Christian Yelich, the Brewers' captain and the player who claimed National League MVP honours in 2018, was absent from the Game 1 lineup when the NL Championship Series opened against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and did not take the field at the start of that Sunday night contest.

With left-hander Tarik Skubal taking the mound for the Dodgers, Andrew Vaughn — who bats from the right side — drew the designated hitter slot in manager Murphy's lineup card for Milwaukee. Murphy explained at his pregame press conference that lineup decisions centre on what serves the team that day — not necessarily for a full nine innings — and that matchup history between pitchers and hitters plays a part in those choices.

Yelich, a left-handed batter, has gone hitless in two plate appearances against Skubal while recording one strikeout, a factor Murphy cited in his pregame thinking. Vaughn carries a career line of 5-for-22 with one RBI against Skubal, numbers that made him a reasonable choice to start in Yelich's place for at least the early innings.

Against left-handed pitching over the course of the season, Vaughn posted a .336/.421/.517 slash line across 116 at-bats, with two home runs factored into that stretch of plate appearances. Across 118 plate appearances against left-handed pitching that season, Yelich — a player who had earned All-Star nods on three separate occasions — posted a batting average of .212 and a slugging percentage of .331.

Two home runs came off Yelich's bat during the game. Across 118 appearances at the plate, Yelich posted a .235 average, drove in 59 runs, and cleared the fences on 12 occasions.

Of Milwaukee's left-handed batters facing Skubal, three took spots in the starting lineup: Turang at second base, Bauers at first, and Mitchell patrolling centre field.

During the NL Division Series, Yelich, 34, turned in a performance that helped carry Milwaukee past San Diego in four games. Across 14 plate appearances, he recorded five hits for a .357 average, drove in a run, and swiped two bases.

A run-scoring single off Yelich's bat in Game 3 against the Padres brought his first postseason RBI in 19 games, a stretch that had extended back to Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS when the Dodgers were the opposition.

Vaughn, then 28 years old, collected one hit across two plate appearances in the NLDS. Across 104 games during the regular season, his bat produced a .306 average, six home runs, and 43 runs batted in.

On the mound for Milwaukee, right-hander Jacob Misiorowski will take the ball as the team's starter.