2026 Postseason Thread

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

If Murphy were managing the Phillies, Bryce Harper would be bankrupt about now.

Just failed to run on a dropped third strike that went to the backstop.

[Brian]

15 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

My prediction when he went there is that he would not make it through the whole contract. I don't recall exactly what I looked up at the time, but no Cubs manager had made it more than 5 years since like the 70s or something similarly rare. 

I grant I've been generally wrong in that it has gone better than I expected, with them winning a lot and being good teams even though we've beaten them.    But as you said, next year looks like  a very good chance for a somewhat big dip, likely into the 80s for wins and possibly not making the playoffs in a loaded NL.  If that were to happen, yea that might be it for him and I still end up correct 

I believe Craig thought the grass was greener on the other side when he went to the Cubs.  He left the small market Brewers stating, "he needed a new challenge"  like Milwaukee just didn't spend enough money to ever make it anywhere. 

Now he's stuck in that cesspool ownership that thinks money is all you need for a championship.  By the way the "chairman Tom Ricketts" inherited his money from his father Joe Rickets.  Tom having the team just handed over to him by his father Joe, a family of pampered spoiled brats. 

[Frisbee Slider]

9 hours ago, RobertCrawley said:

And just to be clear, I don't mean hiring him, I just mean having him show his face at AmFam in Brewers gear.

Throwing out a ceremonial first pitch along with Ken Macha, Ned Yost or Ron Roenicke before an April day game on a Wednesday against the Rockies in 2032?

[SeaBass]

11 minutes ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Throwing out a ceremonial first pitch along with Ken Macha, Ned Yost or Ron Roenicke before an April day game on a Wednesday against the Rockies in 2032?

Exactly. What former managers are we celebrating anyway? I don't really recall any. None have accomplished anything. The only thing one manager has been able to do more than another former manager is achieve the best record amongst managers. Nobody really throws a parade for that. Harvey Kuenn is the only one that's made it to the world series and he lasted one more season after that before being replaced.

The thing is, CC was set up to be a beloved former manager here someday but he drenched that in gasoline and set it on fire. Now I'm not sure he's getting an invite back any time soon (or ever) and probably is looking at a future where he's treated as an afterthought by Cubs fans as well.

[Frisbee Slider]

"[We're all here] today because we've lost Craig, but I've reflected on this -- Craig has lost us and he's lost our community also."  —Attanasio

It does seem fences need to be mended with the principal owner, too.

[Thurston Fluff]

19 hours ago, owbc said:

They did a decent job of pushing all their chips on the table for `26 but they lack organizational depth and had to play whack-a-mole to plug injuries. The Padres actually follow a similar script but do it better. 

Other than Skubal, the rest of the starting pitcher options at the deadline were all middle-to-bottom of the rotation guys. Depth additions, not guys that you would trust to start an elimination game. Zeferjahn was a nice add that will help them out in the future but not someone who is going to flip a series. 

I don't see the Cubs being a serious contender in '27. They will probably spend some money, I could even see them signing Skubal, but they have too many holes to fill and not many home grown options to fill them with. 

I'd argue it was a terrible job of doing it. If they had the prospect capital to get Skubal and maybe another above average pitcher I could see the logic of getting starters. If not then maybe get some relievers who can shorten games. What they did was get average at best starters who'd need quality relievers to back them up then failed to provide said relief. They'd have been just as well off getting a few scrap heap pitchers and hope their offense could pull them through. 

To go all in should be to get over the top not get back to what they were a year prior and could be next year. Deciding when to go all in is part of doing a good job of going all in. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

1 hour ago, Frisbee Slider said:

"[We're all here] today because we've lost Craig, but I've reflected on this -- Craig has lost us and he's lost our community also."  —Attanasio

It does seem fences need to be mended with the principal owner, too.

The full quote was less potent. He spoke really highly of Counsell. His point there was that the Brewers organization was a treasure in itself he had confidence it would continue to flourish, we shouldn't feel like the little brother left in the woods. 

I think the fans are a lot more bitter than Mark. I don't think Mark really cares, especially with how things have ended up. 

I agree with others though, I have no interest in a reconciliation with Counsell. I'm sure he's going to throw out one of 20 first pitches at the 70th anniversary or something, but I couldn't care less about him. I don't view him as the guy who rescued us or anything. I see him as a petulant baby, honestly. I didn't really like all his whining even when he was our guy.

I look at Arnold, Stearns, Yost, Murphy, Melvin, all as bigger pillars of the club.

Leaving is fine. Getting paid is fine. The ridiculous quotes since then where he pretends MKE doesn't mean anything to him, etc. Just go away, Greg.

[Brian]

7 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I think the fans are a lot more bitter than Mark.

I think so also because we upped our season win total by over 10 games per year and Counsell quadrupled his salary,  so everyone is happy now. 

[thammondwis]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

I think so also because we upped our season win total by over 10 games per year and Counsell quadrupled his salary,  so everyone is happy now. 

I may have been in the minority, but I wasn't upset about Counsell leaving at the time.  He had a miserable playoff record in Milwaukee (and it's not any better with the Cubs LOL).  So, I was ready to move on and try something different.

 

[LouisEly]

21 hours ago, titanrick said:

May have to splurge for one of these.

 

Completely
Useless
By
September

[Just Some Guy]

PSA:  Ticket prices for game 1 have declined over the last 36 hours. If anyone's interested: https://www.tickpick.com/buy-national-league-division-series-milwaukee-brewers-vs-san-diego-padres-home-game-1-series-game-1-tickets-american-family-field-10-3-26-7pm/8173883/?c=SPORTS&cc=BASEBALL&gcc=Professional (MLB)

I mean, they're still pricey, but this is the cheapest they've been the last two weeks.

