2025 National League Division Series 1

2025 National League Division Series

Milwaukee Brewers 97 - 65 in the NL	3 - 2 Series Summary	Chicago Cubs 92 - 70 in the NL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Brewers: Pat Murphy | Cubs: Craig Counsell

Brewers

Cubs

Umpires[edit]

Edwin Moscoso, Mike Estabrook, Will Little, Lance Barksdale (crew chief), Chris Conroy and Ryan Blakney

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Chicago Cubs 3 Milwaukee Brewers 9	October 4	Matthew Boyd (0-1) Freddy Peralta (1-0)	2:08 pm
2	Chicago Cubs 3 Milwaukee Brewers 7	October 6	Shota Imanaga (0-1) Aaron Ashby (0-0)	9:08 pm
3	Milwaukee Brewers 3 Chicago Cubs 4	October 8	Quinn Priester (0-1) Jameson Taillon (0-0)	5:08 pm
4	Milwaukee Brewers 0 Chicago Cubs 6	October 9	Freddy Peralta (1-1) Matthew Boyd (0-1)	9:08 pm
5	Chicago Cubs 1 Milwaukee Brewers 3	October 11	Drew Pomeranz (1-0) Trevor Megill (0-0)	8:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ American Family Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cubs	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	6	1
Brewers	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	9	13	0
WP: Freddy Peralta (1-0); LP: Matthew Boyd (0-1)
Home Runs: CHI - Michael Busch (1), Ian Happ (1), Nico Hoerner (1)

Attendance: 42,678

Game 1 was decided in the 1st inning. The Cubs thought they had sent a strong message when Michael Busch led off the game with his second homer of the postseason, but the Brewers replied in crushing fashion, as their first three batters all doubled, and by the time the inning was over, they had scored six runs and had chased Cubs starter Matthew Boyd from the game. For good measure, they added three more runs in the 2nd, and the rest of the game was academic. The Cubs did homer three times, but they were all solo shots, and they were never in the game after the 1st inning. For his part, Brewers starter Freddy Peralta pitched into the 6th inning and set a franchise postseason record with 9 strikeouts.

As mentioned, the Cubs struck first, when Busch hit the fourth pitch of the game from Peralta into the stands in right center field for a quick 1-0 lead. However, Peralta was not rattled as he retired the next three batters in order. And then the Brewers went to work on Boyd. Jackson Chourio led off with a double, then Brice Turang hit a double on the next pitch to tie the game, and William Contreras hit a first-pitch double as well. Six pitches into the inning, the Brewers had taken a 2-1 lead, and they were just getting going. After an out, Andrew Vaughn drew a walk, then Sal Frelick hit a bouncing ball towards 2B Nico Hoerner. The ball was hit too softly for the Cubs to turn a double play, but in what was probably the key play of the game, it rolled under the glove of the normally sure-handed Hoerner, and Contreras scored. Boyd then struck out Chad Durbin for the second out but Blake Perkins got into a protracted battle with Boyd, fouling off a number of pitches, until he singled on pitch number 11. Another run scored, and that was it for Boyd, removed after just two-thirds of an inning in favor of Michael Soroka. Things did not improve for the Cubs, however. Joey Ortiz walked on four pitches to load the bases, then Chourio, batting for the second time, singled to left and two more runs scored. Things looked real bleak for the Cubs, and manager Craig Counsell's body language in the dugout showed as much.

After a quick top of the 2nd inning for the Cubs, the Brewers were at it again in the 2nd. Contreras led off with a single and Christian Yelich and Vaughn singled as well, to load the bases with no one out. Durbin singled with one out to drive in two more runs, making it 8-1. After a second out, Soroka walked Ortiz to load the bases again, and he was replaced by Aaron Civale. Next up was Chourio, already getting his third at-bat, and he singled in another run, but he appeared to pull a hamstring while running to first base and left the game, replaced by Isaac Collins. With the score now 9-1, the rest of the game was pretty much meaningless. Civale did pitch well after that first hit allowed, as he went 4 1/3 innings without giving up a run, saving the bullpen. The Cubs only had to use one other pitcher, Ben Brown, who handled two innings without giving up a run either. In the meantime, Peralta pitched well with a comfortable lead, not giving up anything else of consequence until Ian Happ hit a solo homer with two outs in the 6th. After giving up a single to the next batter, Carson Kelly, Peralta was replaced by Aaron Ashby. The Cubs added one last run, on a third solo homer, this one by Hoerner off Jared Koenig in the 8th, but it had no effect on the final outcome.

