SHOWDOWN: Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs Clash in EPIC Playoff Battle

SHOWDOWN: Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs Clash in EPIC Playoff Battle

And of course, as fate would have it, the Brewers are facing the Chicago Cubs in their first playoff series starting Saturday. Let’s get after it here on Locked On Brewer. You are Locked On Brewers, your daily Milwaukee Brewers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Is it Saturday yet? Hey everybody, Chuck Freeman. Good to have you along. longtime sports cer here in the state of Wisconsin, proud host of Locked On Brewers, part of Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team every day. Have ever said that since I’ve been doing this podcast that the Brewers have never lost the NL Central. They are owners of the NL Central, but none of that matters as we begin the playoffs coming up on Saturday. Good to have you along. Locked on Brewers. Coming up, we’ll talk about this first round opponent with the uh with the Brewers, the divisional playoffs. Can the Brewers finally break that door down and win a playoff series? They haven’t done so since 2018. Also, William Conures had some great things to say about the Milwaukee Brewers and the city of Milwaukee. We’ll talk about that. John Papadopoulos, sports cer, longtime sports talk show host in Lacrosse. We have a lot of lockdown Brewers listeners in the Lacrosse Oaklair area. We’ll talk to him a little bit later on in the show as well. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account, use the promo code lockdown MLB, you’ll get 20 bucks off your first purchase with Game Time. And I’m glad it’s the Cubs, too. I’m glad it’s the Cubs. Wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m not fearing these guys. I, you know, the And I think the the the dread for Brewers fans is not the fear of losing to Craig Council. It’s that we got to deal with the Cubs fans, and I’m going to get to that a little bit later on in the show. And I totally get you. I feel it. I don’t like them either. I I really don’t. Um, but Team Lifeless did find a way to get the job done in San Die uh at Wrigley against San Diego, avenging the 1984 NLCS loss uh when the Cubs broke a 41-year drought and got to the postseason and um lost to the Padres’s after having a two nothing series lead. They came back and won it 3-0. None of that matters, just like nothing matters as far as what happened this season between the Brewers and Cubs. Cubs won the season series seven to six. Brewers won the division in a landslide, but none of that matters. It is a whole new ball game once we throw it up on Saturday. Uh Craig Council, um the the drama of council uh being here and leaving us two years ago, I’m over it. I was well over it a long time ago and I’m tired of the stories and I’m tired of all that. Okay, now it’s just between um you know the nine on the field and the bullpen and the starting pitching against their nine and their starting pitching and their bench and their bullpen as well. Yeah, it would be a little extra special to beat him a little bit since he left the post posty note on the uh on the door before he left and oh guys, I’m going to Chicago. You know what Tom Green did to Marquette? Kind of did the similar similar thing. But so none of that matters that drama and all that. I I don’t really get into it. I’m I in fact I mean we we talked about it initially when it first happened obviously but I’m well over it and now it’s time to just to beat the Cubs, right? It doesn’t matter if Council’s managing or Joe Madden is managing or Whitey Lochman was the manager or Jim Fry or any of those Cubs legends. I don’t care. I just want to win this series and I think the Brewers will. Brewers are a slight favorite going in. They’re a minus 115 favorite going in. Both teams great on the base pass among the league leaders in stolen bases. Uh defense, both teams get after it defensively as well. And uh the Brewers I feel are the better team. I’ve said this all along. Yeah, I don’t give you that that the Cubs have won uh the series seven to six. I don’t want to hear any of that. The Brewers I feel man for man are a better team. Now, the Cubs, they had their locker room celebration on Thursday and all that. And uh we’ll see how they are when they get to uh a one:00 start on Saturday at AFAM Field. But those were three hard-fought games for the Cubs against the Padres’s. Three hard-fought games. They they emptied out. They dumped out their bullpen. Talion only went four innings. Uh Kitridge ended up closing out the game. They they almost couldn’t they almost tripped over themselves in the uh in the ninth inning against the Padres’s, but they found a way to get it done. And that’s the bottom line. They found a way to get them get it done. Team Lifeless got off to an early two nothing lead and then they kind of just sat on it. That’s what team lifeless does and uh they added a home run by Bush and the Padres’s made a threat in the air uh in the end. But um I feel like a couple of guys on that Padre team just didn’t come to play like the TE’s. But I’m glad I’m glad the Cubs won that series cuz I want to face the Cubs. I do. I I want to face the Cubs. Brewers are better than both of these teams. They are. They’re They won 97 wins for a reason. The Brewers are better than the Cubs and they’re certainly better than the Padres’s. Yeah. Yeah. They’re better than the Dodgers and I feel they’re better than the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers are still the best team in the National League. Now they got to go out and prove it. But I really love their chances. I love their chances. I love the intangibles with the with the Brewers in this series. Okay. I I feel like no lead is too uh no deficit, I should say, is too big for these guys. The Cubs I’ve seen this year, you know, they get down in the game or they just throw their hands up or sometimes they build an early lead and they don’t build on it. No, I I love the I love the Brewers in this series. And Freddy Peralta in game one. Who’s going to go for the Cubs? Maybe Assad. He has not pitched since Sunday. Could it be Colin Ray pitching in this game? Could he be pitching in this game? Now, the rosters won’t be out until Saturday morning. And we’ve talked about that a little bit on the previous episodes. And who might be the surprise for the Brewers and who might be a surprise for the Cubs. Will Savale. Yeah, Aaron Savale is on the Cubs roster. We didn’t see him in the wild card round, but he was on the roster for the wild card round for the Cubs. We’ll see if Savale is on the divisional playoff round and gets in. What how the fans will treat him. You talk about drama, it ended up working out great for the Brewers because they got Miz up here and then, you know, they got their first baseman out of this deal and it helped propel them to 97 wins because of Savali didn’t want to come out of the bullpen and then the White Sox didn’t want him anymore and the Cubs picked him up. We’ll see. A lot of connections between the two teams. Of course, Pat Hughes, the longtime voice of the Cubs, not him. I like Pat Hughes. I feel like one of the great announcers in not only in baseball but in Brewers history. You know the time the years he was here. He was here gosh I want to say 84 through 95 I want to say for 10 11 years next to Uker. Uh he’s been 30 years with the Cubs already. Unbelievable. Hall of Fame for a reason. He’s a great broadcaster and I like him. I always enjoy running into Pat. One of the greatest memories. That guy has got one of the greatest memories. That guy could not could meet you one time. Pat Hughes, the voice of the Cubs, could meet you one time and you may not see him for five years, okay? And he he would know your name. He’d know what your job is. He’d know what radio station you’re Pat Hughes. Good guy. But he has nothing to do with the game. He’s just broadcasting for the enemy. All right. Um, Contras, I got to tell you about this this Players Tribune article and what it what the Players Tribune article uh website is is it’s an article written first person by a player and in this ca, you know, we saw one by Christian Yelage a couple of months ago, right? And this one was written by Contrarus and I just thought it was really, really cool. Uh, off the top he says he did not want to come to Milwaukee. When he heard he was going to be traded to Milwaukee, he said, “Trade me back to Atlanta.” He told his agent. Now, I’m telling you, he’s not the first one to do that. Okay? There’s a lot of people, and let’s let’s be honest, we live in Milwaukee. We live in Wisconsin. We love it here. But it’s been a long standing thing in professional sports where guys do not want to get traded or end up in Milwaukee. I think some of that’s changing a little bit, but guys when they do get cut, when they do come here and they are part of the organization, they love it. They love it. And Contrarus initially said trade me back. He wanted to stay in Atlanta. He didn’t know what it was going to be like for him living in Milwaukee. to know anything about Milwaukee and uh but he loves it here. Now he says he loves it here. He wants to spend the rest of his career here and I hope he does, man. He he I hope he does. But he talked about I thought this was interesting. He talked um about when they lost in 2023 to Arizona in the playoffs or when he got swept in that series. Said he was crying coming off the field. Uh leaving he he was crying and he said he got in the locker room and then some players were actually happy the season was ending. Some players were actually happy the seasoning season was ending. And he said one player even joked about going fishing. And he said, “Guys, we’re leaving five minutes.” 