The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are renewing their division rivalry in the NLDS. The top-seeded Brewers showed no signs of rust in Game 1 on Saturday. After five days off, the Brewers exploded for six runs in the first inning and cruised to a lopsided win. The Cubs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first in Game 2, but the Brewers shut them down the rest of the way and clubbed three homers en route to a 7-3 win.Â
The Brewers will go for the sweep Wednesday in Game 3 at Wrigley Field.Â
The two NL Central foes are squaring off in the playoffs for the first time ever. The Cubs won the season series, 7-6, but the Brewers still won the division title by five games. In fact, they finished with the best record in baseball at 97-65. As such, the Brewers got a bye and had nearly a week off. The Cubs dealt with a hard-fought Wild Card Series against the Padres, winning 2-1, in order to make it here.Â
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The winner of this series will face the winner of the Dodgers-Phillies series in the NLCS for the pennant. The Cubs haven’t won the pennant since 2016, and that was their only one since 1945. The Brewers have never won the NL pennant (though they did win the AL pennant in 1982).
Cubs vs. Brewers schedule
|
Game 1 |
Sat., Oct. 4 |
MIL 9, CHC 3 |
TBS |
|
Game 2 |
Mon., Oct. 6 |
MIL 7, CHC 3 |
TBS |
| Game 3 | Wed., Oct. 8 | 5:08 p.m. ET | TBS |
| Game 4 (if nec.) | Thur., Oct. 9 | 7:08 p.m. or 9:08 p.m. ET | TBS |
| Game 5 (if nec.) | Sat., Oct. 11 | 4:38 p.m. or 8:08 p.m. ET | TBS |
Cubs vs. Brewers: Game 3 info
- Time: 5:08 p.m. ET | Date: Wednesday, Oct. 8
- Location: Wrigley Field — Chicago
- TV channel: TBS | Live stream: HBO Max
- Starting pitchers: Quinn Priester (MIL) vs. Jameson Taillon (CHC)
- Series odds (via FanDuel): Brewers -108, Cubs -108
Game 3 storylines
Brewers: The Brewers are fresh off their first back-to-back playoff wins since 2018 and need one more win to make the NLCS for the first time since that same year. They’ve already shown this series that they can win without the home run (nine runs, zero home runs in Game 1) and with it (all seven runs came via the homer in Game 2). With nearly a week off before Game 1 and days off both before and after Game 2, the bullpen is in great shape moving to Game 3.Â
Cubs: They still haven’t scored more than three runs in any playoff game so far. Even after getting a three-run home run from Seiya Suzuki in Game 2 of this series, they went eight scoreless innings after that. The bullpen was well-rested and still saw Daniel Palencia cough up a three-run homer in Game 2. The Cubs have even had uncharacteristic errors from Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson. Simply, they need to play so much better in order to have a chance.
Game 3 prediction
The Brewers are playing at a different level than the Cubs right now and look better at, well, everything. Changing venues won’t make a difference. The Brewers break out the brooms with a sweep. Pick: Brewers (-108)Â — Matt Snyder