Game 2 @ American Family Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cubs	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	1
Brewers	3	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	x	7	11	0
WP: Jacob Misiorowski (1-0); LP: Shota Imanaga (0-1)
Home Runs: CHI - Seiya Suzuki (1); MIL - Andrew Vaughn (1), William Contreras (1), Jackson Chourio (1)

Attendance: 42,787

Game 2 of the series had a lot of similarities with Game 1, starting with a high-scoring 1st inning in which both teams got on the board, and in the end a victory by the Brewers by a relatively large margin, as well as a bunch of homers. After there were three long balls hit in Game 1, there were four today, and they accounted for all of the runs in a 7-3 Brewers win. On the mound, the Brewers decided to use an opener, and it went even worse than when the Cubs had done it in the Wild Card Series against the Padres. Did not the Brewers have a decent starting pitcher available after winning 97 games in the regular season and getting a full week of rest to prepare for this series? For some reason, they decided to ask reliever Aaron Ashby to start this game, and - there's no other way to put it - he was terrible. Luckily for them, their batters bailed him out. For the Cubs, Craig Counsell decided to give Shota Imanaga a straight start after hiding him behind an opener the previous series, but he was haunted by the gopher ball and ended up on the losing end of the decision.

Once again, anyone who missed the 1st inning (perhaps because they were watching the thrilling ending of the other Division Series game, thanks to MLB's fan-hostile scheduling), missed a whole lot of scoring. The Cubs' sole inning in which they scored started innocently enough, with a one-out single by Nico Hoerner, but things soon degenerated for Milwaukee as Kyle Tucker drew a walk and Seiya Suzuki followed with a home run to give Chicago a 3-0 lead. Ashby got the final two outs after that, but he had put his team in a big hole. However, the Brewers replied immediately after Imanaga came out by striking out the first two batters he faced. The trouble for him started with back-to-back singles by William Contreras and Christian Yelich, and Andrew Vaughn made him pay dearly when he blasted a moon shot to left field, a ball hit so high that it wasn't certain that it would clear the fence - but it did. So it was now 3-3, and there was in effect a clean slate to start from.

Ashby returned to pitch the 2nd, and again got himself in hot water when he walked Matt Shaw and gave up a single to ageless Justin Turner, starting at first base for the Cubs today. That forced Pat Murphy to burn one of his better relievers to finish the inning, as Nick Mears came in to retire Hoerner. Imanaga then retired the Brewers in order and Murphy finally brought in a pitcher who could give him some length, sending in rookie Jacob Misiorowski to start the 3rd. The hard-thrower had electrified the baseball world when he had made his debut back in June, making the All-Star team in record time before being slowed by some injuries. Tonight, however, it was the Misiorowski with astounding stuff and boundless energy who came out, and he quickly disposed of the Cubs in the 3rd. In the bottom of the inning, Imanaga once again got the first two outs easily, but after that he was burned by Contreras who connected on a fastball on the outside corner and drove it into the left field stands for a solo homer. The Brewers had the lead for the first time and would never relinquish it. For his part, Imanaga did not finish the inning as he gave up a single to Yelich and gave way to Daniel Palencia. Misiorowski had another strong inning in the 4th but Palencia did not, as he hit Caleb Durbin with a pitch with one out, then gave up a single to Joey Ortiz with two down. That brought up Jackson Chourio, whose presence in the line-up had been doubtful until a couple of hours before the start of the game due to the leg injury that had forced him to depart Game 1 early, but he looked like his normal self in this at-bat, driving a ball to center-field for a three-run homer. It was now 7-3 after just four innings, but the scoring ceased after that, and that would be the final score.

