Fear The Chorizo

That stinks for him and the sox, but honestly it is par for the course seemingly for just about any young pitcher that throws with velo approaching triple digits. Hope he has a quick recovery, because this likely impacts part of 2020 as well

Cubs with another hardfought 10 inning win tonight - Nats had a shot to tie or win it during various AB's in the 10th with Harper, Soto, and Reynolds - they went K, K, and lineout to center with a Rendon single sprinkled in between. bully for them, and it stinks the Nats didn't find a way to get a W on a Strasburg start when the Brewers were idle. On the silver lining side of things, Cubs used basically all of their reliable relievers in tonight's game, so guys like Strop, Cishek, and Wilson are being asked to extend themselves a lot. You've got to hope that at some point this grind is going to weaken their bullpen enough to cost them a few games they should have otherwise won or at a minimum keep them on fumes when the Brewers face them again in a few days - if it doesn't you tip your cap and go win a wild card spot.

While I like your passion and optimism - I just don't see any way now that the Brewers are still fighting for the division heading into that last weekend. Unless MLB decrees that the Cubs are guaranteed a win in all of their other remaining 17 games not against the Brewers, there are actually tons of ways - because baseball. I acknowledge most of those routes would require the Brewers to at least win and ideally sweep next week's series in Chicago to continue tightening the gap, which I hope is less than 5 games in the loss column after their upcoming 4 game series in Washington. I expect the Cubs to hang onto the division, but I'd be surprised if they suddenly run away with it based on how both the Brewers and Cards are playing. Alot can happen over 3.5 weeks of a season.

Just keep winning series - trailing by 5 in the loss column to the Cubs makes the division a tough hill to climb, but hopefully the Cubs make it a bit easier by losing the two extra games they have on their schedule. If they win both of those games on days where the Brewers are idle, there's probably not enough schedule left unless they find a way to go through a 3-7 stretch of games that aren't against the Brewers (i.e. - Crew gets alot of help). I'd love to think the Brewers could pull off a road sweep at Wrigley (they did so last September to keep their marginal division hopes alive), but counting on it is unrealistic. As weird as it sounds, I actually like STL staying close enough to both the WC and Division lead right now - for the sake of division title hopes, I want to make sure the Cards have a playoff spot to play for in their last series against the Cubs. In my perfect world, all three teams are within a couple games of each other headed to that last weekend series, with the Cards just trailing or even with the Brewers. Brewers sweep the Tigers, and then the Cards beat the Cubs in a hardfought series in Chicago - Brewers win the division, Cards win top wild card spot while the Cubs take the 2nd wild card. Then they have to travel to STL for the wild card game before the winner heads back to Milwaukee for the Division series. Or better yet one of the NL west teams catches fire with the rockies and there's a tie for the second wild card spot that forces a play-in game to decide who plays the wild card game.

Well, let's see if the brewers can deliver an unexpected thrill right here

I'm trying to keep faith that he will get hot, but every lost at-bat makes it harder. He's actually been pretty decent the last week or so, but he doesn't put together very good at-bats. Last 28 days: .278/.344/.500/.844 I think people were expecting schoop to continue his al player of the week hot streak at the time he was traded for two solid months. Otherwise it's apparently a franchise killing trade for some.

frustrating inning to say the least - need a clean top of the 5th from Chacin, although I'd be ok with him just hitting murphy if they can't get him out provided he doesn't score

Keep it reasonably close here, please...in case the offense decides to show up

Don't the brewers have an offday tomorrow? Can't yelich rest then? He's gotta be the lh bench bat used in a tight spot when the cub rh relievers get into the games. I don't like this lineup, simply because cc should throw caution to the wind and start your best player in this game. They've got 4 off days between now and seasons end - no reason to rest guys if they are healthy and hitting well anymore.

