MLB Playoffs 2018: Examining Latest Results, Highlights and Stats

The baseball gods have spoken—the 2018 National League Championship Series must go on.

Facing potential elimination Friday, the Milwaukee Brewers broke out of a mini offensive funk, plated their most runs of this postseason and sprinted to a 7-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.

That sets up a do-or-die Game 7 for Saturday in Milwaukee (8:09 p.m. ET on FX1), with Jhoulys Chacin on the bump for the Brewers and freshman phenom Walker Buehler leading the Dodgers.

The stakes for Game 6 literally could not have been higher for Milwaukee, so when leadoff hitter David Freese deposited Wade Miley's fifth pitch of the night over the fence in right center, you might have wondered if the Brew Crew could get any wind back in their sails.

That question was answered almost immediately.

Two of Milwaukee's first four hitters reached base. The next three all delivered critical two-out, run-scoring knocks, with Jesus Aguilar and Mike Moustakas providing consecutive doubles and Erik Kratz keeping things rolling with a single to right field.

By the first inning's end, the Brewers were already staked to a 4-1 lead. That was more than Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu had allowed in any appearance all year. He was gone after three innings, and L.A.'s offense didn't even make it that long. The Brewers would have as many runs as the Dodgers had hits after the first frame (three each).

That said, this was tight enough for Milwaukee to squeeze 1.2 innings out of Corey Knebel and another frame from Jeremy Jeffress. But insurance runs in the seventh and eight provided enough breathing room for electric, versatile reliever Josh Hader to have the night off.

Hader has proved he can stretch out his appearances if needed. He delivered three scoreless innings in Game 1 and went two or more innings 23 times during the regular season. He's the proverbial ace in the hole. As dominant as he was during the regular season (2.43 ERA with a 0.81 WHIP and 15.82 K/9), he's been even harder to handle in the playoffs (0.00 ERA with a 0.57 WHIP and 15.43 K/9).

L.A.'s offense has looked flummoxed at times against this Milwaukee pitching staff. Only two Dodgers regulars are hitting over .250 in the series (Chris Taylor and Manny Machado), and the team has tallied just three homers in six contests after clubbing an NL-best 235 in the regular season.

Both teams not only know what's on the line Saturday, but they also know who's next if they advance—the 108-win Boston Red Sox, who punched their World Series ticket Thursday by dispatching the defending champion Houston Astros 4-1, which was the same margin for the series.

Five-time All-Star David Price punctuated the victory with his first win in 12 career starts.

"It's one of the most special days I've ever had on the baseball field," Price said afterward.

A potent Astros lineup couldn't come close to Price, registering only three hits and no runs while striking out nine times during his six innings pitched. His power stuff played as well as it had all season, but his filthy changeup was most responsible for keeping Houston's hitters off-balance.

"Among 93 pitches, Price threw a whopping 39 changeups, or 42 percent," CBS Sports' Mike Axisa wrote. "That is the highest changeup rate in any game in his career. Those 39 changeups generated a season-high 12 swings and misses. Only twice in his career did Price miss more bats with his changeup in a single game than he did ALCS Game 5."

While Price is (deservedly) dominating a lot of the talk coming out of Game 5, the Sox don't get out of that series (at least not that quickly) without series MVP Jackie Bradley Jr. The slick-defending centerfielder expertly played the role of clutch masher, turning his three hits in the series into a double, two homers and nine RBI.

Bradley was one of several unsung heroes to make noise for Boston in the series.

Rafael Devers homered and drove in six runs. Steve Pearce launched a tiebreaking long ball in Game 4. Mitch Moreland had three hits, a double, an RBI and a run scored in only six at-bats. Of Boston's 27 RBI in the series, only four came from MVP candidates Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez.

Red Sox relievers mostly impressed, too, even as closer Craig Kimbrel was uncharacteristically wobbly (4.50 ERA, 2.00 WHIP across four innings). Ryan Brasier, Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly collectively yielded just two runs and seven hits while striking out 10 in 13 innings pitched.

"Everybody always talks about a couple of guys on this team but in all truth, we have 108 wins," Martinez said. "Two or three guys don't do that, it's a full team and I think today, this whole series, this whole playoffs has been a display of that."