The final innings were a case of both bullpens doing their job well. Misiorowski pitched another solid inning in the 5th, completing a three-inning stint having allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out four. He received credit for the win, and Chad Patrick, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe all took a turn on the mound in the final four innings without giving up a single hit among the four of them. For the Cubs, Drew Pomeranz replaced Palencia after Chourio's homer and got three outs, then Colin Rea handled the final the final 3 1/3 innings in an outing similar to that of Aaron Civale in the first game, not being particularly overpowering, but keeping the Brewers from adding any runs while not forcing Counsell to dig too deep into his bullpen. The net result though was another win for Milwaukee, who were now heading to Wrigley Field with a chance to end the series in short order.

Game 3 @ Wrigley Field[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brewers	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	7	0
Cubs	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	4	8	0
WP: Drew Pomeranz (1-0); LP: Quinn Priester (0-1); SV: Brad Keller (1)
Home Runs: CHI - Michael Busch (2); MIL - Jake Bauers (1)

Attendance: 40,737

For the third straight game, there was a lot of 1st-inning scoring in Game 3, but this time it was clearly in favor of the Cubs, as they outscored the Brewers 4-1 in that frame, and then held to that lead for the rest of the game, eventually winning by a 4-3 score to extend the series. On the mound, veteran Jameson Taillon was starting for Chicago against Quinn Priester, who had had a remarkable streak of 19 of his outings on the mound, most of them starts, end up as wins for the Brewers. That streak had ended with his final start of the season, and today, things did not go well for him.

In the 1st inning, the Brewers had a chance to once again start off with a crooked number of runs, but they ended up with only one. Christian Yelich led off with a double on a ball that LF Seiya Suzuki should have caught, then with one out Brice Turang drew a walk and William Contreras singled to load the bases on a pop-up to the infield that no one on the Cubs seemed to have judged properly. The one run scored on a sacrifice fly by Sal Frelick, but Taillon got Caleb Durbin to fly out and end the inning with minimal damage. The Cubs replied immediately and with force. Michael Busch hit his second lead-off homer of the series to tie the score, and Nico Hoerner and Kyle Tucker singled and walked. Suzuki then hit a ball to deep right on which Frelick made a nice sliding catch, but that allowed Hoerner to move to third. Ian Happ then walked to load the bases, but Carson Kelly struck out for the second out. However, Priester could not get the final out. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to drive in two of the runners, to make it 3-1. Pat Murphy decided to remove his starting pitcher there and then, bringing in Nick Mears. Crow-Armstrong broke for second, and the ball escaped from C Contreras for a wild pitch, allowing Happ to score while PCA was credited with a stolen base. Mears eventually walked Dansby Swanson on his 9th pitch, but finally ended the inning by striking out Matt Shaw. It was now 4-1 for Chicago, and while the Cubs would not score again, it would be enough to win this game.

The Brewers went down in order in the 2nd, and José Quintana came out to pitch for an extended stint in relief, that would eventually last three innings. He was in trouble in the 3rd when Suzuki led off with a double and Happ drew a walk, but Quintana retired the next three batters without the runners advancing. The Brewers finally did something in the 4th, when Frelick singled with one out and Caleb Durbin and Jake Bauers followed with singles of their own, cutting the lead to 4-2. Brandon Lockridge then attempted a squeeze bunt, but Durbin was caught in a rundown by 1B Busch, and eventually tagged for the second out before Joey Ortiz grounded out to third. That was the end for Taillon, who was replaced by Drew Pomeranz the first of five relievers for the Cubs. There wasn't much action in the next couple of innings, until Bauers greeted reliever Andrew Kittredge by hammering the first pitch of the 7th inning into the left field stands. It was now 4-3, and the crowd at Wrigley Field was getting nervous, but the Brewers were unable to take advantage of a great opportunity in the 8th. It started with a lead-off double by Jackson Chourio off Kittredge. Craig Counsell brought in lefty Caleb Thielbar at that point, and he got two outs on a strikeout of Turang and a force-out by Frelick after a walk. Having faced his three batters, Thielbar then gave way to closer Brad Keller who walked Durbin to load the bases. Jake Bauers had been Milwaukee's most dangerous hitter that evening, but he struck out this time, stranding all three runners, and in the 9th, Keller retired all three batters he faced in order, closing out the win.

