1 question for each team going into today's NLDS Game 2s

On Saturday, the Dodgers, after setting themselves up for this moment all season, looked very ready and potentially dominant against the Braves. Meanwhile, the Padres and Brewers played a barnburner, featuring one of the wilder (and more consequential) home-run-that-wasn’t-a-home-run moments you’ll ever see, a Ty France moonshot off the roof at American Family Field.

What a day. And these NL clubs will be right back at it today. Here is one key question for each of the four NLDS teams heading into Game 2.

How aggressive will the Padres be with Mason Miller?

The Padres used four relievers in Game 1, and they were effective, tossing a combined 5 1/3 innings and giving up just three hits and one run. Unfortunately, that one run was the go-ahead home run William Contreras launched off an otherwise excellent Adrian Morejon. It looks like it’s going to be that kind of series, with two incredible bullpens and two evenly-matched teams, with every pitch forever fraught with meaning and import.

With that in mind, it’s certainly of note that none of those 5 1/3 innings were thrown by Mason Miller -- you know, that guy who is the most dominating, terrifying reliever in the entire sport. With both bullpens a little exhausted already -- the Brewers threw five bullpen innings themselves -- Miller is the weapon that hasn’t been fired yet.

So how much will the Padres ask of him in Game 2? He will be working with three days off after throwing one inning on Wednesday in the Wild Card Series; that’s actually the only inning he has thrown since Sept. 26. He worked two innings only twice all season -- including a month ago against the Yankees -- and went more than one inning nine times, though only three times since June 24. If the Padres have a lead heading into the eighth -- and maybe even the seventh -- we may see Miller earlier than ever.

Is the rookie ready for this?

On Sunday, it will have been 11 days since Logan Henderson last threw a competitive pitch for the Brewers, on Sept. 23 at Philadelphia. The Brewers have been careful with his innings all year, but you can probably expect him to be unleashed Sunday, considering the Brewers used five relievers after getting only four innings from Jacob Misiorowski. But is this quite a bit to ask of a 24-year-old rookie in his first postseason game? Even Misiorowski, in his postseason debut last year, got to come in as a reliever.

The Brewers don’t just need Henderson to be excellent, they need length from him, especially when he’s facing off against Michael King, who was brilliant in his Wild Card Series start against the Cubs. We saw how electric that Petco Park crowd was in that series, and how overwhelming it can be. The Brewers do not want to give their hard-earned home-field advantage over to the Padres, and the city of San Diego. It may be up to the rookie to make sure they don’t.

Can Sale save the Braves?

A lot of Braves fans — and a lot of people around baseball — definitely found it curious that manager Walt Weiss brought in ace Chris Sale, with a four-run lead, to get the final four outs of the clinching Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Phillies on Thursday. It was a clinching game and all, but, uh, isn’t Sale the only starter on the Braves who can match up with all those Dodgers aces? And didn’t they know he was lined up to start on four days’ rest in NLDS Game 2?  (Even that is unusual for Sale, who last started on less than five days’ rest on April 6.)

The point is, the Braves are already behind the 8 ball after being flummoxed by Tarik Skubal in Game 1, and now they’re facing Snell, who was famously dominant in the NLDS (and NLCS) last year. Oh, and they have Yoshinobu Yamamoto waiting in the wings for Game 3.

So who would the Braves turn to on Sunday? Would it be Sale, the team’s one real ace? It turns out, no. Instead, Atlanta will go with Ray Kerr. Sure, this start would not have been ideal circumstances for Sale, but the postseason doesn’t always provide ideal circumstances. The Braves were always going to require Peak Sale at some point to win this series. They still will, but now they will have to hope it won’t come too late – and that Weiss’ decision on Thursday won’t come back to haunt them.

Can Game 1 get Kyle Tucker going?

“At the end of the day, if we can get that job done, it doesn’t really matter how you got there, as long as you get there.” That was Kyle Tucker talking to The Athletic last week, and while he was speaking about his deeply disappointing first season as a Dodger, he could in fact have been describing the entire team’s mindset: The most important thing, maybe the only important thing, is whether the Dodgers win the World Series. The regular season is already over and in the past.

That’s why Tucker’s sixth-inning two-run homer in Game 1 was so encouraging. It’s not just that he could do it, but how relieved he seemed to be. The player, and his team, and his fanbase, very much appreciated something positive happening after an otherwise rough 2026. Tucker, despite having a World Series ring, has not actually been his best in the postseason: He came into these playoffs a career .233 hitter (with a .317 OBP) in 72 postseason games. But if he flips that this October, the only real worry the Dodgers have —a lineup that’s getting older and spottier — is immediately assuaged. Tucker could completely change the narrative over the next few weeks. He’s off to a terrific start.