Why they lost - Brewers and White Sox

 You got it from the headline - let's dig in

Brewers didn't do anything to the offense. The Brewers offense was decent this season but it was kind of an illusion. The didn't get hits, they didn't hit for power.  All they did was walk and get timely hits and guess what? Getting timely hits isn't a dependable repeatable skill beyond getting hits in general. Rather than a big move to allow the offense a chance to compliment the pitching the Brewers only brought in perfectly decent Eduardo Escobar. Unsurprisingly they didn't get hits and they didn't hit for power (5 XBH in 4 games) and they couldn't walk enough against a good pitching staff to make up for that. 21 straight innings without a run is going to be pretty much a series killer 

Counsell got too antsy. Dying for some sort of offense in Game 3 Counsell pulled Freddy Peralta, who was doing perfectly well shutting down the Braves, pinch hitting for him in a 2nd and 3rd and one-out situation.  The PH didn't come through and the Braves pounced on Houser who they had seen for two innings in game 1.  Never pull a working pitcher early, I say. 

RP injuries - Suter one of the Brewers perfectly good middle relievers got an oblique strain right before the playoffs. Williams, probably the Brewers 2nd best reliever, punched something in anger and hurt his hand. The combo meant the Brewers would carry a guy they wouldn't even use in the series (he's ok but really on there to eat innings in a blowout - a scenario that never came in this series).  This meant even though they didn't have a lot of relief work early they did use everyone they liked by the time G3 rolled around. So Counsell's early pull was even more problematic. But it all stems from the offense, if the offense had hit better they could have stretched pitchers more.  

White Sox starters went wild. If there was one thing the White Sox pitching staff did only well, not great, it was limiting walks. The Astros were pretty good at getting walks. all in all you'd expect some walks here but nothing crazy. But in 34 innings the White Sox gave up 18 free passes, including 12 in 12.1 IP by the starters. The Astros were going to get hits, that's what they do. They don't have to get walks or hit homers, that's how you might stop them. By giving them walks the White Sox gave them a way to turn those singles and doubles into a lot of runs and a lot of runs early. It also made these games bullpen games for the White Sox. No team is well prepared for 3-4 bullpen games

The White Sox batters didn't wear out the Astros enough.  The Sox were second best at taking walks and the Astros are a wild throwing bunch. The combo should lead to a lot of White Sox baserunners. But they couldn't quite pull it off. No particular villain here. 

Lance McCullers was really good OK OK while I said usually players don't go above and beyond Lance McCullers did. He pitched more innings than anyone in a CS so far (but a very good chance Webb will pass him) and his pitched better than anyone even close, giving up 12 baserunners yes, but only two XBH both to Gavin Sheets, while striking out 9.