Brewers Just Proved They’re Still Class of Division, Cubs Not There Yet
The blue and yellow-tinged smoke from the Cubs’ humbling three-game sweep at Wrigley Field at the hands of the Brewers has cleared. Wednesday night’s 5-0 loss was the club’s sixth shutout defeat on the 2026 campaign, yet the ramifications of this deflating series feel so much heavier than the sting of just one loss.
Craig Counsell’s club could still realistically achieve the high expectations from the outset of the season, but not by playing the way they did against their rivals to the north. Nor, for that matter, the way they did against their previous two opponents. The torrid winning pace the Cubs set earlier this month had fans from Palatine to Puget Sound thinking this was the championship-worthy squad they’d been waiting for. But to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, and Pat Murphy’s team announced that they are still the class of this division by putting on a baseball clinic at 1060 West Addison.
Don’t expect an autopsy on a season that, at the time of this writing, still has four full months to go, because you will not find one here. Clearly, from their flame-throwing ace Jacob Misiorowski to free-swinging stars like Christian Yelich, Milwaukee has depth and talent. But that’s not why they’re better than the Cubs; they’re better because they have clear heads.
As the hotly anticipated three-game set unfolded under unseasonably crisp late-May skies, Milwaukee flexed its muscle, tossing unhittable pitches and sending one cascading home run or extra base hit into the lights of the Federal Landmark. The Brewers did not play like a team with something to prove because, despite all their bluster about being unknown underdogs, they aren’t. The North Siders, however, have everything to prove, and that mental block hindered their capacity to perform at their highest level.
Chicago’s offensive struggles date back at least to their series with the Texas Rangers, as their best hitters have collided head-on with their worst collective slump of the season. In their three contests with Milwaukee, the Cubs stranded 16 baserunners, often going excruciatingly long stretches without generating so much as a hit. Early opportunities, like Nico Hoerner’s leadoff double in the series finale, often evaporated into another wasted opportunity.
Even when the Cubs are showing obvious offensive deficiencies, they’re typically able to summon their elite defense as a measure to at least give themselves a puncher’s chance. At the worst possible time, those sterling gloves went missing. Pete Crow-Armstrong proved that recent controversies have taken his head out of the game, as he committed more than one enormously costly error. What we’re seeing transpire with Crow-Armstrong is primarily taking place between the ears, and that kind of issue normally finds resolution from within.
Regardless of how underwhelming this entire club has been recently, the weight of a team’s misfortunes always tends to fall on the shoulders of its biggest star. If the dynamic center fielder is who we thought he was, he has to do better.
Are they better off suffering a setback like this now? Of course. Despite the relentless strain of injuries, data suggests that the Cubs are hitting the ball hard enough to turn things around. And though it’s not as empirically evident, they possess sufficient depth to weather this unyielding storm. This series was a measuring stick for the North Siders, and the hard truth is that they’re just not there yet.
