First Things First, Cubs Need to Score More After Opening Frame
The Cubs have scored a total of 16 runs over six postseason games, which is hard enough to stomach all on its own. But when you consider that half of their scoring has come in the opening frame, all against the Brewers, things get downright perplexing. Their only offense in Milwaukee outside of the 1st inning has come by way of meaningless solo shots from Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner. Give credit to the Brewers bullpen where it’s due, but the Cubs playing like offensive camels isn’t a sustainable model.
Or perhaps you prefer the analogy of eating breakfast at a churrascaria and gorging yourself before stumbling through the rest of your day in a meat coma. Their four early runs were enough to outlast the Brewers on Wednesday night as a parade of relievers held off a late surge. Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon received no letters next to his name in the box score, but Drew Pomeranz earned the win for his lone inning of work. Daniel Palencia, Andrew Kittredge, and Caleb Thielbar all earned holds for plugging leaks in the dam with their fingers, and Brad Keller duct-taped the whole thing together for a save.
Putting up a four-spot and knocking starting pitcher Quinn Priester out of the game before recording three outs felt huge in the moment, with Cubs hitters batting around like gaucho waiters in a rodizio experience. Then Brewers manager Pat Murphy pulled a roll of Tums from his pocket, along with a pancake, and Milwaukee began to chip away. You’ve got more faith than I do if you weren’t expecting the worst when Kittredge, Thielbar, and Keller combined to load the bases in the 8th.
And yet, the Cubs managed to escape and extend the series by winning their third of four postseason games played at Wrigley this season. It was also the first time since Game 5 of the 2017 NLDS against the Nationals that they scored more than three runs in a playoff contest. They went on to score a total of 10 runs over their subsequent eight playoff games against the Dodgers, Rockies, and Marlins over three different years, only scoring three runs once and one run five times.
Despite a roster that has been almost completely overhauled since then, the same bugaboo keeps hanging around. While it’s true that postseason pitching should play a part in stifling offense, all three other games on Wednesday saw the winning team score five or more runs. Three of the four AL teams scored at least six on Tuesday night, and every team other than the Cubs has scored at least five runs in a division series game. The Dodgers are the only squad that hasn’t posted at least eight runs in a game this round.
We can talk all we want about how the Cubs’ highly imperfect rotation has led to questionable pitching decisions, but you can’t even expect a group of aces to keep their opponents under three runs every time out. At no point has it felt like the Cubs have salted a game away, which only serves to further increase the pressure on a beleaguered pitching staff that is desperately in need of a laugher. Well, one in which they’re able to pitch with a big lead rather than potentially wearing it in a blowout going the other direction.
And now here I am, making their lack of scoring out to be something akin to a choice. That’s obviously not the case, though it has appeared at times as though Milwaukee’s hitters are digging in with better awareness and a stronger approach than their division rivals. Then there’s the matter of the Brewers — and pretty much every other team — possessing a bevy of flamethrowers, which is an increasingly prevalent facet of modern staffs.
It’s cool that Michael Busch became the first player ever to hit multiple leadoff homers in the same postseason series, but that obviously only goes so far. Facing another do-or-die game at home tonight, the Cubs can ill afford to get ahead early and then turtle up for the rest of the game.
