The Rundown: Brewers Mash Cubs, PCA Regrets Vulgar Confrontation, Hoyer Seems Ready to Deal
“They wanna sap your energy, incarcerate your mind” – Industrial Disease by Dire Straits
Watching Chicago’s North Side Baseballers lose to the Brewers is never fun, but it’s much worse as a Cubs fan living in Cream City. The hometown announcers believe the Brewers are the best team in baseball, and it looks like that whenever they play Chicago. The Cubs are considered an overrated laughingstock up here, and they act the part whenever the division rivals meet. Last night’s 9-3 loss was just more same old, same old, and the smug play-by-play and commentary made it feel more like 39-3.
That makes it seven losses in nine games to the Rangers, Braves, White Sox, and Brewers, and Chicago’s lead in the NL Central has narrowed to half a game, though Milwaukee has one less loss. The reward for their recent run of ineptitude is a date with Jacob Misiorowski. The hard-throwing righty has 12 strikeouts in eight career regular-season innings against the Cubs. The North Siders need to find their bats or Misiorowski will flat-out bully them. He enters tonight’s game riding an 18.2-inning scoreless streak, and he hasn’t allowed a home run in his last five starts.
The repetitive failure to top the Brewers gets maddening at times, especially because it’s become part and parcel of every season. The Cubs always seem to look better on paper, but Milwaukee carries no aura of subservience. They may play the role of the underdog, or at least that’s what manager Pat Murphy would like you to think, but his team’s strength is its confidence when playing Chicago. Craig Counsell, on the other hand, sounds like a manager who can’t find a way to get his team past its biggest rival.
“The Brewers are the team that’s won the division for the last three years — that’s what we want to do,” Counsell said. “Last year, they beat us, and they had a fabulous season. We’ve got to improve to get there. They’re a good team again – no question about it. That’s where it’s at.”
Counsell’s right, but I’d rather the Cubs play with the swagger they showed in piledriving the Phillies, Mets, Diamondbacks, and Reds. Does anybody have one of those Charles Atlas ads I used to see in the back of my Spider-Man comic books? The Brewers are constantly kicking sand in the faces of the beloved Cubbies, and it needs to be stopped.
And what happens if the Cubs can’t beat their oppressors from north of the Cheddar Curtain? They get 31 consecutive winnable games across a five-week stretch. They’ll then visit Milwaukee for three at the end of June, hopefully with a sizeable division lead.
Cubs News & Notes
- The Cubs aren’t as bad as they’ve played over the last week or so, and they were as good as they looked in winning 20 of 23 games. It’s time to let it all go and start a new winning streak.
- Ben Brown takes the mound tonight in an effort to keep the Cubs in first place.
- Brown was dominant against Chris Sale of the Braves last week.
- The Cubs need a starter and the Rays need a cost-controlled MLB second baseman. That makes Matt Shaw an intriguing option for Tampa Bay.
- The first batch of sellers — which includes the Mets, Giants, Rockies and Red Sox as of now — will be setting up operations right after Memorial Day. The Cubs have the prospect depth to entertain discussions for Freddy Peralta, Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Sonny Gray, among others. Jim Bowden of The Athletic said the Cubs are already contacting teams ($) with available pitchers.
- Before you get your hopes up, Jed Hoyer could and should play hardball. The upcoming schedule I mentioned above positions the executive nicely to let teams come to him. Chicago’s prospects will be in high demand, as will Shaw.
- The Cubs recently claimed reliever Christian Roa, and with Colin Rea already under contract, Ray seems like an undeniable fit.
- How fun would it be to steal power-hitting smoke show Munetaka Murakami from the White Sox? That kid’s the Japanese Kyle Schwarber.
Ball Four
This is so tiring, but Murphy won’t stop until the Cubs consistently manhandle the Brewers.
The Brewers set the tone in their series opener vs. the Cubs with a dominant 9-3 win, but Pat Murphy still expects his guys to be better.