5 minutes after the season ended. And I’m trying to wreck my brain. I’m trying to think cuz I was in that locker room about 15 minutes after. Who was not in there? But he said, “Guys were leaving five minutes after the game. They had mailed it in. They were glad the season was over.” That was odd. That was odd to hear him say that. Council was the manager at the time. saying it was a reflection on him, but he said one guy even asked Contrarus that he was happy he’s going to be able to go fishing. Odd. Odd. You always think that that way sometimes, right? I mean, you see players in the postseason, it’s like, man, do they really want to be there effort level or they just want to because they’re getting paid the same whether their team wins or loses. Okay. I feel like this Brewers team, and Contrarus has said this, they’re not that way. There’s a lot of guys on that team who take losing personally and want to win. But in 2023, apparently there were some guys on that team that were happy the season ended. According to this terrific article by Contrarus, he was not one of them, obviously. I love the way he ended the article. He said basically, well, there’s other teams that have better players than us maybe on on the on on their team, but he said, ‘N no one is better than us. That’s the way he finished it off. No one is better than us. Way to go, Will Contrarus. You got a lifetime contract in my opinion with the Milwaukee Brewers. Man, just reading that article, it’s just kind of a touching thing just that, you know, he came here, he didn’t know much about Milwaukee and he got here and he loved it. He loved being a part of the Milwaukee Brewers organization as a lot of people do. Really family again family orientate oriented organization. Um, and I’ve talked about that in the past and Contraras talking about spending the rest of his career. Now, he has mentioned though in the past couple of seasons he didn’t really want to talk about a future contract, but hopefully the Brewers will sit down with him soon and get that done and buy him out of some arbitration. All right. Um, again, game one will be Saturday at 1:00, 108 to be precise on that. And then Monday’s game is going to be 8:08. two game times the Brewers have not had all season long. And when I say 108, the Brewers have not played a starting time on a Saturday afternoon at 10:08 in the afternoon. And they have never played a game at 8:08, which they will be on Monday night. But who cares? Hey, I’m glad we got game times. I’m glad we got October baseball. That’s all I care about. Cubs bullpen, I want to throw this at you in that three-game series. They look pretty good again. Craig Councel emptied out the bullpen. 12 innings, two earned runs against the Padres’s. Team lifeless like they were hitting the ball all over the yard, but they pitched pretty well. They pitched pretty well. It’s going to be hot there Saturday. Temperatures unseasonably warm in the 80s coming up on Saturday for game one. All right, we come back, John Papadopoulos will join us. We’ll get to him coming up next. We’ll throw a few things uh off him regarding this Cubs series and what his prediction is. I feel like the Brewers will win it. I feel like they’re going to get it done in four games. I feel they’ll get it done in four games. We’ll come right back after this timeout. Chuck Freeman here on Lockdown Brewers. Episode brought to you by Monarch Money. Monarch Money. I’m telling you, Monarch Money, if you need to get your finances in order, Monarch Money, something that we’ve done here, we we we downloaded the app. We uh went to the website Monarch Money, put all our numbers in there, and it said that we spend too much money going out to eat. And it can identify to you where the holes of your paycheck are going. Where’s all your money going? Your 401ks, your investments. Most people don’t know all that. They just assume. Well, you’ll get a full picture with Monarch Money. It’s built for people with busy lives. You can link all your accounts and minutes, see clear visual data and uh categorization of all your spending where your money is going, where your paycheck is going. Don’t let this financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Go to lockdown uh go to monarchmoney.com. Use the promo code lockdown MLB in your browser. You’ll get half off your first year. Give it a try. 50% off your first year. monarchmoney.com promo code locked on MLB. You’re gonna find out where your money is going. You’re gonna find out exactly where it is and where you’re spending your money so you can start saving your money and not wasting it like going out to eat like we always do. Chuck Freeman here on Locked on Brewers. By the way, our podcast, you get it on Google, Spotify, Apple. We’re on all the major downloads. Wherever you download your brewers podcast, uh wherever you download um your podcasts, download Locked on Brewers. We’re the number one brewers podcast on the internet for a reason because you great Brewers fans out there, downloading us, watching us every day on all the audio platforms. We’re on YouTube as well. Search Locked on Brewers on YouTube. Hit the subscribe button, hit the bell. That alert you