Kinda nice knowing that based on pitching probables at this point, the Brewers won't face Hamels again and won't get Lester until their final game against the Cubs. With no off days for the Cubs between now and then, it's not like Maddon can try to line up his rotation or bullpen any differently. You don't see the Cubs play this poorly in the field and on the mound very often, and one has got to figure that fatigue is starting to play a role. That could all change tomorrow should Quintana pitch well and the Cub bats put something together against Chacin - Regardless I'm pumped the Brewers already won this series and are set up very favorably down the stretch with 4 days off to keep key arms rested. Despite this crazy stretch for the Cubs, they only have 2 remaining.

Agreed, particularly considering if there are actually any Cub fans still around they totally deserve the public shaming we all know would most certainly be directed at Brewer fans if the shoe was on the other foot. Hope they all enjoy their self-inflicted traffic jam drive home

I know it's out of hand in large part to the walk-a-thon issued by Cub pitching, but the amount of quality depth the Brewers' expanded roster has when most everyone is healthy is pretty damn impressive...especially considering where their payroll is even after all the trades.

This is now aaaa scrub or position player reliever territory for the hipster manager...damage has been done and he will keep the 2-3 late inning arms the cubs count on to close games out for tomorrow. Would be great to either destroy them again or win a 14 inning marathon tomorrow to really crush their pen before their flight out of town.

Cubs look like a tired club, and they still have 8 more games and two more flights before a night off.

With the top of their order going through a 3rd time, I'd have the pen fired up at the start of next inning...Miley did go well over 100 pitches against the Reds last start. He's earned the shot of starting the 6th though

Is Garcia warming up in the pen? (not watching on tv)

Interested to see whether Montgomery gets pulled for a pH this 1/2 inning. I think the Cubs just brought up Jaime Garcia, so he'd be a logical choice to continue the LH pitching through middle innings of this game. Probably too early for Maddon to start burning through his regular pile of relievers...

don't let this clown wiggle off the hook again

Montgomery just had a dl stint for a shoulder, and he doesnt look right. That should have been a huge inning, but wound up scoring a run by basically being gifted it. Need a crooked number on their starter the next time through the order.

For the love of god, put the ball in play

No crooked numbers in early innings, please

The brewers have gotten to Montgomery in a few games over the past few seasons, seems like it's feast or famine though.

Seems like a showcase month to flip him this offseason before the orioles injure him. There was no way Ortiz would have reached milwaukee for 2+ years. That said, I actually hope he does well!

A big part of this also stems from the fact that until 1998, the Brewers were an AL team and never played the Cubs. I know tons of people who like both the Cubs and Brewers (as weird as that seems now), because when they were growing up and through their parents' generation, their AL team was the Brewers and their NL team was the Cubs. So, you have scores of longtime Cub fans, whose family rooted for them long before the Brewers even existed, living in or extremely close to the Milwaukee market. After all, who beat the Brewers in the 82 series? The Cards...and who is typically considered their biggest rival? Yup, the Cubs. It was actually pretty easy to root for both the Brewers and Cubs for a long time because they didn't have a competitive history and they shared hatred of the same other clubs. I try not to get too ticked off about it, because frankly the proximity to Chicago revenue and Cub fans is as big a reason as any why the Brewers are still in Milwaukee. Prior to Miller Park even opening, I remember Bud Selig himself and other Brewer PR reps sitting in the Cubs' broadcast booth during Cub / Brewer games as the ballpark was being built talking about how great it will be for Chicago Cub fans to have such a close opponent to their backyard - particularly with a stadium that basically guarantees no rainouts. I even recall some mentions of how Milwaukee was still sort of a Cub town during that timeframe, since even interleague play really hadn't taken off until the late 90's, the Brewers just starting off as a NL team, and they were in the midst of an extended period of being a MLB afterthought without a clear path towards contention.

Cubs are probably hoping for a solid start from Montgomery, but he hasn't gone 5IP + since early August and really can't be expected to go much past 6 even at his best. He had a short DL stint and his last start lasted 66 pitches in ATL. Would be a great game to get him out early and then make their bullpen work overtime. They griped alot about balls and strikes yesterday, but some of their key relievers just didn't have it when they needed them - keep making Maddon have to make pitching changes.