Game 4 @ Wrigley Field[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brewers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Cubs	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	x	6	10	0
WP: Daniel Palencia (1-0); LP: Freddy Peralta (1-1)
Home Runs: CHI - Ian Happ (2), Kyle Tucker (1), Michael Busch (3)

Attendance: 41,770

The Cubs once again avoided elimination with a win at home in Game 4, and once again they largely did it thanks to a big 1st inning, in which they homered and scored three runs. This time, though, they combined this with some excellent pitching, limiting the Brewers to just three hits, and kept on adding runs starting in the 6th inning, making sure that Milwaukee had no chance to crawl its way back. The pitching match-up was the same as in Game 1, with Freddy Peralta facing Matthew Boyd, who was already making his third start of the postseason. Even though Boyd did not pick up the win, leaving one out short of completing five innings, it was clearly his best start of the three and helped to put the Cubs on the rails to a win.

Boyd did something no other pitcher had managed to accomplish since the start of the series, which was to keep a clean sheet in the 1st inning. He did so in spite of walking the first batter, Christian Yelich, by keeping the Brewers from hitting any ball hard after that. In fact, getting any sort of decent contact was a problem all evening for the Brewers' hitters, as they managed just three hits: a single by Jackson Chourio with two outs in the 3rd; a lead-off double by Sal Frelick in the 5th; and a single by Andrew Vaughn off Daniel Palencia with two outs in the 6th. Except for the double, this is not how successful rallies are built, and the Brewers never really threatened except for that 5th inning, when Frelick's double was followed by a walk to Blake Perkins and a sacrifice bunt by Joey Ortiz. The Brewers had a genuine chance to get back in the game with two runners in scoring position and the top of the order coming up, but Boyd struck out Yelich for the second out and Craig Counsell brought out Palencia to record the final out, on a pop-up by Chourio. Since Boyd did not complete the 5th, Palencia received credit for the win; it was already his third of the postseason, but it was mainly a function of his usage pattern, as he had not pitched any better than anyone else on the staff.

In any case, the game was decided in the bottom of the 1st. After Peralta had struck out Michael Busch, who had already hit two lead-off homers in the series, Nico Hoerner hit a single and Kyle Tucker drew a walk. Peralta had a good chance to escape when he struck out Seiya Suzuki for out number two, but Ian Happ had the big hit of the day, a very long homer into the right field stands, and it was now 3-0 Chicago. It was in fact all the runs they would need that day. Peralta did not give up much else after that blow, but left after four innings, and Trevor Megill, the first relief pitcher delegated by Pat Murphy, got in trouble as he started the bottom of the 5th, walking Matt Shaw and allowing a one-out single to Hoerner. Murphy removed Megill in favor of Aaron Ashby and the Cubs immediately pulled off a double steal. Ashby walked Tucker to load the bases, but he then struck out Suzuki and got Happ to fly out to center to escape without giving up a run. However, the Cubs had three more turns at bat and would score in all of them, putting the game further and further away each time. The first of these three runs came in the 6th thanks to an error by 3B Caleb Durbin that allowed Carson Kelly to reach, followed by a sacrifice bunt, a walk, and a single by Shaw. The two others came on solo homers, by Tucker to lead off the 7th, and by Busch in the 8th. On the mound, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar each pitched one inning, and none of the three gave up a hit, completing the combined shutout.

Game 5 @ American Family Field[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cubs	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	2
Brewers	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	x	3	6	0
WP: Jacob Misiorowski (2-0); LP: Colin Rea (0-1); SV: Abner Uribe (1)
Home Runs: MIL - William Contreras (2), Andrew Vaughn (2), Brice Turang (1); CHI - Seiya Suzuki (2)

Attendance: 42,743

There were just four runs scored in Game 5, and all of them came on solo homers. Because the Cubs had badly out-homered the Brewers during the regular season, one would think such a scenario was favorable to them, but in fact two other trends overcame this: the first was that, once again, there was a run in the 1st inning, and the team winning that inning would go on to win the game, and the other being that the home team won every game of the series, and the Brewers, by virtue of posting the best regular season record in the majors, had home field advantage for the decisive game. On the mound, both teams decided to go with openers, perhaps wishing to turn around the first trend we mentioned - it worked for the Brewers, but not for the Cubs, as Trevor Megill and Drew Pomeranz were the first to take the mound.

