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<\/p>\nMILWAUKEE \u2014 The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are largely even teams, especially on offense. The Brewers have an edge in on-base percentage that\u2019s driven by their high batting average. But the teams are nearly even in strikeout and walk rate \u2014 both teams are among the best at making contact and not chasing out of the zone.<\/p>\n
The big difference is that Chicago is very aggressive in the zone. The Cubs swing at pitches in the zone at a 66.2 percent rate (seventh in baseball) while the Brewers are last at 62 percent. That aggressiveness has led to significantly more power output by the Cubs, who hit 57 more homers than the Brewers and had a big edge in isolated power (.181 to .145). The Cubs are among the best in baseball in both categories and the Brewers are a bottom-third team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why you try to build teams that are good at a lot of things,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019re going to hit a lot of home runs, so you want to be good at a lot of things offensively. Obviously, we have hit home runs. But you want to be able to count on a number of things so whichever one pops up, you\u2019re just good at a lot of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In theory, if the Cubs are going to win this series, they\u2019re going to have to lean into that power advantage. Counsell obviously wants to get more slug, but in general, he just wants more runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just gotta put more pressure on offensively,\u201d he said. \u201cThe home runs are great. We had six or seven base runners (on Saturday). That\u2019s not a lot. But yeah, that\u2019d be great. Getting guys on base and slug? Love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cubs had six hits (three of them solo home runs) and three walks on Saturday. They went just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. So it wasn\u2019t as if they put a lot of pressure on Milwaukee in the first game.<\/p>\n
That has to change. The Cubs need to find ways to get men on and then leverage their power advantage in those moments. So far this postseason, they have six homers, all of them of the solo variety. In the postseason, the pitching is better \u2014 the best teams are leaning on their best pitchers. That means more strikeouts and fewer walks. Power is often what sets teams apart. The Cubs won that battle on Saturday, but little else. And of course, all that matters is the final score.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did the thing they\u2019re good at (Saturday),\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat won a game for them. There\u2019s probably been zero games in the history of the postseason where a team outhomered the other team three to zero and lost. Until (Saturday).\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh bullpen<\/p>\n
\n Brad Keller, left, high-fives Nico Hoerner after saving Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
There are very few silver linings to take away from Game 1. One small victory is that Counsell got to rest a bullpen that was taxed heavily in the wild-card round. Particularly righties Daniel Palencia, Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe three right-handers, I think, needed the break,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI\u2019m glad they got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller threw two of three games, tossing 37 pitches on Thursday. Kittredge worked all three games. Palencia worked Games 1 and 3, but went more than one inning in both and did two up-downs. With two off days surrounding Game 1, that means three full days of rest for the trio of righties as well as lefties Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz. That\u2019s something that hasn\u2019t happened for all five since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n
Counsell is going to need his bullpen arms to eat innings. Game 2 starter Shota Imanaga will have to go at least four innings, but he may be pushed to do more. But with another off day on Tuesday, perhaps Counsell is aggressive with the hook.<\/p>\n
Attacking the Brewers\u2019 lineup with relievers won\u2019t be as straightforward as it was with the San Diego Padres, though. Sending righties to face Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, then a southpaw for the trio of lefties near the bottom of the order, was an easy call. Milwaukee\u2019s lineup is just different. And better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re balanced at the bottom,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd we matched well (with the Padres) with two of our starters being left-handed. The handedness of the pitchers is kind of neutral with this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
However they\u2019re deployed, expect the most important arms in the Cubs bullpen to be used on Monday. That they\u2019re fresh could be crucial for a Cubs team that needs to take Game 2 to feel confident heading back to Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n
Kyle Tucker sticking at DH<\/p>\n
While Jackson Chourio tested his hamstring on Saturday at American Family Field, Kyle Tucker wasn\u2019t running around trying to prep his once-injured left calf to play the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cTucker\u2019s DHing,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cIt could change. Right now I don\u2019t see any reason for it to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsell has been happy with the performance of Seiya Suzuki in right field. During the Padres series, Counsell said he felt that Suzuki was underrated as an outfielder, but last year with Cody Bellinger and then this year with Tucker, the team has had better outfielders to play in front of him. But despite some high-profile mistakes, ones where he just dropped the ball, Suzuki has always been a capable defender.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s playing well, I think he feels good out there,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI think he knows this is his job now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t expect Counsell to force Tucker into the field. There\u2019s little reason to push it and the team is happy with both the lineup and the defensive alignment as it is.<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Michael Busch: John Fisher \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are largely even teams, especially on offense. The Brewers have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":280468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,5386,1818,4247],"class_list":{"0":"post-280467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-milwaukee-brewers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115324072007518556","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}