every time we drop an episode here on Locked On Brewers. Bringing in the guest this week, John Papadopolist does 3 to 6 afternoons on the sports league, it’s called, on ESPN lacrosse. Great to get him aboard here. I’m on his show on Mondays and he’s coming on my podcast here and as like we said, we’re rolling out the guests this week. John, appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you. Well, it’s great to be here. I I love coming on. Here we go. I love and I love your Brewers takes. I know you’re there with the rest of us, you know, grinding every day watching this team play. I haven’t talked to you since the off season, you know, earlier in the year. Uh 97 wins and we’ve talked about on your show, but what’s your opinion of it? I mean, this was a season that that appeared that was going nowhere fast and all a sudden fizz June came and they became the 27 Yankees. Well, I have two opinions. Number one, Pat Murphy is a big reason for this. Uh, it’s hard in baseball now for a manager to have an impact, but um I heard I think it was Lane Gindle who might have said this in the last day or two. He was talking about the style, the managerial style, and he said, you know, Pat Murphy is really good at coaching these young players and managing the veterans. It’s two different things. Um, and that was me that said that on your show. What’s that? That was me that said that on your show. That was Chuck Freeman. Okay, never mind. Well, maybe maybe he heard you say it, he said it, and then I heard it. So, yes, but what what a great way to look at it. I think that’s a big reason for this. And I think honestly the other reason is you did have a window there where Jacob Miseroski was pitching like an ace, Woodruff was pitching like an ace and so was Freddy all at the same time. And that that six or seven week window where they had three aces and they seemingly were getting every break offensively. Um that that’s where you get 97 from, you know, that’s where it comes from. But I didn’t see it coming at all. I I thought the Cubs were going to win this division. I thought the Brewers were better than Vegas did. I think a lot of the Vegas books had them at 79 80 wins this year 500 mark. Yeah. I mean that was every book too. I mean it wasn’t like that was a you know a lower end one. So I thought they’d win 90ish maybe 89 and and maybe lose the division of the Cubs and just miss out on the playoffs. But you know Miseroski wasn’t something I expected back in April. I was hoping Woodriuff would be back and and expected him to at least be pretty good. But to have all three pitching like they did and Pat Murphy pressing all the right buttons. Um it just just had just seemed to have the temperature of this clubhouse. I know it’s a cliche, but a lot of managers don’t. I think a lot of managers outthink the room. Um they’re they’re so embedded in analytics, which I’m an analytics guy, too, but some of these guys I just think become um they’re almost robotic with it, you know, they’re just at the mercy of it. And Pat Murphy just seems to have that feel. And I think he’s a big reason why. we saw today with the Padres’s and Cubs. I mean, both both managers did not want a lot of length out of their starter and I know it was a deciding game and all that, but yeah, that that that’s my problem with the postseason is well, speaking of being at the mercy of analytics, I mean, Craig Councel takes his guy out. Jameson Ton was pitching well. He was pitching great and he wasn’t just getting hard outs either. I mean, his his change up was phenomenal. Guys, left-handed hitters couldn’t touch it. He he was pitching as well as you could pitch. And I think probably what Council did was say, “All right, he can only go through the lineup x amount of times.” And sometimes you just outthink the room. And I I think they got lucky to be honest. Um because those first couple innings after he was gone, Padres could have scored some runs. It got shaky. I mean, I understand taking him out after six or, you know, at 100 or 110 pitches, but I thought he pulled him really early. Oh, and then he used Johnny Holstaf and and and got to the finish line that way and got a couple of breaks, let’s face it, in the ninth inning and almost almost blew that three nothing lead. But yeah, but see, this is what I hope Craig does against the Brewers. Oh, thanks to Room. He’s done that where he’s he his starter man, he will either keep him in too long, one bet or too many, or he’ll pull that guy early. And I boy, if that backfires today with Tyion, and like I said, I hope he does that. Hope he does that here over the next week. Yeah, I I’d love to know why he did it, too. I mean, I think I know why. I just explained it, but um it’s it’s weird. I mean, there’s there’s a point where you just have to let athletes be athletes as well. And he he had a guy who was rolling, but you know, the Cubs the Cubs did a good job uh at least picking away at that Padre bullpen. I give him a lot of credit. That’s