Megill had been his team's closer for a good part of the season, before being slowed by an injury, and he had never really been used as a starter except for a couple of games in 2023. However, he did what he was asked to, retiring all three Cubs batters he faced in order - the first time a starting pitcher for the Brewers had managed such a feat in the series. For the Cubs, Pomeranz, who had made a remarkable comeback this year after sitting out three full seasons, had a long history of starting, although he had not done so regularly since 2019. He had been used as an opener four times during the season, but like Megill, he was there for a short stint only. He got two quick outs, and then William Contreras hit the first homer of the night, a hard-hit line drive that just cleared the fence in center field, to put Milwaukee ahead, 1-0. Pomeranz then retired Christian Yelich, and the night was already over for both starting pitchers. For Milwaukee, up next was the rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who had been the winner in Game 2, but he started off on the wrong foot as his second pitch to Seiya Suzuki, a 101 mph fastball, was driven to right-center for a homer. The game was tied. Misiorowski settled down after that early mistake, however, and would go on to pitch four innings while giving up just two more hits, both singles, and no walks. It was his second excellent performance of the series, and it earned him his second win. That win came because the Cubs' second pitcher, Colin Rea, also gave up a solo homer, this one to Andrew Vaughn with two outs in the 4th. It came on a sweeper on a full count and went to left field. Rea had been cruising along until then, but he could not record the final out of the frame, giving up back-to-back singles to Sal Frelick and Caleb Durbin following Vaughn's homer, and on the second of these, Pete Crow-Armstrong's throw back to the infield was wild, allowing Durbin to take second while Frelick stopped at third. Rea issued a four-pitch semi-intentional walk to Blake Perkins to load the bases, and Daniel Palencia came in to record the final out in a tense situation, as a hit could have really hurt the Cubs at that point. But Palencia got Joey Ortiz to ground to short.

The Brewers' 2-1 lead looked pretty fragile, but the Cubs could not get anything going on offense. Suzuki's homer was their only extra-base hit of the game, and they managed just four hits altogether, with only one coming after the 3rd inning. That hit came courtesy of Michael Busch, leading off the 6th against Aaron Ashby, who had just come in for Misiorowski. Ashby then hit Nico Hoerner with a pitch, and the Cubs finally had something going. However, Ashby struck out Kyle Tucker for the first out, and Pat Murphy brought in Chad Patrick to pitch. Patrick got out of the jam by getting Suzuki to line out to left and by striking out Ian Happ. By now, the Cubs were running low on outs, and they expended three more when Patrick retired them in order in the 7th, picking up a couple more strikeouts in the process. In the bottom of the 7th, with Andrew Kittredge on the mound, Brice Turang, whose bat had been very quiet the entire series, unloaded on a pitch, driving it deep to center field for the longest and last homer of the evening, giving the Brewers a precious insurance run. Murphy then brought in his closer, Abner Uribe to handle the final two innings. Uribe's control was poor, as he got pinch-hitter Moises Ballesteros to fly out on a pitch that looked out of the strike zone after falling behind 2 and 0, and then walked Busch on four pitches. Hoerner followed with one of the hardest-hit balls of the night, a sinking liner that left his bat at over 105 mph, but Durbin snatched it just off the ground at third base for out number two. Tucker then hit a more routine grounder to Turang at second base, and the Brewers were just three outs away from advancing. Uribe was entering uncharted waters as he had almost never pitched more than one inning this season, but if anything, he looked to have settled down after his control problems of the previous inning. Suzuki hit the ball well, but Jackson Chourio ran it down in left field for the first out, after which Happ hit a routine fly ball to Frelick in right. The Cubs were down to their last out, and it was Carson Kelly. On Uribe's first pitch, he hit a routine grounder to Ortiz at shortstop, and was thrown out to end the game. The Brewers were moving on.