MILWAUKEE — This score just in: Christian Yelich 3, Colorado Rockies 2.

This best-of-five playoff series has only just begun, but it didn’t take long Thursday to determine Colorado has a big problem. His name is Yelich. He’s the best player in the National League. And if the Rockies aren’t careful, Yelich will beat them by himself.

With Yelich at the plate, Colorado has basically two choices: 1) Walk him, or 2) Let him crush the baseball so hard it hurts to watch. “He’s on everything,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

In defeat, Colorado players stared blankly at plates of sushi in the clubhouse, pondering what might have been in a gut-wrenching, extra-inning loss to Milwaukee.

Under the bright lights of the interview room, Black was grilled on questionable end-game strategy, opting to pitch to dangerous Milwaukee left-handed hitter Mike Moustakas in the 10th inning. Might have intentionally walking him been a safer, wiser decision?

“I thought about it, for sure,” Black said.

Losing pitcher Adam Ottavino wore a bitter-beer face. After serving up a fat two-strike pitch Moustakas lashed into the outfield for the game-winning single as Yelich scampered home with the winning run for the Brewers, Colorado’s right-handed reliever was asked if it would’ve been a better idea to walk Moustakas.

“That’s a question for the manager,” Ottavino said.

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, every amateur manager on the sofa back in Denver would have issued a free pass to Moustakas, and let Ottavino go after light-hitting catcher Manny Pina to end Milwaukee’s two-out threat.

But Colorado didn’t lose this game with bad strategy. The Brewers won it because they clearly have the most dominant player on the field for either team. That’s no small claim, considering Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story suit up for the Rockies.

Going forward, it’s the real tough decision for Black: What on earth do the Rockies do with Yelich?

I humbly suggest Colorado’s mantra must be: A.B.Y. Anybody but Yelich. With a tip of the cap, Black needs to give Yelich nothing to hit and dare the 24 mere mortals on Milwaukee’s roster to beat the Rockies.

“Do you have a vote for MVP?” Colorado veteran Carlos Gonzalez asked me early last week, long before the playoff pairings in the National League were set. I asked CarGo how he would cast his ballot.

“I’d vote for Yelich,” Gonzalez said.

In Game 1 of this series, Yelich was the difference. Colorado starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela threw five innings and made only one mistake.

Yelich smashed that one small error by Senzatela for a duck-for-cover, no-doubt-about-it bomb over the fence in left-center field, staking the Brewers to a 2-0 lead that held until a dramatic Colorado rally in the top of the ninth. Yelich reached base in four of five at-bats in Game 1. He drove in two runs, scored the game-winner and stood 10 feet tall, fully bulletproof in his No. 22 Milwaukee uniform.

And know what’s really scary? Since Sept. 1, this was just another run-of-the mill, super-human performance by Yelich. Since the outset of September, nodding in respect to Yelich and letting him walk to first base after getting no reasonable pitch to hit has been the only reasonable strategy.

In his last 96 at-bats, Yelich has smacked 11 homers and driven in 35 runs. His on-base percentage? An other-worldly .526. His slugging percentage? A baseball-god-like .832. His OPS? Somebody grab me a calculator, my mind is boggled.

You remember the 2002 World Series between the Giants and Angels? Black does. He was the pitching coach for Anaheim. His task? It was impossible. Black had to figure out what to do with Barry Bonds, then at the height of his powers, both natural and (allegedly) chemical.

“Do you remember that guy?” Black said. “I remember that. That guy was good.”

Sixteen years ago, Bonds put on the most frightful display of hitting I’ve ever seen. He had eight hits in 17 at-bats, including four homers. He was so unstoppable, the Angels issued him 13 walks, including a half dozen intentional passes, once with a runner on first base with two outs in the first inning.

And do you remember what team won that World Series, after deciding that surrendering to Bonds’ greatness was the better part of valor? The Angels.

So what do the Rockies do with Yelich?

“We’ve talked about it … You know there’s a plan,” Black said. “Just like we talked about (Bonds) 16 years ago, you have to be careful depending on the game situation. With that said, I think there also has to be an aggressive mindset to pitch a baseball game … I think it’s best to think aggressively to each and every hitter.”

That’s a brave approach. But when Colorado pitchers take the mound, do they really want to challenge Yelich? Is that the hill you want to see this amazing Rockies’ season die on?

I think not.

Pitch to Yelich?

Just say no.