[Just Some Guy]

Sounds like the Dodgers have chosen Skubal to start game 1 of the NLDS.

Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow.  It's like a 'best of the decade' all star team or something.

[Brian]

3 hours ago, thammondwis said:

I may have been in the minority, but I wasn't upset about Counsell leaving at the time.  He had a miserable playoff record in Milwaukee (and it's not any better with the Cubs LOL).  So, I was ready to move on and try something different.

 

I ranted many times mainly about his pitching changes I know that. He is avg at best. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

10 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

 If they had the prospect capital to get Skubal 

After some of the moves they made in the previous 12 months I don't think they did, at least not without seriously compromising the likelihood of getting any help from their farm system for the immediate future.

They made the moves they thought might help, which really didn't. It's what I love about them; how they keep wanting to be in some form of 'go for it' mode. Meanwhile their farm has fewer & fewer parts, you can't really be in the hunt for a Skubal, a Mason Miller, a Suarez, a Machado; and the next year you're left with a farm system missing those parts while everyone comes back one year older. It can be a vicious cycle.

[Jim French Stepstool]

13 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Throwing out a ceremonial first pitch along with Ken Macha, Ned Yost or Ron Roenicke before an April day game on a Wednesday against the Rockies in 2032?

I would only be on board with CC throwing out a ceremonial first pitch if he does it along with Jesse Winker & Ryon Healy.

[MrTPlush]

I think Counsell was a good manager, especially for the situation in which he inherited. I suppose I could nitpick his decision making, especially in the postseason…but I feel like we do that regardless of who the manager is. If you have a World Series potential team, retrospectively judging managerial decisions in a game will always be easy to make. Especially with such a good bullpen that we have had over this time.

Also, Counsell was the one that brought Pat Murphy here. Which has proven to be quite a genius decision in itself.

That isn’t to say I care about Counsell or ever want/care for him to appear in Milwaukee again. However, I think it’s a bit foolish to act like he isn’t a big reason why we have gotten to where we are. Unfortunately for him, he likely will never be appreciated for it now.

[Thurston Fluff]

19 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

After some of the moves they made in the previous 12 months I don't think they did, at least not without seriously compromising the likelihood of getting any help from their farm system for the immediate future.

They made the moves they thought might help, which really didn't. It's what I love about them; how they keep wanting to be in some form of 'go for it' mode. Meanwhile their farm has fewer & fewer parts, you can't really be in the hunt for a Skubal, a Mason Miller, a Suarez, a Machado; and the next year you're left with a farm system missing those parts while everyone comes back one year older. It can be a vicious cycle.

That was my point. Pushing all your chips in when doing so isn't going to have enough of an effect to matter is not doing a good job of pushing all your chips in. If there was ever a clear cut example of why that way of operating is not as good as the way the Brewers go about business it's the Cubs. 

[Thurston Fluff]

On 10/2/2026 at 6:29 AM, Frisbee Slider said:

Throwing out a ceremonial first pitch along with Ken Macha, Ned Yost or Ron Roenicke before an April day game on a Wednesday against the Rockies in 2032?

For all the guff Ned Yost got here, he managed a small market team to two World Series and won one of them. 

[wildcat83]

Facing the Dodgers anytime is tough, but the 2nd round is almost an impossible task.  That rotation lined up and fully rested facing whoever you have left to use after playing in the first round, no thanks.  Braves are a good team but will be fighting to avoid a sweep.

[liveforoctober]

Is it worth anything that 3 of the 4 'winners' today are current/former Brewers? (Hudson, Rasmussen, Hall)

[sveumrules]

From 2021 thru 2026 there have been 127 pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched. Here are some of the pertinent rankings for Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, Drew Rasmussen, and Brandon Woodruff...

907 IP (20th) | 84 ERA- (28th) | 90 FIP- (44th)
125 K+ (13th) | 85 AVG+ (7th) | 87 WHIP+ (21st)
20.1 rWAR (15th) | 16.7 fWAR (21st) | +9.43 WPA (13th)

831 IP (30th) | 72 ERA- (9th) | 77 FIP- (16th)
123 K+ (15th) | 85 AVG+ (8th) | 81 WHIP+ (9th)
22.3 rWAR (6th) | 19.7 fWAR (10th) | +9.61 WPA (12th)

617 IP (76th) | 68 ERA- (5th) | 76 FIP- (12th)
106 K+ (53rd) | 88 AVG+ (13th) | 79 WHIP+ (5th)
18.5 rWAR (20th) | 14.3 fWAR (30th) | +10.80 WPA (7th)

509 IP (122nd) | 67 ERA- (3rd) | 75 FIP- (11th)
133 K+ (8th) | 81 AVG+ (3rd) | 74 WHIP+ (2nd)
15.8 rWAR (28th) | 12.7 fWAR (36th) | +8.70 WPA (17th)

...maybe the most interesting thing is that Peralta has stayed the healthiest of the four despite being the smallest dude. Probably not too surprising that Woodruff has been the most dominant on a rate basis, but also had the most health misfortune. To crack Top 30 rWAR and Top 20 WPA despite being 122nd in IP is pretty remarkable in its own right though.

Three of the top nine by both ERA- and WHIP+, four of the top 13 by AVG+, three of the top 15 by K+, four of the top 17 by WPA, four of the top 28 by rWAR.