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.

Chicago Cubs: Reigning NL MVP off to a scorching start

Entering Friday’s series opener, Christian Yelich shows no signs of slowing down. He carried his historic finish to the 2018 season into 2019, hitting four home runs in the team’s first four contests. In Milwaukee’s first seven contests, the outfielder boasts an unthinkable 1.531 OPS – the fifth-best mark in all of Major League Baseball.

Q: There’s no way Christian Yelich keeps this up all season… right?

A: Well he’s already fallen off the 162 home run pace, unfortunately, but I think he can keep this up for the whole season for the most part. He won’t hit home runs every single game, but Yelich is the real deal. The second half of 2018 was not so much a “career year” as it was a “breakout campaign”. Yelich is just 27 years old, and I think he’s just getting better.

Call me a homer if you like, but with his swing, his approach at the plate, and his mentality, Yelich has the ability to repeat as NL MVP and improve his numbers. Pitchers will work around him a lot more this season, but mistakes will still be made and he’s proven to be able to make them pay for that.

Ryan Braun said it best the other day, “I think everybody should take the time to appreciate it because what we’re witnessing is greatness”. He may not be able to do it on a Mike Trout level for basically a whole decade, but he’s coming pretty close. This is his prime, and if there was ever a year where he could keep this up for a whole season, it’d be this year.

Well, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The guy who almost singlehandedly took down the Cubs last summer is firing on all cylinders and shows no signs of slowing down.

Chicago Cubs: Without Knebel, who reigns in the bullpen?

Last season, the Brewers rode a three-headed monster in the bullpen deep into October in the form of Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress and Josh Hader. Without two-thirds of that trio, Milwaukee has cruised to a 6-1 record early in 2019, but they also know they’ll be without Knebel for the entire season.

The right-hander will undergo Tommy John surgery, leaving a gaping hole in their pen. But will the other guys step up? Reviewing the Brew seems to believe so.

Q: Corey Knebel is done for the season. Do the Brewers have enough ammo in their belt to hold things down without him?

A: I think they do. Jeremy Jeffress will be back soon and Josh Hader has been as dominant as ever, throwing an Immaculate Inning earlier this year against the Cardinals. Alex Wilson has also been a quality addition so far.

This has been the big question for the Brewers fanbase for a couple of weeks now. Many are pushing to sign Craig Kimbrel, and while he would be a tremendous addition, I think the high contract price and the loss of another draft pick are what’s holding the Brewers back from getting him. After the June draft passes, I could see a deal coming together if he remains unsigned.

The Brewers pride themselves on depth and even though injuries have started to eat away at that depth, I think they have enough there to hold down the fort.

Chicago Cubs: Cain a quality defender, above-average offensive threat

Everyone and their mother knows what Christian Yelich did last season. He leapt past Javier Baez, claiming National League MVP honors. But Milwaukee featured another Top-10 MVP finalist in center fielder Lorenzo Cain, as well.

Cain compiled an .813 OPS last season, earning the second All-Star selection of his career and providing Gold Glove-caliber defense alongside his fellow Brewers outfielders. This year, he’s already ended a ballgame by robbing a home run – and is off to a scorching start at the plate. Yet, somehow, he’s still a pretty underrated guy.

Q: How is it that Lorenzo Cain is still underrated in the game today?

A: I think the only reason why is that he doesn’t hit home runs very often. Cain only had 10 long balls last season and homers and slugging percentage are two big stats people look at nowadays. As a leadoff hitter, Cain doesn’t need to hit home runs, we have our 2-7 hitters that can do that just fine. But he draws a lot of walks and gets on base a lot ahead of Christian Yelich, which is exactly what the team needs from him.

Cain’s defense is criminally undervalued in my opinion. He should’ve won the Gold Glove last year over Ender Inciarte and it’s ridiculous that he hasn’t won one yet in his career. His home run robbery on Opening Day kickstarted his Gold Glove campaign for this year. He tracks baseballs so well and there are few better at it than Cain. I don’t understand how that part of his game is so underappreciated. 

Chicago Cubs: Fans won’t like this NL Central prediction

There’s little more I need to say about this. Last year, the Brewers shocked the baseball world, keeping the Cubs from winning a third-straight National League Central crown. That, of course, forced Chicago into the one-game Wild Card – which they promptly lost in front of a packed house at Wrigley Field.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

So what will 2019 bring? More of the same if you ask Reviewing the Brew.

Q: What’s your prediction for the NL Central race?

A: I have the Brewers winning the division again (shocking, I know). They won it last year and only got better in the offseason with the additions of Yasmani Grandal and Alex Claudio, and the re-signing of Mike Moustakas.

I actually have the Cardinals finishing in second and the Cubs finishing in third, and this is not because of any disdain for the Cubs, but because I don’t think they got any better. The Cardinals made a push in the middle of last season and finished a close third and just added Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller. They got better. The Cubs, I don’t think they improved their team very much. Jon Lester and Cole Hamels got a year older, and they didn’t make any notable additions. Perhaps improved health will make them better, but I think the rest of the division got better while the Cubs didn’t.

The Reds I think will finish fourth and the Pirates will finish in the basement. The Reds got a lot better but they’re not ready to break into the Top 3 yet.

So, with a lot on the line for an early April series, the Cubs will open a highly-anticipated weekend showdown at Miller Park on Friday. Can they get their season back on track with a sweep of the first-place Brewers? Guess we’ll know soon enough. Otherwise, we may be seeing stories about Joe Maddon‘s job security popping up come Monday morning.