2025 NLDS Preview: Cubs vs Brewers, Dodgers vs Phillies | Predictions & Picks to Win | MLB Playoffs

2025 NLDS Preview: Cubs vs Brewers, Dodgers vs Phillies | Predictions & Picks to Win | MLB Playoffs

with the NFL on CBS and Paramount+. It’s October Baseball and it feels so good. Division series begins on Saturday. Brewers hosting the Cubs Milwaukee took the division lead from Chicago in July, never looked back, winning the NL central and earning the top seed in the National League, followed by what feels like an NLCS matchup. Dodgers and Phillies. For what it’s worth, Philadelphia won four of the six regular season games against LA. All right. Back here with former MLB executive of the year and CBS Sports baseball insider Jim Bowden. The Brewers haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. They’re going to match up against their division rival Chicago Cubs, who they took the division lead away from and won the division ultimately. But Jim, why might this year be different for Milwaukee to advance? Well, the Brewers had the best overall record in Major League Baseball in the regular season, so there’s that that we can get excited about. This is a team that was third in Major League Baseball out of the 30 teams in runs scored. Chicago Cubs, though, were fifth. The Brewers were second in stolen bases. The Cubs were third. By the way, the Cubs had the best defensive team in the National League, and the Brewers were top five in baseball. So they’re pretty even across the board. I think the biggest storyline here of this series is it’s Craig Counsell, who left the Brewers so he could get paid more money because he thought he would have a better chance of winning with the Cubs. And now he goes in to face his old team, who finished with a better record. Look, Hakim, these two teams are so evenly matched. But I think when you look at the body of work, over 162 games, Brewers had the best record. Now I will say this the rotation is not the same as it was at the beginning of the year. It wasn’t the same when we had three number one starters in Peralta, Woodruff and Mazurowski. Now you only have one in Peralta and probably Quinn Priester pitching game two. There’ll be no Woodruff here, and we don’t know if he’s going to even be on the roster. That hasn’t been decided yet. But look it, the Brewers are a really good team of making contact. They steal bases, they find a way to make runs. They make great defensive plays. And they got a plus defender just about every position except left field. And they grind. And they’re a fun team to watch. And like the Cubs with Craig Counsell they have a great manager in Pat Murphy. Yeah that will certainly get the headlines. Craig Counsell against his former franchise. But I still think that the Brewers here trying to win a playoff series for the first time since 2018, that will be sort of the subtext, right? It’s Craig Counsell facing his former franchise, but it’s the Brewers that are trying to break through in a year. Jim, where we lost the great Bob Uecker. It feels like a lot has gone right. I don’t know if you want to call that magic inspiration, whatever you want to call it Youk magic, and I’m all for it. It feels like this Brewers team is a little bit different. The young talent on this team and as you mentioned, their pitching is good enough to make a deep run. Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned Bob Uecker because I do believe in the baseball gods. And I do believe Bob Uecker is up there helping the Brewers out somehow, some way. And as you mentioned, look, they do have a really good core. Christian Yelich. The veterans had a really good season. He’s had to deal with back issues for the last several years. But he’s had a really good year. William Contreras behind the plate is one of the best offensive catchers in the game. Brice Turang Not only is a Gold Glove second baseman, but this year he learned how to hit and with power. Jackson Chourio 20 homers, 20 steals for the second year in a row. First two years in the big leagues, 2020 club pretty impressive. Sal Frelick in right field is a guy that makes great defensive plays, can steal a base, can get the big hit. There is something special about this team. There’s no question about it. And look, it’s really hard to finish the regular season with a small market team and have the have a better record than the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Yankees, the Red Sox and every other big market team. So a lot of things have gone right for this team. They have great leadership. Their GM, Matt Arnold, who was executive year of the year a year ago, has a chance to win it again this year. He’s done a phenomenal job. So look it’s going to be a great series. But let’s be clear about this. These two teams, despite the regular season records, they are almost identical in terms of how they score runs, how good they are defensively, how they steal bases, how good their bullpens are. Both of them have questions in their rotation, right? No. Cade Horton for the Chicago Cubs. No Brandon Woodruff for the Milwaukee Brewers. So there’s going to be some mixing and matching in this five game series. And these managers, they they get paid a lot of money. Well they’re going to have to earn it in the series. Brewers are slight favorites to win the series at -116. So this is a virtual pick’em here. Jim, who you got moving on to the NLCS? Yeah. Look I’m going to go with the Brewers just because look they have home field advantage, which really doesn’t mean much in baseball as we all know. But they did have the best regular season record and they won the division and the Cubs didn’t. So I think it’s really close. I mean, if I were to call it, it would be a push. But because I got to pick