Cubs players, Craig Counsell refuse to get caught up their rival's dominant stretch

The Chicago Cubs know what they need to do in order to turn around their recent fortunes. The bullpen needs to stabilize, sure, rotation reinforcements would help, yes, but, really, it all comes down to the offense regaining its footing after a historic showing in the first half.

Prior to the All-Star break, Chicago ranked fourth in baseball with a .771 team OPS. In the second half, they've tumbled down the leaderboard with a .711 OPS that ranks 17th. Recent struggles from the team's pair of early-season MVP candidates in Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong have left a hole in the lineup and getting their bats going again soon will be huge.

The date circled on the calendar, whether the Cubs will admit it or not, is Aug. 18, when the first-place Milwaukee Brewers come to town for five games in four days, including a day-night doubleheader to open the series that Monday. Craig Counsell's former club is laying waste to opponents of late, winning 14 of 18 to open the second half and opening up a four-game lead over Chicago in the standings.

So what does Counsell think about the Brewers' impressive run>?

“I don’t spend much time thinking about that,” Counsell told Marquee Sports Network. “We have five more games where we can control their outcomes — time spent worrying on them, other than that, is not helpful.”

Brewers keep rolling, despite a pair of incredibly high-profile injuries

What's been especially eye-catching is Milwaukee has kept rolling, even with Jackson Chourio and Jacob Misiorowski both on the IL currently. They've embodied a 'next man up' mentality and continue to pile up wins. The Brewers currently lead all of Major League Baseball with 70 wins on the season.

Just 48 games remain between now and the end of the 2025 regular season, meaning that head-to-head series accounts for over 10 percent of the Cubs' and Brewers' remaining slate. You can either view that as 'wow, that's a huge chunk' or 'that leaves the other 90 percent to factor into the equation' - either way, it doesn't change the fact that Milwaukee is steamrolling teams on a nightly basis and the Cubs have, more or less, looked lost of late.

“The most important thing for us is [48] games from now, when we’re at the end of the season, what that looks like,” rookie Matt Shaw said. “That’s a lot of games left. We’re really just looking at tomorrow. We’re gonna get rolling, so we’re gonna be good.”

Let's hope so, Matt. Let's hope so.