Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MILWAUKEE — A year ago, the Dodgers came to Milwaukee as the lower seed in the NLCS and blew the doors off the Brewers. Milwaukee scored four runs, total, in a four-game sweep. Both teams’ rosters have evolved, and individual players have changed for better (Jacob Misiorowski) or worse (Shohei Ohtani), but what could possibly be so different this time around? As Dan Szymborski wrote in his series preview, teams that get beat in a playoff series are 17-28 all-time when afforded a rematch the following year. Teams that get swept are 0-5.

Well, at least one thing’s different: The Brewers aren’t going to get swept this time. They checked off the hardest item on their to-do list — beat Tarik Skubal — right away, with a 2-1 win at a sold-out American Family Field. Misiorowski made hard work of his 4 1/3-inning stint, but some terrific infield defense allowed him to escape with a single run on the board, and a solo homer by Brice Turang preceded an RBI single by Luis Lara an inning later. After another four innings, the Brewers had taken Round 1.

Misiorowski performed an homage to his opponents’ home city by battling traffic all night. He might be the presumptive NL Cy Young winner and the hardest-throwing pitcher of all time, but Misiorowski is also a 24-year-old with arms like the guy wires on a radio tower. He’s never had impeccable command to begin with — not that you need it when you throw 102 — and something was a little off about Miz’s fastball shape.