The house always wins. In the National League Divisional Series between the Brewers and the Cubs, the home team won every game. Game 5, with both teams running out of trusted starters and turning to their bullpens, ended up being the lowest-scoring game of the series. The scoring was limited to four solo home runs, and even though the Cubs hit 57 more home runs than the Brewers during the regular season and two more during this NLDS, the Brewers came into their own when it counted. With home runs from William Contreras, Andreas VaughnAnd Brice TakeThey defeated the Cubs 3-1 and will host the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
Just as they had done during the regular season, the two teams came as close as possible to splitting the series. The Cubs won the regular season series 7-6, and the Brewers have now won the Divisional Series 3-2, leaving the teams at nine. The Cubs will return to Chicago and think about how to improve a roster that is now a huge, Kyle Tucker-shaped hole in the outfield. The Brewers are going to the Championship Series for the fourth time in franchise history and the first time since 2018, when they lost to the Dodgers. After seven years they get the chance for revenge.
While bullpen games involve a lot of mixing and matching, the early plans seemed fairly well written. Milwaukee came out of the gate hopeful with the big guns Trevor Megil could be the first pitcher of the entire series to hold the Cubs scoreless in the first inning before Pat Murphy Jacob Misiorowski for four. Then the Brewers had the rest of their bullpen ready for the game, thanks to a day off on Friday. “The pitchers, myself and Matt Arnold, we just sat in a room and just talked about the possibilities and considered a lot of factors,” Murphy said at the pre-game press conference. “But we chose Megill. He will throw tonight anyway.”
The Cubs opened with Drew Pomeranzthen let Colin Rea go through the order once. “I think both sides are kind of recognizing that the first inning has been a pretty big inning in this series,” said Craig Counsell before the match. “We went with a guy who can throw the ball really well.” Then they had the opportunity to bring in starter Shota Imanagaor mix and match with the bullpen. Although Imanaga started warm-ups in the fourth inning, he never entered the game.
In the top of the first inning, Megill fulfilled his assignment by mowing down the Cubs in order with a four-seamer that reached a speed of 160.9 km/h. Pomeranz tried the same trick in the bottom half of the inning, throwing 23 pitches, 19 of which were fastballs. After retirement Jackson Chourio and Turang, his fastball luck ran out. Contreras reached out and crushed Pomeranz’s 17th four-seamer, who was completely unaffected by the perfect position on the outside corner. He pulled the ball just over the left-center wall, where Milwaukee bullpen catcher Adam Weisenburger caught it in full swing and then raised his arms in triumph:
The Brewers took a 1-0 lead, but it wouldn’t last long. In the bottom of the second, Misiorowski followed the pace with even more speed, replacing Megill’s 60 mph heat with his own gas, which averaged 100.3 mph. It didn’t work. Seiya Suzuki went four-sieved at 100 mph (163.4 km per hour) on the outer half and lifted him into his own bullpen in right-center field. A Cubs pitcher tried to imitate Weisenburger’s feat by raising his hat to catch the homer, but the ball knocked right out of his hand:
It was Suzuki’s first hit this year on a pitch thrown 100 miles per hour or faster, and only the second in his four-year MLB career. The Cubs had tied the game at 1-1, but that was the last point they scored. Misiorowski settled down and allowed just one baserunner over the next three innings. He finished with four innings pitched, three hits, three strikeouts and his second win of the series.
The Brewers took the lead in the fourth. Rea followed Pomeranz and threw well, allowing a blind single Caleb Durbin in the bottom of the second and threw out around a rare error Dansby Swanson in the third. Rea retired the first two Brewers he faced in the fourth, but he left a cutter right above the middle of the plate for Vaughn, and he absolutely smashed it. The ball went over a leaping Happ, giving the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Vaughn threw up devil horns as he rounded first base:
Chicago’s only real threat came in the top of the sixth inning, when Murphy replaced Misiorowski with lefty Aaron Ashby. From a platoon standpoint, it made sense, as the Cubs had the top of their lineup coming to the plate, including lefties Michael Busch and Tucker. Still, it was a questionable move. Ashby had pitched in three of the first four games, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing four runs, three of them earned. Moreover, the top of the Chicago lineup had already had two chances to meet him. Things immediately went in the wrong direction. Busch sent a grounder up the middle for a single, then Ashby grounded Nico Hoernerputting runners on first and second base without outs. Ashby eliminated Tucker, and that was the end of his night. Murphy was never going to let him face the right-handed Suzuki, who had already taken him deep in Game 2. Chad Patrickwho had held the Cubs scoreless in his own three appearances in the series, continued his dominance. He retired Suzuki with a deep catch, then froze Happ with a perfectly placed cutter on the outside corner for the third out. The Cubs reached base only once in the final three innings. Meanwhile, the Brewers were on the verge of adding.
Andrew Kittredge came in to make the final stretch of the sixth inning, and Counsell sent him back out in the seventh, hoping to get four outs from the righty for the third time all season and the first time since the Fourth of July. It was one too many. After retiring the first two batters he faced, Kittredge started Turang with a slider on the outside of the plate. Turang unleashed a remarkably smooth swing, and even though the ball was destined for the deepest part of the park, everyone in the building knew it had left the ground. Turang held his follow-up and Kittredge turned to look at the ball. For one beautiful moment, both players had their right arms raised and their heads thrown back as they followed the ball:
Four hundred meters away, Pete Crow Armstrong made a wild leap for the fence, but the ball bounced twenty feet into the air against the back wall. The Brewers had put together an all-important insurance run and led by more than one run for the first time since the fourth inning of Game 2:
With a 3-1 lead, Murphy called Abner Uribe to get the last six outs. After striking out more than 30% of the batters he faced this season, Uribe didn’t strike out a single Cub, but he still slammed the door on them. He worked extremely quickly, allowing just one walk to Busch in the eighth inning and needing just 22 pitches to end Chicago’s season. The Cubs finished the game with only four hits and one walk. Aside from Suzuki’s home run, they only got one runner past first base.
In a double bullpen game, the bullpens were truly the stars. The two teams scored only 10 goals together. Durbin and Busch were the only players to reach base more than once. In the bulk role, Misiorowski picked up the win and threw the longest, but the Brewers got scoreless performances from Megill, Ashby, Patrick and Uribe. The Cubs got their own scoreless performances from Daniel Palencia, Caleb ThielbarAnd Brad Keller. With neither team able to make runs, the entire season came down to who could put the ball over the fence. The Brewers’ three two-out home runs kept them moving forward. In the NLCS, they face a Los Angeles team that they defeated twice during the regular season. If they want to win a third series against the Dodgers, they certainly need more zeros out of the bullpen.
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