Brewers know stakes are high in series with division-leading Cubs
The Milwaukee Brewers weren’t about to downplay the importance of the four-game series against the Chicago Cubs that began Thursday night at Miller Park.
When you’re 31⁄2 games be- hind the division leaders and have only 10 games remaining, the urgency is duly noted.
“We know what’s riding on this series,” right-hander Chase Anderson said. “We know the impact it’s going to have on the rest of our season. Whoever comes out on top in this series, I feel is going to win the division.”
It’s not easy being the chaser, rather than the chasee, but that was the Brewers’ lot after they stumbled to 18 losses in their first 27 games coming out of the all-star break. In the process, the Cubs blew past them, going from 51⁄2 games out to as many as five games ahead earli-
er in September.
The Brewers finally got going in the right direction, and by sweeping the Cubs in a three-game series at Wrigley Field from Sept. 8-10 they pulled within two games of first place. Since that series, the Brewers had gone 6-3, winning three consecutive series.
But the Cubs went 7-1 over that stretch, including a seven-game winning streak that was snapped Wednesday night in Tampa Bay. So, instead of gaining ground, the Brewers lost 11⁄2 games in the standings over that stretch.
“They’re playing extremely well since the all-star break,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of the Cubs, who were 41-22 over that span. “I expected them to play well. That’s kind of what you expect.
“We know we need a run to finish the season to have a chance of that. We’re in one right now, in my opinion. We’ve put a pretty nice stretch of games together. We have 10 more games. We have to continue that.”
The Brewers suffered a tough walk-off loss in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night, preventing them from gaining ground on the Cubs and pulling into a tie with the Colorado Rockies for the second NL wild-card berth. But having two possible paths to the postseason has kept the Brewers energized and focused on today’s task, no matter what happened yesterday.
“This is as big as it gets,” third baseman Travis Shaw said. “Thankfully, this isn’t our only route into the playoffs. Three and a half (games) back with 10 games to play is tough to overcome. It’s not impossible,
BENNY SIEU / USA TODAY SPORTS
but thankfully, there’s another way in.
“You don’t feel trapped by having only one way win. We’re closer in the other race. It’s fun to realize we still control our own destiny in (the division) race but we need to win games, regardless. If we play like we’ve played the last 10 days to two weeks, I think we’ve got a good shot to get in, one way or the other.”
When the 2017 schedule came out, few people figured this series would be of any significance. The Cubs were coming off their historic championship season and the Brewers were in the second full season of a large-scale rebuilding plan, with only low expectations from outside the organization.
That gave the Brewers something of a nothing-to-lose outlook on the series but that didn’t mean they would be happy to finish second.
“The Cubs are really good but we’re trying to push the envelope,” said Anderson, who will start the series finale Sunday. “Look at where we’ve come from just since last season. Nobody expected us to be here. We have continued to answer the bell.”