that lights-out bullpen that really makes them tough to beat.

Schoenfield: The quality of their at-bats. Jake Bauers' dramatic home run came on the 11th pitch from Snell -- making him only the sixth player in the pitch counting era (since 1988) to hit a postseason home run on the 11th pitch or later. These at-bats shouldn't be a surprise. The Brewers had the best walk rate in the majors in the regular season. They had the lowest chase rate. They were second in batting average and first in OPS with runners in scoring position. Oh, and despite their supposed lack of power, fifth in home runs.

What is one ray of hope Dodgers fans can hang onto down 3-0?

Schoenfield: Just win Game 4. The Dodgers will have Glasnow and all their primary relievers -- Tanner Scott, Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia, Edwin Diaz -- well-rested after none of them pitched Wednesday. Heck, Diaz hasn't even pitched in the series yet. The Brewers will be going with a bullpen game. So, win Game 4, and then you have Skubal and Yamamoto lined up for Games 5 and 6 -- just like the Red Sox in 2004 had Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling. Then, in Game 7, it's back to Snell and Robert Gasser. The Dodgers look cooked, but they haven't turned the grill off just yet.

Gonzalez: Max Muncy put it best: "At the beginning of this year, we set out to do something historic. It looks like we're going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that. That's the task ahead of us. We still have the pitching staff to be able to do it." To echo Dave's point, the pitching -- the starting pitching in particular -- is what should offer hope. Glasnow, Skubal, Yamamoto and Snell are all capable of shutting down an opposing lineup and winning a game almost singlehandedly. They're all going to have to do that -- four games in a row, likely in that order.