Dodgers and Phillies meet in heavyweight NLDS showdown
USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale breaks down the NLDS series between the red-hot Dodgers and NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies.
Sports Pulse
The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs meet in the postseason for the first time, bringing their National League Central rivalry to the best-of-five division series beginning on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“The familiarity comes into play,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy told reporters. “They know how we try to do it and they’re going to try to combat that, and we know how they try to do it and we’re going to try to combat that.”
Milwaukee has lost its last six postseason series dating back to 2018 has dropped 11 of 13 playoff games in that stretch. The Brewers finished with MLB’s best record this year and earned a bye to the NLDS, while the Cubs finished runner-up in the division and had to beat the San Diego Padres in the wild card series.
Game 1’s starting pitchers were both All-Stars this season, Freddy Peralta for the Brewers and lefty Matthew Boyd for the Cubs.
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What time is Cubs vs Brewers?
Saturday’s game starts at 2:08 p.m. at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
How to watch Cubs vs Brewers: TV channel, live stream
Game 1 of the NLDS is airing on TBS and can be streamed with Sling TV.
Watch Cubs-Brewers NLDS on Sling TV
Brewers players downplay reunion with Craig Counsell in playoffs
You could say Christian Yelich is undaunted facing his old manager.
“It’s not like ‘Couns’ has exotic blitz packages or has a good play-action pass game or anything like that that’s going to make it difficult on us,” Yelich joked Oct. 3 as players met the media in advance of the National League Division Series between the Cubs and Brewers. “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s great at what he does. But we’re not going to worry about the two-high safety look from Couns.”
Yelich is one of nine Brewers players likely to make the NLDS roster who played for Counsell in 2023, his last year with Milwaukee, and it’s 10 players counting injured starter Brandon Woodruff.
– JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel