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The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers will begin their best-of-five Division Series on Saturday. The two NL Central foes will square 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 have 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.
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
2:08 or 9:08 pm ET
TBS
Game 2
Mon., Oct. 6
9:08 p.m. ET
TBS
Cubs vs. Brewers: Game 1 info
- Time: 2:08 or 9:08 p.m. ET | Date: Saturday, Oct. 4
- Location: American Family Field — Milwaukee
- TV channel: TBS | Live stream: HBO Max
- Starting pitchers: TBD (CHC) vs. Freddy Peralta (MIL)
- Odds: Brewers -148, Cubs +126 | O/U: 7
Game 1 storylines
Cubs: The one day off should be enough for the Cubs to get their very-good bullpen in workable shape before Game 1 of this series, but there’s at least some concern surrounding Andrew Kittredge (threw all three games in the Wild Card Series) and Brad Keller (visibly ran out of gas in the ninth inning of Game 3). The Cubs bring in one of the strongest offenses in baseball, though it was mostly held at bay in the Wild Card Series by the Padres’ excellent pitching staff. The Brewers also have great pitching.
Brewers: Will the break do the Brewers some good or trigger a little rust? They were 19-21 in their last 40 games in the regular season and swept the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium after the All-Star break, which is a similar number of days off. This is an argument that the break was probably good for them. Peralta, who finished 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA this season, is the best pitcher in the series and will be looking to come through with an ace outing to get his team on top.
Series odds, prediction
- Series odds (via FanDuel): Brewers -116 | Cubs +100
Not much would surprise me here. This is two very good teams that are awfully familiar with one another. There are concerns with the Brewers’ rotation behind Peralta and I’ll wager the Cubs get rookie Cade Horton back. The Cubs have a more powerful offense, too, so I’ll say that also makes a difference. Cubs in 5.