Less hair = less home runs
Just in time for playoffs

Tucker has 0.0 WAR lmao
Tyrone Taylor stats since joining the Cubs:
.6 WAR
5 RBIs
9 Runs
AVG - .409 (18/44)
OBP - .460
SLG - .545
OPS - 1.005

The breakdown of runs scored is: 10 runs 4×, 11 runs 2×, 12 runs once, 17 runs 2x, and 19 runs once. All such games have been wins, meaning the Cubs are only 14-18 (they are 24-18 since the break) when scoring less than double digits. They have scored 7-9 runs 7 times, going 5-2 in such games, and 4-6 runs 13 times going 6-7. Games with 0-3? The Cubs are 3-9 with all 3 wins coming with 3 runs.

We all know this is a team of extremes, particularly in the 2nd half, but even then the struggle to win consistently with solid run production (4-6 is solid) is concerning. With the rotations the Dodgers, Phillies, and Brewers can assemble you have to figure the likelihood of scoring 0-6 will be much greater than scoring 7+ (especially at the rate they are).

With all this said, the run production has been beyond impressive.

Mantle and Maris did it twice. Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro did it as well during the steroid era.

With a healthy Swanson, the Cubs have an infield of all 1st round picks. With Happ in LF, PCA in CF, Shaw in RF, and Peterson starting, that’s 8 guys all drafted in the 1st round. Carson at catcher was just shy, getting drafted late in the 2nd.

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 9:24 PM.

This man has created a monster or awakened a sleeping giant, but Chicago sports haven’t felt this fun in a long time.

Pitching is nonexistent

Keep this going all week.

Brewers (85-52) @ Cubs (77-60)

First Pitch: 6:40 PM at Wrigley Field

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 9:24 PM.

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Hey all, after the amazing atmosphere of the late June series, with the anticipation that this series will feel like Playoff Baseball in September, I figured that I would break down in depth the starters and lineups for both teams. Just a heads up I'm posting this to both subs, so there will be some redundant information.

Game 1:

Clay Holmes vs Kyle Harrison

Tonight's marquee matchup is particularly exciting.

Clay Holmes will pitch for the Cubs. A sinkerballer with an insanely high groundball rate, he's normally a match made in heaven for the Cubs' number 1 defense, but with the absence of Dansby Swanson and speed of the Brewers' lineup, the weaker arm of Nico Hoerner and downgrade at 2B in Pedro Ramirez may prove to be a problem for the Cubs. Holmes has 5 other offerings that he throws including a sweeper and cutter to righties, and a circle change-up to lefties. Expect the ball to be put in play a lot. Holmes has made 1 start against the Brew Crew, posting a 3.38 ERA over 5.2 innings, with 1 K and 4 walks.

Kyle Harrison will start for the Brewers tonight, and any Brewer fans to pay attention are thrilled with this. Since joining the Brewers and having his fastball refined, he has faced the Cubs twice, pitching 7 innings of shut out ball with 11 strikeouts while only allowing 3 baserunners. His second start was a 5 inning, 9 strikeout appearance where a single and HR marked his 2 runs allowed and half of the baserunners. There may be concern with the fact the Cubs will be seeing him for the third time, in a very hot and humid day for a fly ball guy. He boasts a great fastball with some great rising action that I credit Brandon Woodruff with teaching him, and an ELITE slurve. He has a circle change he throws rarely to RHHs. Harrison was just recovering from an injury, and has had a mix of very good starts, and some starts where he has looked a little shakier, with his inning total being low as a notable point. With only a 7 man bullpen right now, the Brewers will need him to have a deeper outing than his last few with two of their long relievers throwing yesterday.

Game 2:

Matthew Boyd vs Robert Gasser

Robert Gasser was a former top prospect who really took a bad case of the injury bug that has changed his trajectory. Gasser throws a 4 seamer, sinker and cutter that he tunnels really well to miss the barrel of the bat, and a sweeper as a breaking pitch. He does a great job of inducing soft, in the air contact, which could be dangerous against several Cub hitters who have excellent bat to ball and line drive skills, such as Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman, or guys who just mash fly balls like Seiya Suzuki and PCA. Gasser's one appearance vs the Cubs was a solid 6 inning, 7 K outing, but that was pre-injury so I'm not sure how much stock to take in it.

Matthew Boyd is a fairly pedestrian pitcher this year. He peppers fastballs, then uses circle changes to RHH and Sliders to LHH as his putaway pitches. His groundball rate is average, and while he limits hard contact to league average, he gets barrelled a lot and often finds himself trying to work his way out of jams. He goes deep in games, but primarily relies on early count outs or double plays to manage to claw deeper into games. The Brewers have brutalized Matthew Boyd every time they see him except for Game 4 of the NLDS. Like his ERA is in the double digits except for a 4.2 inning effort.

These are frankly each team's respective weakest starter appearing in this series, but neither are BAD pitchers, which speaks to the strength of both lineups.