one I’m going to go Milwaukee. All right. Well guess what. The NLCS is guaranteed to feature a team from the NL central for the first time since 2019. The other NLCS feels like NLCS matchup. Phillies and Dodgers. I’d be fine if those were the two teams playing for a spot in the World Series. Instead, they’re playing for a spot in the NLCS. This is strength on strength. This is star power all over the field, from the starting lineup to the starting pitching, to the bullpen, to the bench. Shohei Ohtani is going to pitch game one for LA. Christopher Sanchez gets the ball for Philadelphia. Who do the Dodgers need in this series to step up? And what do they need from Ohtani in Game one? Specifically, they need bullpen in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning. If they’re going to win this, they’ve got the rotation. We all know that you’re sitting there with Blake Snell and Ohtani and Yamamoto and Glasnow. You’ve got that. You’re set. You can even start Sheen if you want. That’s not the problem. The problem with the Dodgers has been and they gave up runs to the Reds. Even when they swept them. The Reds scored runs on them both games. That’s the Achilles heel of the Dodgers. So what do the Dodgers need. They need Roki Sasaki to be a guy in October and to help that bullpen out. Or they need to put Sheen back there and have him be a guy, or take another one of the starters and use them back there and be creative. I mean, that’s the hole that they have. They’re going to be really dominant the first six innings with that starting pitching, you know they’re going to score runs when you have three future Hall of Famers at the top of that lineup, and Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. And you’ve got length with Andy, Andy perhaps, and Theo Hernandez. This team is going to score runs. They are and they’re going to pitch. But that’s that bullpen will determine if they get to the next round or not. And like you Akeem because I agree with what you just said. These are the two best teams for me in the National League. Forget the records. They’re the two best teams. And I think whoever wins this series is going to represent the National League in the World Series. All right. Well, the Phillies are going to have to rough up Ohtani in Game one. What’s the path to a series victory for Philadelphia, which feels like. And people in Philadelphia will tell you, no, no, it’s not closing. It feels like this window is cracked. It’s fall. You’re getting that nice breeze coming in, and the window is just a little bit cracked. The Phillies window is right there. This is it. So what’s the path for them to make a deep run and get back to the World Series? Yeah, well, they’re going to miss Zack Wheeler. Of course he’s out for the year. That was their ace. And that’s the guy that’s always pitched big in October. They’re going to miss him. But if they can pitch with the Dodgers for the first six innings and they Cristopher Sanchez is capable, so is Ranger Suarez. So is Jesus. So is Aaron Nola. They’re going to have to pitch with the Dodgers. Great starters those first six innings I think the fact that they have three lefty starters going against the Dodgers is an advantage. Remember L.A. does not have Will Smith and they are more left handed than they are right handed around the diamond. So for the Phillies, if they can pitch with the first six they’re going to have a slight bullpen advantage late in the game. And then they need their stars to be stars. Akeem. They need Trey Turner, who led the league in batting average. They need him to create traffic and then they need Schwarber bombs from Kyle Schwarber, who is going to finish top three in MVP voting. They need Bryce Harper to do what he normally does on the October stage and be heard from. But the key to me is going to be can their starters pitch with the Dodgers starters? Those first six innings, if they can be tied or ahead after six, the Phillies can get to that next round. And I’m going to argue that Kyle Schwarber should win NL MVP over Ohtani. But that’s for another day and another segment. Let’s get your pick to win this series. The reigning World Series champions are the favorites to win this series. Do the Phillies pull off the upset? Phillies have home field advantage. Bottom of the ninth. Game five Schwarzbaum walk off. Phillies go to the next round. Wow, that’s pretty specific. All right, I’ll take it. I mean, I’m going to take that. If you want to give me some drama, I’ll take it right there. Jim Bowden getting us ready I love October drama. And I just there’s nothing better for me. The memories of playoff games when somebody hits a game winning home run to either win the World Series, thank you, Joe Carter, or to take your team World Series like Aaron Boone did with the Yankees with his home run. There’s nothing better. So let’s have it happen this October, too. Let’s have ourselves a postseason. Just a friendly reminder. Jim and myself will be with you postgame for every series here on CBS sports HQ. Breaking it down. Get you set for the next round. Jim Bowden here with us on HQ. Jim, thank you as always. Good to talk ball with him. And we’re going to be talking plenty of ball throughout October. As you take a look at the playoff history between these two clubs. The Phillies have won the last three series and the last three series were all in the NLCS. As I said, this really feels like an NLCS matchup, but it is not. The winner advances to meet the winn of

Jim Bowden joins CBS Sports HQ to preview the 2025 NLDS series matchups.

[00:00:00] Chicago Cubs vs Milwaukee Brewers Predictions & Picks
[00:05:23] Los Angeles Dodgers vs Philadelphia Phillies Predictions & Picks

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