Misiorowski's Heater Meets a Cubs Lineup Trying to Snap a Skid
The calendar says September, and Wednesday night, as Milwaukee rolls into Wrigleyville for Game 3 of this five-game set, the Cubs will try to halt a slide that has cost them ground recently.
Chicago sits at 75-60, a mark that still reflects a plus-125 run differential and a team capable of real damage — witness the 17-5 demolition of Cincinnati that's tucked inside their last five games. But that blowout is sandwiched between losses, including back-to-back defeats to Arizona by a combined 4-7 scoreline, and the Cubs enter Wednesday having dropped four of their last five. Milwaukee, meanwhile, keeps rolling. The Brewers are 85-52, riding a spectacular plus-177 run differential that ranks among the best marks in baseball, and they've won four of their last five, including a pair of comfortable victories over the Mets sandwiched around a Texas series in which they took two of three.
This is Game 3 of a five-game set between two teams still sorting out the pecking order of the season's stretch run. The first two games of the series have been tightly contested — Monday's opener finished level, and this middle game arrives with both clubs looking to seize control before the series turns toward its final two contests.
The pitching matchup alone should tell you which team carries the greater sense of urgency. David Peterson takes the ball for Chicago sporting a 5.108 ERA, numbers that reflect a rotation stretched thin by attrition. The Cubs' pitching staff has been gutted this year — Justin Steele is on the 60-day injured list, and the bullpen has been decimated with Shelby Miller, Ben Brown, Porter Hodge, Phil Maton and Riley Martin all sidelined for 60 days, plus Gavin Hollowell and Edward Cabrera on 15-day stints. That's not a bullpen; that's a triage unit, and it puts enormous pressure on Peterson to go deep and keep the game manageable.
Across the diamond, Milwaukee counters with Jacob Misiorowski, whose 1.728 ERA is the kind of number that stops a lineup's momentum before it starts. The Brewers have their own injury concerns — Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester are both on the 60-day injured list, and the bullpen has absorbed hits from Angel Zerpa, Rob Zastryzny and Brian Fitzpatrick, among others — but Misiorowski's brilliance on the mound has been the through-line of Milwaukee's season, and it's the single biggest advantage either team brings into Wednesday.
The lineups will have to adjust for absences of their own. Chicago will be without shortstop Dansby Swanson and third baseman Alex Bregman, both sidelined, forcing the manager to lean on a reshuffled infield. Milwaukee has its own holes to patch, with Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick and Andrew Vaughn all unavailable, meaning the Brewers' offense will run through a different cast than their usual top of the order.
That puts even more emphasis on the players who are healthy. Pete Crow-Armstrong has been must-watch theater in center for Chicago, having posted a 100-point fantasy performance in one of his last three outings, sandwiched around more modest showings — the kind of week-to-week volatility that makes him equal parts thrilling and unpredictable. Seiya Suzuki has similarly swung between a zero and a 50-point game in his last three, while catcher Carson Kelly delivered a monster 57-point night just three games ago. If the Cubs are going to make this series competitive, that trio needs to be the engine.
For Milwaukee, William Contreras has quietly been excellent behind the plate, stacking a 37 and a 22 in two of his last three outings, and Christian Yelich has shown flashes with a 24.5-point game mixed into his recent stretch. Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz round out an infield that, even without some of its regular pieces, has kept producing enough to support Misiorowski's brilliance on the mound.
There are no fantasy projections attached to this one, so lean on the matchup itself: a Brewers team that's healthier at the top of its rotation, riding better recent form and a run differential that dwarfs Chicago's, against a Cubs club that's shown flashes of firepower but can't trust its pitching staff to hold a lead. Misiorowski's ERA is the story here, and it's hard to bet against a pitcher performing at that level against a lineup still finding its footing without key infield pieces.
Prediction: Brewers 6, Cubs 3. Misiorowski keeps Chicago's bats quiet into the sixth and Contreras adds another multi-hit night as Milwaukee looks to seize control of the series heading into Thursday.
