MILWAUKEE — Kevin Gausman’s brief Chicago Cubs tenure has been defined by two sides of the right-hander.
At times, Gausman has shown why the Cubs acquired him at the deadline to shore up the rotation. Other days, like Wednesday night at American Family Field, he’s struggled to give the Cubs a competitive start. The Milwaukee Brewers scored seven runs (six earned) off Gausman, who put the Cubs in an early six-run deficit after two innings. Although they showed fight with a five-run ninth inning that brought the tying run to the plate, the Cubs lost 8-6 to get swept by the Brewers.
“We’re not playing good enough,” manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s enough things we’re not doing in all areas. … We had a defensive mistake that cost us a run today. Obviously, we had a couple bullpen issues.
“We’ve got to do a little bit more collectively to win games.”
In three of his seven starts with the Cubs, Gausman has surrendered five or more earned runs, while in three other outings the veteran has posted a quality start. Christian Yelich delivered the big blow in the first inning with a three-run home run off a fastball over the middle of the plate. Jackson Chourio (solo) and William Contreras (two-run home run) went deep in the second inning off splitters.
“I just need to pitch better, it comes back to execution,” Gausman said. “I can’t throw lazy (splitters) in the zone, those are always going to get beat. So, just need to be better, and the games where I pitched good, I really made good pitches. When I haven’t, I just haven’t. Obviously, big game. I would have loved to take a game from these guys, but I just didn’t pitch very well.”
The Cubs (81-66), riding a four-game losing streak, head into Thursday’s off day looking to regroup.
1. Their hold on a playoff spot is starting to become tenuous.
Chicago Cubs’ BJ Murray Jr. strikes out swinging for the final out of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Less than a month ago, the Cubs’ postseason positioning was a question of when, not if, they would clinch a playoff berth.
On Aug. 12, the day before the Philadelphia Phillies started their nine-game winning streak, the Cubs were 7 1/2 games up on a playoff spot and had a 6 1/2 game lead on the San Diego Padres for the National League’s first wild-card position. They had finished an 8-1 stretch.
Fast forward to Wednesday and the completion of the Brewers’ sweep: the Cubs head into Thursday’s off day clinging to their playoff hopes, sitting in the second wild-card spot 1 1/2 games back of the Phillies and just 2 1/2 games up on the Padres, now in the last spot. The Cubs, who have lost 16 of their last 26 games, hold the season tiebreaker over the Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks.
“Look, our job is to win games, that’s what we can control,” Counsell said. “That’s what we can do. It doesn’t affect any decisions. The decisions are happening during the game here. What’s going on around the league doesn’t help us. Do we know the standings? I know the standings.”
With 15 games left in the regular season and two of their five remaining series coming against teams currently in playoff position, the Cubs can’t afford to let this tough stretch derail their otherwise steady performance the first five months.
“Obviously not the series we wanted to have here,” Ian Happ said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in a position where we kind of control our own destiny, right? Our goal is to play playoff baseball no matter how that shakes out, give ourselves an opportunity, and so we have a little over two weeks to make that push and finish strong.”
2. Cubs bullpen needs to get locked back in quickly.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Jacob Webb delivers in the ninth inning of a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Arthur Maiorella/Chicago Tribune)
Lately it hasn’t seemed to matter who Counsell goes to in the bullpen in leverage moments.
Veteran right-hander Jacob Webb has blown three games since his two-month scoreless appearance streak ended in Seattle in late August. Webb’s scuffling, Daniel Palencia’s diminished velocity and overall struggles since coming off the injured list, Ryan Zeferjahn’s inconsistency and the continued struggles by the group have put the Cubs in a tough spot. The bullpen owns a 5.08 ERA, tied for 24th in MLB, and a 30th-ranked -0.7 fWAR since Aug. 21.
There’s an added sense of urgency with these issues happening as mid-September approaches versus an early-season ’pen navigating a feeling-out process of how to best deploy the relievers.
“Every day is essentially the same, and we’ve been in a situation this year where we haven’t had set roles for the majority of the year,” Counsell said. “Jacob certainly earned and deserved a shot at what he was doing. He pitched wonderfully, and he was essentially taking the biggest outs of the game for the better part of four months for this bullpen, and he did a wonderful job at it. But there has been no, ‘Hey, it’s the seventh inning, you know what’s coming out of the ’pen’ for the whole year, so nothing changes from that perspective.”
Whether it was pushing starter Matthew Boyd deeper into the eighth inning of Monday’s game — the Cubs have not yet had a starting pitcher record an out in the eighth inning this season — or going to the bullpen to cover more innings Tuesday as David Peterson navigated constant traffic in the first five innings, both paths ultimately ended in a loss when the bullpen couldn’t close out the games.
3. Home runs continue to hurt pitching staff.
Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio hits a home run during the second inning of a game against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
The Cubs are trending toward an unwarranted statistical honor.
The best offense in the big leagues leads the majors in home runs (203) while the pitching staff currently possesses the dubious mark of having allowed the most home runs (221). Gausman added to the Cubs’ total with his three home runs allowed Wednesday. Those long ball struggles for the Cubs’ pitchers have, of course, been on the front office’s mind lately, particularly with the late leads they’ve given up.
“We’ve hit a ton of homers recently, we’ve given up a lot of homers — obviously, that’s something we have to get work on is giving up fewer homers,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said last week. “The home run ball has been a challenge for us, and it’s something that not only this year but going forward we have to really think through.”
It’s a frustrating development, especially with a rotation that now features sinkerballers Clay Holmes and Peterson plus Gausman, whose splitter-fastball combination can lead to plenty of groundball outs. For an elite defense, the long ball takes away the opportunity for that unit to shine.
“We’re confident in this group,” Gausman said. “We can’t really have time to sulk.”