LOS ANGELES — Starting pitching figures to be at a premium p

more than ever Wednesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers meet for what figures to be a bleary-eyed Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.The teams played to a draw and taxed their bullpens for more than five hours in Game 4 on Tuesday before Cody Bellinger’s RBI single in the 13th inning scored Manny Machado from second base and gave the Dodgers a 2-1 victory.So close to taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the series Xander Bogaerts Jersey , the Brewers are now even with the Dodgers at two games apiece. The Dodgers have staff ace Clayton Kershaw on the mound Wednesday, while the Brewers will counter with Wade Miley, who was dominating in Game 2.Article continues below ...Kershaw will be looking for redemption in the Dodgers’ third and final home game of the series. The NLCS already is guaranteed to have a Game 6 on Friday at Milwaukee.“There’s no secrets anymore,” Kershaw said, after giving up five runs (four earned) in three innings of Game 1. “I think now that we’re (past) the fourth game of the series and facing them a couple of times in the regular season, I know what their strengths and weaknesses are. They obviously know mine. And I always like watching our guys pitch. And especially because we have a lot of lefties. For the most part, the video work is done, all the studying is done now, and it’s just a matter of going out there and competing.”If the Dodgers do not advance out of the NLCS, there is a possibility that Wednesday could be Kershaw’s last game in a Dodgers uniform at Dodger Stadium. He has the ability to opt out of his contract after the season and has 10 days after the World Series ends to reveal his decision.For Miley, the big picture won’t be as broad. His goal would be to repeat his outing from Saturday at Milwaukee http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-dustin-pedroia-jersey , when he breezed through his outing, giving up only two hits. The Brewers are known for a reliance on their bullpen, but Miley still looked disappointed when he was removed in the sixth inning.If he plans on varying his strategy this time around, he wasn’t about to reveal any secrets.“No, I just go and execute pitches,” Miley said. “I feel like I attack every team I face the same: Just try to keep the ball down and mix speeds back and forth. And hopefully hit it at people.”When the series was in Milwaukee, the Dodgers were only able to produce against the acclaimed Brewers’ bullpen. Now that the series has shifted to Los Angeles, the Dodgers appear to be struggling against all pitchers.Even while winning Game 4, the Dodgers have scored only three runs over their last 22 innings, and those innings were all played in their own ballpark.The Brewers, meanwhile Blake Swihart Jersey , went scoreless over the final eight innings Tuesday, while facing eight pitchers.Adding to the drama is that Game 5 will be played less than 15 hours after the ending to Game 4, which lasted 5 hours, 15 minutes and was the second-longest NLCS game by time after Game 5 in 1999 between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves went 5:46. Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesTwo years after the Chicago Cubs threw a World Series party 108 years in the making, their returns diminished to an unceremonious exit from the National League Wild Card Game.The Cubs played 13 innings against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field and scored in just one of them en route to a 2-1 defeat. Thus their season ended only a day after the Milwaukee Brewers strolled into Wrigley and beat them 3-1 in the National League Central tiebreaker.So for the first time since 2014, the Cubs will go into the winter with zero postseason wins to show for a campaign.The one bright side to this is that president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer have more time to answer the questions before them.The less bright side is how many of them there are.The biggest and scariest is what the heck just happened to the team's offense. It had a huge hand in carrying the Cubs to 195 wins and NL Central titles in 2016 and 2017. But in 2018, it fell off a proverbial cliff:2016: .772 OPS and 5.0 R/G2017: .775 OPS and 5.1 R/G2018: .744 OPS and 4.7 R/GIt only got worse as the year went along. The Cubs slumped to the tune of a .705 OPS and 4.1 runs per game in the second half. They were down to a .663 OPS and 4.0 runs per game by September and Game No. 163 against Milwaukee.To be fair, it didn't help that Kris Bryant wasn't hitting like his MVP-caliber self even before his left shoulder started acting up in June. He was even more of a shell of himself after he returned July 11, and there was no hiding it in either Game No. 163 or the wild-card contest.Otherwise, it's difficult to assess additional "to be fairs."Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesThe Chicago offense lost its identity in 2018. Cubs hitters walked in only nine percent of their plate appearances, down from 10.4 in 2016 and 9.9 in 2017. They also went from 223 home runs last year all the way to 167 this year.Only Javier Baez (34 HR and a National League-high 111 RBI) surpassed expectations. Anthony Rizzo endured a down year. And rather than taking steps forward Rick Porcello Jersey , young stars Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ and Albert Almora Jr. either regressed or were basically stuck in place.The solution for this problem might be as simple as showing hitting coach Chili Davis the door. Perhaps with better tutelage, a 2019 Cubs lineup with all the same ingredients (plus a healthier Bryant) as the 2018 Cubs lineup will have little trouble rebounding.Trouble is, the Cubs may not have much choice but to go this route.The free-agent market will be crowded with talented hitters Harper and Manny Machado chief among them the Cubs already have $179 million committed to 2019. That's by far more money than any other team.This is counting all the club options the Cubs hold, including $20 million for veteran left-hander Cole Hamels. Unless they're comfortable trusting that Yu Darvish will return strong from the elbow injury that derailed his season, it seems all but certain Hamels' tab will be picked up.Ed Zurga/Getty ImagesWhat that $179 million doesn't include are arbitration costs for Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Kyle Hendricks and others. Once those are factored in, the Cubs will be bumping up against the luxury tax just when other rich teams (e.g. http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers) are getting under it.If so, the Cubs won't have much spending flexibility to improve their offense. Or, for that matter, to patch a bullpen with the highest walk rate in Major League Baseball over the last two seasons.One option is to cut some bad contracts, such as those belonging to Jason Heyward and Tyler Chatwood. But given how far gone their trade values are, that will be easier said than done.The Cubs could also resort to the trade market to find impact players, not unlike the Brewers did with NL MVP favorite Christian Yelich last offseason. But with only MLB's No. 29 farm system to pull from, that will also be easier said than done.Because the Cubs just won 95 games and notched a fourth straight postseason appearance, it's a tad soon to declare their supposed dynasty dead and buried.Yet whatever they were building has hit a major snag. And it's not clear how they're going to get around it. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.