Chicago Cubs: Previewing this weekend’s series with Reviewing the Brew

For the first time since last year’s winner-take-all Game 163, the Chicago Cubs battle the Milwaukee Brewers, looking to re-establish their footing in 2019.

When the 2019 regular season schedule dropped, most Chicago Cubs fans had this weekend’s matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers circled. It represented the team’s first crack at taking the fight to the team that surged late last year to steal the NL Central division crown in front of the Wrigley faithful in Game 163.

Now, it’s circled on the schedule for a very different reason. Chicago (1-5) is coming off a sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, the pitching staff is performing historically poorly and, meanwhile, Milwaukee (6-1) has already built an early 4 1/2 game lead over the Cubs in the division.

Chicago will hand the ball to left-hander Jose Quintana on Friday night, who makes his 2019 starting debut. He came on in relief last weekend in Texas, pitching relatively well, but he’s had his way with the Brewers since joining the Cubs. The team can only hope that trend continues this weekend.

I chatted with David Gasper of Reviewing the Brew, the FanSided site dedicated to all things Milwaukee Brewers, earlier this week and suspect I’ll hear plenty from him this weekend on Twitter, as well. Here’s what he had to say.