the best bullpen in baseball by far. But, you know, the biggest reason the Cubs won that game is they they they nailed the formula against the Padres’s. You got to get to them early because their starting pitchers aren’t great. Hugh Darish did not look good at all. So, out of there early. They they they did probably not early enough. Um but but they got to them. You know, they scored a run, they loaded the bases, and then they punched in one more. Basically, though, the two runs um were the fault of Darish, and he got charged with both of them. That’s the only way to beat the Padres’s. You got to get them early before that bullpen takes over. So, I thought they they they were aggressive. Um they although they also took pictures when they had to. I thought they were ready um to do that. And Council was a good manager. I think he had his team prepared in that sense. But again, I don’t know why he took Tayon out when he did, but I think it will benefit the Brewers somewhat because he I don’t want to say he burned his bullpen because they have a day of rest now and um some of those guys can still pitch. But I don’t I don’t know why he did what he did. He he got lucky. Well, both of these teams, the Brewers and the Cubs, they can steal the bases. They play great defense. Some of that’s still there. I like the Brewers pitching better. I like their timely hitting better. A lot to like. And, you know, early in the season, we heard all of this Cubs offense is is great. And then it fizzled off in the summertime. Yeah, I was among those. Um, I picked them to win it and and at least through late July into August, I still thought that was a dominant lineup. Uh, be careful though. It’s it’s still pretty good. It’s still a really good lineup and some of those guys are starting to hit. Uh Pet Cro Armstrong was struggling badly for a while and he got going today. I think he got some confidence back. He got that base hit to kind of bust it open early and then he had another hit and he’s if that guy gets a swagger, you know, that’s not a guy you want to be dealing with. So I I think that lineup is is not where it was early in the season, but it’s better than it was late in the season for sure. Um and that’s the thing about the Cubs that that is their strength. It’s It’s their lineup. I don’t think it’s a good bullpen. Right now, the rotation is is about average. Although, if Tayon pitches like he did today, he could be a problem. Uh I think Matthew Boyd is still pretty good. He’s probably their best guy right now. But between injuries and, you know, some guys just not pitching well. It’s not a great rotation. So, I I think I think the Brewers are are the slightly better team going into this thing. I do. And Kate Horton is questionable. Obviously, he’s got a broken rib. It sounds like if he’s if he’s healthy, then he’s a problem because he pitched really well at the end of the season, but I don’t know if he’s going to be able to pitch in this series. He is without question. Rookie of the year candidate, high rookie of the year candidate as well. Um, it’s funny because Palencia was pitching in the middle innings last couple of nights. I wonder if we’ll see more of that with the Cubs when they um when they hit town here. Yeah. Um, I I don’t know what to expect from Craig Council after watching him operate that bullpen today and, you know, the way he handled his staff overall. I don’t I really don’t. I I think, you know, anything could happen. I think if Boyd’s pitching well, he could go seven or in the fourth inning, he might just get weird counsel and uh go to his bullpen. It’s not a great bullpen, though. They got some live arms, but it’s it’s not a great bullpen. I I think for the Brewer sake, if they can get into that bullpen consistently in this series, it’s going to be advantageous. That’s all that’s what you want to do. You you want you want to get to the bullpen somewhere around the fourth or fifth inning. Absolutely. John, hang on one second. We’ll come right back to you. Take a break. We’re going to throw about throw to him who he likes in his unbiased opinion. We license the series, game three starter, how to use the miz, you know, some of the things that uh have been talked about around the the water cooler these days. Chuck Freeman here on Locked On Brewers, part of Locked On podcast network. We are your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. Price Picks. Price Picks. Every day we make decisions on what we’re going to do in life. But in price picks, man, you could say over or less on a let’s say on Yelich on base hits, maybe Josh Allen on passing yards, uh Saquon Barkley on rushing touchdowns, over, under, more or less on player projections, and download the prize picks app today and get involved. Use the Locked On MLB promo code. You get 50 bucks in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Locked on MLB, 50 bucks in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Price picks. It’s good to be right. So fun. Simple