Game 3:

David Peterson vs Jacob Misiorowski

David Peterson's pages are a tale of two teams. With the Mets, the poor guy had an ERA in the 6's, and with the Cubs he has been posting a 3.9 ERA. A sinkerballer who induces groundballs at a VERY high rate, everything to be said about Clay Holmes is true. Especially the guys who platoon vs LHP for the Brewers should scare Northsider faithful. He held his own vs the Brewers in June, earning the win in Game 2 of the first Miller Park series of 2026. I have a gut feeling that Luis Lara may have a day on game 3.

Jacob Misiorowski, whose name has 0 Z's, needs no introduction. His second start vs the Cubs contained the coolest baseball moment of the year when he fed off the electric Milwaukee crowd, dialed it up to 105.5 MPH and PCA managed to fight it off before being struck out on 104 later in the at bat. A real life Road to the Show player, his long limbs allow him to fire 100+ MPH fastballs over 40 times a game. The only ways to beat him is to outlast him, especially with the Brewers managing his workload in expectation of reaching the Fall Classic, or go yard. Which is no small task. His fastball is the headline, but all of his secondary offerings are phenomenal as well. The only concern for Brewer fans would be the fact that this will be the Cubs' 5th time seeing him in the last year, and they have no doubt prepped for him more than anyone else on this Milwaukee roster.

Definitively the biggest mismatch of starters, this game is the equivalent of a Dark Souls boss fight for Chicago.

Game 4:

Kevin Gausman vs Logan Henderson

Gausman boasts a 2 pitch mix. A low 90's fastball, and a splitter. He technically has a changeup he's thrown 27 times of over 2600 pitches, and a "slider" that equates to a batting practice fastball. It barely moves, only goes 84, and gets a .300+ batting average and .700 slugging against it. That's BETTER than Yordan Alvarez' stats, and that's over a 200 pitch sample. He doesn't walk guys often, strikes out at a league average rate, and has no real red flags, good nor bad. He has performed well against the Brewers over his career, posting a 1.99 ERA, but most recently allowed 3 runs in 5 innings in April.

Logan Henderson attended the George Kirby school of "throw lots of strikes and don't walk guys" to great success. He has that Woodruff/Harrison fastball with a lot of rise, and induces a LOT of pop ups. Almost 2 times the league average. He locates his fastball really well and trusts his defense if he does get hit. His secondary offering is a circle change that runs away from lefty bats really well. I anticipate him being a hard matchup for PCA, especially if he can paint the black and steal a strike. Pete's uppercut in his swing will mean either he misses it, or he drives it a long way though. He has never faced the Cubs before, and if the series has been close or tilted in the Cubs' favor and the Wrigley crowd is electric, he could feel the weight of the moment as a young starter. On a humid day he may be praying the wind blows inward.

Both of these pitchers are strong pitchers, and weather pending, I could anticipate this game being a close, tense game or a barn burner.

Bullpens

I'm mostly going to gloss over the bullpens, but just know that the Brewers are running a 6 man rotation, a 7 man bullpen, headlined by the Megill, Uribe, Ashby trio and staffed with 4 long releivers. Uribe will return tonight from a 20 day IL stint.

The Cubs' bullpen is a variety of long relievers, waiver wire pickups, and the survivors of an injury wave that would make an NFL team squirm. Craig has been asked to throw random bullshit at opposing lineups, and made it work, but those who were effective are definitely getting worn down. Daniel Palencia just returned from injury, but is still finding his groove.

Lineups

The Brewers lineup can be described as one word: relentless. Top 5 in every stat but homers, where they rank last in baseball. They work counts, they attack their pitch and get on base by any means necessary. Pitchers wake up in cold sweats over the prospect of facing Turang, Chourio, and Bauers the third time through because even their bottom of the order pitchers exhaust them. Their middle infield defense is very good, and their outfielders are all pretty solid. They sit between above average to middle of the pack depending on what defensive metric you ask, but I tend to lean toward calling them an easy top 10 unit with everyone healthy. Their bench is full of good defenders, runners, and platoon bats.

The Cubs are the best offense in baseball. Headlined by the MVP candidate in PCA, a very patient lineup stands behind him. Every member of the Cubs lineup is patient, save for a few bench bats. They lead the league in OBP, Runs, and are top 3 in HR in a very humid, hot week at Wrigley where it can be assumed the wind may be blowing out. As great as the Brewers' pitching is, this is not a team to get into a shootout with. The Cubs also have the best defense in several years, BUT they are missing Dansby Swanson, causing Nico Hoerner to travel to short stop, where his arm is more of a liability, and his chemistry with Pedro Ramirez, a perfectly average 2B, quite the downgrade from a gold glove contender is still developing which hurts their ability to turn double plays. Counsell frequently deploys platoon guys, so expect Tyrone Taylor, Matt Shaw, Michael Conforto, and Ian Happ to frequently leave the lineup.

This series, and the following one featuring matchups of Gasser v Peterson, Misiorowski v Gausman, and Henderson v Imanaga, who the Brewers have crushed, will be some of the most exciting regular season games we're likely to see this year.