NLCS: Smart hitting arrives just in time

As the NLCS heads to Milwaukee:

•The game of baseball became an annoying swirl of shifts, strikeouts and launch angles this season, but Colorado manager Bud Black offered a ray of hope. “I’m not worried about it,” he said. “The game will find its way back to higher scoring. Hitters will be more focused on contact, fewer strikeouts, beating the shifts. It won’t happen overnight. But it’s always cyclical.”

Without question, the Dodgers-Brewers series has tested one’s patience with the endless pitching changes and drawn-out games. But at precisely the right time, with their season on the brink, the Dodgers have resurrected the art of fundamental hitting.