Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman preview the National League Division Series between the NL Central rivals – who are meeting in the postseason for the first time ever. Check out the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
And this is going to rip so freaking hard.
This is actually the series I’m most excited to watch, and I am, look, I’m not gonna come on a podcast and be like, dang, I can’t watch Cubs Brewers because I have to be at Phillies Dodgers.
My life sucks.
That’s not the case, but I am excited to watch these highlights back once I get back to my hotel room after these games.
We love the Brewers, and as you said, love for them to go make us go to Milwaukee later this month.
But yes, injuries have contributed to this, but when you have the team with the top seed, who barely knows who’s pitching in game 3 after getting a bye, it’s just like, ah, you know, I know it’s worked, but it’s like, that’s not the situation that you want to be in, but the, the reality is against a team like the Cubs, who’s also stretched pretty thin, it’s not by any means like, oh no, they’re screwed.
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Trevor McGill, who was one of the best closers in baseball all season long, got hurt.
In late August, went on the IL.
I believe it was like August 26th.
27th-ish, came back, made one relief appearance on the final day of the regular season, struck out two guys and threw one inning.
That was, I believe, in the 4th inning of that game.
What role does he play in the series?
That off day could be important because they would probably feel more comfortable with his efficacy with an off day in between, not throwing him on a back-to-back.
McGill feels important to me in this one.
I’m going to take the Brewers in four, I think they get it done.
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Does the bit work in October?
Who in the world knows?
I think that Wrigley is a tough place to drive the baseball, but it’s cold, right?
And the narrative that home runs don’t win in October is stupid because they do.
All the data shows that.
In an environment where it’s hard to hit home runs, would you rather be the team that doesn’t rely on it, or would you rather be the team that can hit it through the wind?
Someone get Petrillo on the horn, someone smarter than us, still, I’m gonna take the Brewers’ magic in this series.
I think I picked the Brewers in our official picks, but I don’t know, Man, I feel like the Cubs, I feel like the Cubs are kind of, kind of gonna start cooking here, uh, but we’ll see.
We will see how this goes.