"They don't even know most of our guys names so they're never going to be intimated by us, but we're not looking for that." @WISN12News pic.twitter.com/rzlud5HVc8
— Pat Timlin (@pat_timlin) May 19, 2026
Central Intelligence
- Chicago (29-19): Pete Crow-Armstrong regrets some of the things he said during a heated exchange with a female White Sox fan. Warning: There’s NSFW language in the Twitter video. After the game, Crow-Armstrong told reporters that “some lady decided to start talking shit and I felt the need to say it back.”
- Milwaukee (27-18): The Brewers have won nine of 12 since Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn returned from their injuries.
- St. Louis (27-19): The Cardinals remain in the thick of the race, which could make them buyers at the deadline. Most analysts expected them to sell or at least just stand pat.
- Pittsburgh (24-23): The Pirates are currently seeking power and bullpen depth.
- Cincinnati (24-24): The Reds have the worst pitching in the NL Central. Cincinnati pitchers rank 26th overall in xERA (4.92), 27th in FIP (4.98), and 28th in xFIP (4.61). They also rank 28th in K/9 (6.92), 27th in K/BB (1.86), and 29th in SIERA (4.68).
How About That!
A’s starter J.T. Ginn took a no-hitter against the Angels into the 9th inning, only to lose on a walk-off homer by Zach Neto.
The Marlins are gaining a reputation as the most cutting-edge franchise in baseball.
Entering play Tuesday, the Nationals lead MLB in both runs scored (262) and runs allowed (284) through 48 games. The 2008 Rangers are the only team to lead the league in both categories for an entire season.
Major League Baseball announced the expanded rosters for the third edition of the East-West Classic, a tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Games held from 1933 to 1962. The 2026 rosters will be led by Hall of Famer CC Sabathia (West captain) and All-Star outfielder Chris Young (East captain) of MLB Network, along with managers Jerry Hairston Sr. and Jesse Barfield.
MLB named Angel Martínez and Gavin Sheets its AL and NL Players of the Week. Both are first-time winners.
Apropos of Nothing
Smokey and the Bandit turns 49 today. Any attempt at a remake in today’s climate would require some heavy dialogue filtering, yet it’s still considered a classic and it’s probably one of the first flicks with a heavy dose of credit-roll outtakes. Star Wars kept SatB from being the top box office hit of ’77, and though Burt Reynolds and Sally Field star, Jackie Gleason steals nearly every scene. Now gimme a Diablo sandwich and a Dr. Pepper and make it fast. I’m in a goddamn hurry.
Extra Innings
Michael Busch had a rough start, but he’s Chicago’s hottest hitter over the past 3-4 weeks. Alex Bregman needs to take Busch’s cue and respond likewise. He’s getting paid too much to be a league-average player.
A double from Buschy knocks in another run. pic.twitter.com/nQhW8AtpNF
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 19, 2026
Three from the Bill Chuck Files
- Roy Face holds the record for most wins in one season by a reliever with 18.
- The only Brave to play for the franchise in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta was Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.
- Luis Severino has a 2-5 record with a 4.45 ERA. He is 1-3 with a 3.56 ERA on the road, but 1-2 with a 5.55 ERA at home. Maybe he’s Hoyer’s under-the-radar trade target.
They Said It
- “Pete made a mistake with his choice of words. He’s aware of that. … It’s the reality of this job. Fan interactions happen. You want to try and keep them positive even when they’re not.” – Counsell
- “I regret my choice of words the most and who that affects in my life. Directly or indirectly, I don’t think that any of the women in my life would think I would say those kinds of words regularly. I’m just bummed out about the word choice and a bunch of little kids going to social media and seeing that as well.” – Crow-Armstrong
- “Part of playing is that you’re going to hear some stuff that you don’t want to hear. Focus on what’s going on in the field and keep your attention on that.” – Ian Happ
Tuesday Walk-Up Song
I’d forgotten about this song, and I miss this type of production that disappeared when MTV stopped rotating music videos.