way add more excitement to football just by picking more or less on player projections. And the more you pick, the more you have a chance to get paid. How about that? Uh don’t miss the excitement of this football season. It’s going on right now. Pro game started on Thursday night, continuing through the weekend. Price fix. Get in with the playoffs in baseball as well. Download the app, locked on MLB, the promo code. 50 bucks in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup with prize picks. Show is also brought to you by Game Time. Number one number one app out there as far as getting tickets. I mean, you want the you want concert tickets, maybe you want uh you know, Brewers tickets. You can get Saturday’s tickets, Monday’s tickets. Uh maybe you want to get some Bucks tickets, Packers tickets coming up, a comedy show, whatever. Game time. Use the Game Time app. You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time at the best price. They’re not going to be adding all these different totals and at the end you’re going to say, “Whoa, that’s not what I I want it right there. No surprise fees whatsoever, but you got to download the Game Time app. You create the account, use the promo code lock on MLB, and when you do that, you get 20 bucks off your first purchase. You buy $100 worth of tickets. You’ll get tickets for 80 bucks. Terms apply. Again, that promo code locked on MLB. 20 bucks off. Swipe tap ticket. Download the Game Time app today and take part. Game time is uh the way to go. And also, you’re going to see the virtual seating on there where you just tap on where you want to sit and it’s going to show you the view from your seat. It’s all with game time. Game time terms apply when you get that 20 bucks off your first purchase with the locked on MLB promo code. All right, down the stretch we come. John Papadopoulos. A few things I’m going to ask I’ve been asking everybody. the million-dollar question. How do you think the Miz will be used? And um well, I’ll get to my second part of that question. Yes. But how how do you think he’ll be used in this first series at least? Well, I had I had one listener who messaged me and said, “Does he even make the postseason roster?” I had another another one who said he should start game three. So, um I think he’s probably going to be used in a piggyback situation. Maybe, you know, maybe it’s a Jose Canana starts game three and Miseroski, you know, hard righty follows soft lefty. But I’m I’m not 100% sure you’re using him in any high leverage situation. It might be a piggyback where if you’re up three or four and you just want to bring some heat and if he’s throwing well, you let him ride it out. But I just don’t know how reliable he is right now. I think the guy’s going to be a great pitcher. He’ll probably be in the rotation next year. Uh who knows, maybe he ends up being a closer or or a great starter one day. But at this point, I I think he’s a little far down the pecking order in terms of like high leverage situations in terms of who you want out there. But he’s one of those guys who can come in and get you big strikeout. Can also walk you on four pitches, but you know, he can get you put him in a bases loaded situation and close your eyes, I guess. You know, let me ask you a question, Chuck. Would you rather him come in in a clean inning or would you rather him come in in a situation with guys on base where you need a strike out like runner on third less than two tie game late what would you prefer? I would say a a clean inning to start the inning. Yeah. Me too. I would rather do that. I I don’t want to have him come in and clean up a mess. Because he his his ability to throw strikes right now consistently is not good. And if you catch him on a good day and he starts a clean inning, you can ride him. Yeah. for for for a full inning or more. So that I don’t mind that, but I don’t know if I want him coming in and putting out a fire. The fire might become more inflamed if he comes in in that situation. So I hope I hope he makes the roster. I think he will. And and I hope he pitches. I hope he pitches well, but I don’t I don’t I don’t foresee him coming in in real high leverage situations. John, second part of that question, you kind of answered it there, you know, with one of your with one of your callers. Do you think the Miz makes the postseason roster that I mean again we all love this guy but do you think there’s the trust there that maybe that roster spot goes to somebody else? I think he makes it but also keep in mind that they can reset the roster every series. So if he doesn’t make it and they beat the Cubs and they go to the NLCS theoretically that he could be brought in for a longer series after that. But I think he makes it. I’ve I’ve gone through this a couple of times. Um, you know, you start getting into Tobias Meyers territory and you kind of go, you know, deeper into the rotation and deeper into the staff and I think the numbers probably are in his favor to make it, but I don’t think it’s a lock. You know, they’re going to look at ro now now that now they have matchups to look at. Um, the Cubs best hitters are left-handed if you had to say for the mo I mean, say Suzuki’s right-handed, but most of their better hitters are left-handed. So, may maybe they look at that matchup and say there’s not a spot for him. I think it’s about 7030 in favor of making it though. Who’s your game three starter? I I think it’s Canana the more I think about it and and for two reasons. Number one, Jose Canana’s done this before. We we saw what he did against the Brewers last year and I don’t think the moment will be too big for him and sometimes in these situations and we may see this from a lot of the young Brewers players even the really good players like Cheurio and Terang and you know Freelick they haven’t been in this on the stage before where Kantana’s done at number one and in the playoffs you always have a bailout. You know, I’ve heard people say, “Well, he wasn’t pitching well at the end of the year and his stuff isn’t very good,” which is all true, but if he’s not pitching well in the first inning, then you then you bail right away. It’s the playoffs. I mean, you you go to your bullpen in the first or second inning if you have to. So, you know, I I think he gets the the first shot to go out there and and give you three or four innings or something like that. Um I I can see all kinds of situations though. You could start him and then bring in Aaron Ashby in the third or fourth. you know, it’s lefty lefty, but Ashley’s got dirty stuff and it’s a very different delivery. You know, it’s a different kind of style of pitching. So, it might be a nice contrast. I I could I could honestly see Canana and Miseroski as a one-two or so. Even Chad Patrick as the second guy, but I I think it’s Canana if I had to guess. Pop, before I let you go, quick prediction here. Brewers and Cubs, how far does it go and who wins? I mean, I think it’s five. I do. Um because I don’t think either team is great right now. I just don’t uh honestly I think the Padres’s are better than both of them, you know, as far as the playoffs go. They just couldn’t find a way. Oh, they they Tatis wanted no part of the postseason. No, no part. That was embarrassing performance of him. It was embarrassing performance. That’s true. Um but I I I think it’s a really good series. I do. I I think the Brewers are going to win this series and that’s it’s a very unbiased opinion because as you know I’m not a Brewer fan. Um but I I I I think they’re a little bit better. And you know I was talking with Vinnie Ratino about this on my show this week and this is something you have to consider. Nobody ever does but the two things that never slump are defense and base running. You know you those things don’t ever slump and those are the Brewer strengths. That’s that’s how they’re going to win if they’re going to win. So, I I think if the young guys can kind of, you know, bake themselves into this environment and and not be thrown off by it, they’re going to be great on the base pass, they’re going to be really good defensively. They’re going to steal runs. It’ll be close though because the Brewers don’t have the firepower pitching wise anymore without Woodruff, without July version of Miseroski, but I think they win it in five. He is the king of Kulie region. He is the lord of lacrosse. He is the man who hosts the sports work on these, huh? Yeah. I just came off the top of my head. The sports lead 3 to6 uh uh on ESPN lacrosse. Get them every day Monday through Friday. Longtime sports cer in the great city of lacrosse in that beautiful area. John Papadopoulos. John, appreciate you coming on. Enjoy the series. Hey, thanks for having me. That’s going to do it for Lockdown Brewers, part of Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team every day. My name is Chuck Freeman. We will see you daily. Yes, we’ll be here over the weekend dropping episodes talking Brewers baseball with you uh right here. Plus, we’ll be back tomorrow on on Friday, a little bit later on Friday uh afternoon dropping a podcast. So, we’ll see them. Let’s get to it. Lockdown Brewers, part of Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team every day.

Milwaukee Brewers stunned MLB with 97-win season. Can they topple the Chicago Cubs in a high-stakes playoff showdown?

Chuck Freimund breaks down Milwaukee’s unexpected success, highlighting Pat Murphy’s impact . The discussion covers William Contreras’ newfound love for Milwaukee, crucial pitching matchups, and how the Brewers’ young roster might handle playoff pressure. John Papadopoulos from ESPN LaCrosse offers insider perspectives on potential strategies and predicts a nail-biting five-game series.

Will Milwaukee’s defense and base running prove decisive? Can the Cubs overcome the Brewers’ momentum? Don’t miss this in-depth analysis of the Brewers’ path to playoff glory.
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