The most exciting thing about the MLB postseason is that every game, every inning and every pitch opens up a font of new potential storylines. Everything you think you know heading into a particular moment can be upended in a matter of seconds. All narratives are temporary; everything is transient.

• 2021 postseason schedule

That said, what are stakes and context without storylines? We have four games on Monday, and each team comes into their matchup with one major story. As you sit in front of your television all day, soaking all of it in, let this serve as your primer: Here’s the biggest thing to watch for each team heading into this game … and the rest of the postseason. Absorb each of these, and then prepare for them to be immediately eradicated after the first pitch.

Game 3: Brewers at Braves, 1 p.m. ET, TBS
Brewers: Will any hitters get hot?

The Brewers’ weakness, the big scary one with gnarled teeth and crooked claws, all season has been their lineup. It didn’t cost them much during the regular season because of their incredible rotation and bullpen, but in the postseason, there aren’t any terrible pitchers: Everybody’s great. That has vaporized the Crew's bats. They have two extra-base hits in the series so far, and their only runs came on Rowdy Tellez’s two-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 1. They’re getting baserunners -- two more than the Braves, actually -- but the lack of an impact bat, now that Christian Yelich is whatever Christian Yelich is now, is even more glaring in a series this tightly matched. With their pitching staff, the Brewers don’t need much. But they need something. All it may take is one guy getting hot. But which one? If any?

Braves: Is Anderson a postseason whiz kid?

It was the bottom of the third inning of Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS that Ian Anderson, just 22 at the time, finally gave up his first runs of the postseason on a two-run single from Will Smith that tied a game the Dodgers would find a way to win. Until that point, Anderson had thrown 17 2/3 scoreless innings and was a large reason the Braves had made it that far in the first place. They need him just as much on Monday, in a contest that isn’t as pivotal as that Game 7, but pretty darned close. Anderson hasn’t been the world beater in 2021 that he was a year ago, but he has still been solid; he has more than earned his Game 3 start. But now would be a terrific time to revive that 2020 mojo.

Game 4: Astros at White Sox, 3:30 p.m. ET, FS1
Astros: When is Correa's moment coming?

The Astros didn’t get the sweep they wanted, but it’s difficult to argue they’re not in prime position in this series, thanks in large part to Cristian Javier’s bullpen-saving 2 2/3 innings to settle down a Game 3 that was getting out of control. Houston still lost, but it could have been much worse. Besides that, they’re still the Astros: They’ve been here many, many times before. And few have been there more than Carlos Correa, who has had more massive postseason moments than anyone. He can’t hit a walk-off in Chicago, but he has hit a homer in every postseason series he has played in since the 2019 ALDS -- that’s five straight series, including one Wild Card Game -- and he doesn’t have one yet. He’s still hitting the ball hard; the moment is coming.

White Sox: How healthy is Rodón?

If you listen to what Carlos Rodón said to Tony La Russa when he successfully talked himself into starting this game, the answer to “how healthy is Carlos Rodón?” is ... “healthy enough!” But the question is very much up in the air whether the left-hander is the utmost authority on this. His fantastic season has been undone in the last month, making just two starts due to left shoulder fatigue, and not throwing more than five innings since July. Now the entire season is resting on that sore shoulder. Up until July, there wasn't a pitcher the White Sox would want pitching this game more, but it has been a long time since we saw the All-Star version of Rodón. It all comes down to which version of him we see -- or if that old one is still around.

Game 4: Rays at Red Sox, 7 p.m. ET, FS1
Rays: Can they pick themselves up off the floor?

There are tough losses, and there are the ones that leave you staring at the wall for several hours afterward, flicking the lamp on and off and being unable to stop your left eye from twitching. We’ll never know how much the controversial-- if rightly called, by the rulebook, even if it’s one of those calls that feels emotionally wrong while technically correct -- ground-rule double call in the top of the 13th cost the Rays (one run, two runs, maybe more?), but we do know that the Rays were devastated by it. Your team would be, too. The question now is whether or not the Rays can recover. They certainly have the talent to do so, and they’ve overcome more than this before. But we’ve seen teams fold and crumble for less.

Red Sox: How do they piece together all these innings?

Nick Pivetta was initially supposed to be the Game 4 starter, but he could probably use a break: He was awfully busy Sunday, throwing four scoreless relief innings, striking out seven and making a series of excited struts off the mound. That means Eduardo Rodriguez will start on short rest for his second start of the series. You can’t expect him to go long, but hey, the Rays used nine pitchers on Sunday. Chris Sale will be set to go on full rest for a potential Game 5, but it’s not like he has been 2018 Sale lately, let alone 2014 Sale. Sunday was an incredible win. But they’re going to have to pedal as fast as they can on Monday as well.

Game 3: Giants at Dodgers, 9:30 p.m. ET, TBS
Giants: Can they get the advantage back? And the Giants kismet?

The Giants spent essentially the entire season holding off the Dodgers -- who won 106 games! And finished in second! -- much to the surprise of all of baseball. That advantage evaporated in Game 2, with the Dodgers’ bats finally waking up and reminding everyone why they thought they’d chase down the Giants in the first place. Now, they’re facing Max Scherzer, with Alex Wood no less, to try to avoid having their 107-win season potentially go up in smoke in front of 50,000 screaming Dodgers fans. The Giants’ success has been unfairly -- and lazily -- been chalked up to pixie dust and dragon’s tails all season. But they could really use some pixie dust and dragon tails right now.

Dodgers: Is Scherzer, you know, Scherzer?

Max Scherzer has been awesome for the Dodgers since coming over at the Trade Deadline. His work with the Dodgers might have won him a Cy Young Award, after all. But it is also sort of undeniable that Scherzer hasn’t been quite himself lately. He gave up a total of five earned runs in his first nine starts for Los Angeles, but in his last two regular-season starts, he gave up five earned runs in each. He muddled through the NL Wild Card win over the Cardinals, but he was anything but sharp, and was actually lucky not to get hit harder than he was. The Dodgers brought him in to be the shutdown postseason starter we have seen him been countless times. A pivotal Game 3 is, uh, probably the right time for him to be that person.