Brewers advance to NLCS: Milwaukee out-homers Cubs to eliminate division rivals, set date with Dodgers

The Milwaukee Brewers are heading to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2018. The Brewers defeated the Chicago Cubs by a 3-1 final in Saturday night's winner-take-all Game 5 of the NL Division Series. The Cubs will now head into the offseason.

Every run in Game 5 scored on a home run. The Brewers struck first, with William Contreras putting Milwaukee up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. The Cubs would answer back in the second on a Seiya Suzuki blast. Subsequent home runs by Andrew Vaughn (in the fourth) and Brice Turang (in the seventh) pulled the Brewers ahead -- first by one, and then by two. That proved to be sufficient.

Each club used a reliever to "open" Game 5 before turning things over to a bulk pitcher. Even so, the difference was in how the bullpens performed. Whereas bulk pitchers Colin Rea and Jacob Misiorowski surrendered a run apiece, the other Cubs pitchers gave up two runs. The "bullpen" portion of Milwaukee's pitching plan, including opener Trevor Megill, didn't permit a single run.

The Brewers will now meet up with the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning on Monday to determine which team represents the NL in the World Series. Coincidentally, the Brewers' last trip to the NLCS also saw them face the Dodgers. Los Angeles ended up winning that series by a 4-3 margin.

Happ flies out to right for the second out of the ninth. The Brewers are an out away from the NLCS.

Suzuki flies out to left for the first out of the ninth.

Abner Uribe is staying in for Milwaukee. A good ol' fashioned six-out save to close out a winner-take-all postseason game.

The Brewers are three outs away from their first NLCS trip since 2018.

The Brewers grabbed some all-important insurance in the bottom of the seventh on a solo home run from Brice Turang.

Turang wasn't a big power hitter in his first two seasons, but he hit 18 home runs in the regular season this year. This was his first career playoff home run. 

The Brewers are now just six outs away from the NLCS and they have a two-run cushion.

Only a one-run game, but Milwaukee feels in charge.

The Brewers are nine outs away from the NLDS. I'm gonna say this game won't end 2-1 though. More scoring is on the way.

The Cubs put the first two runners on base against Ashby, but did not score or even advance the runners. Missed opportunity, that was. The Brewers are nursing a 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the sixth.

The Miz is done. Ashby is on for Brewers. The Cubs have hit him hard twice this series. It's the top of the order.

Jacob Misiorowski threw 57 pitches in Game 2. He threw 58 on Sept. 27. He threw 77 on Sept. 19. Will the Brewers want him back up in the 70s, or is high 50s where they want him to be now? If it's the latter, he doesn't have many more hitters. He's up over 50.

Joey Ortiz grounded out. It remains 2-1 Brewers heading into the fifth.

Four straight Brewers have reached with two outs. Vaughn homered, then infield single, single plus an error, and a walk. The Brewers have the bases loaded in the fourth. Daniel Palencia coming in.

Andrew Vaughn has given the Brewers a 2-1 lead here in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run off Colin Rea.

The Brewers had taken a 1-0 advantage in the first when William Contreras launched a home run. The Cubs subsequently tied it on a Seiya Suzuki home run. All three runs in this game have been scored on home runs.

Here's a look:

The winner of this game will advance to play the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League pennant. 

Brewers-like, really.

Seven scoreless innings for Colin Rea this postseason. The Cubs this year have gotten a ton of high-quality mileage out of guys who seemed to be out of baseball not too long ago (Rea, Pomeranz, Boyd, etc.)

He only made 11 all season in 159 games. He's made two so far this series.

Ball seems to be carrying well tonight. There have already been a few fly outs that looked routine off the bat, but kept carrying to the warning track. It's 1-1 going to the top of the third.

Rea is a former Brewer. He was a fill-in starter for the Cubs and ended up starting 27 games due to injuries to others. He finished really strong, though, with a 1.93 ERA in his last four starts in the regular season. He's worked five scoreless innings in the postseason so far, too.

Colin Rea is in for the Cubs. Pomeranz was not, of course, expected to work more than an inning. 

The rookie fireballer Jacob Misiorowski totally dominated the Cubs in Game 2. So far in this one, the Cubs appear to be seeing the ball much better against him. He gave up the home run along with a single and Pete Crow-Armstrong flew out to the warning track on a ball he hit over 100 miles per hour.

It's a 1-1 game. Seiya Suzuki takes Jacob Misiorowski deep to open the second inning. Suzuki has two home runs in this series and three this postseason. He's been scorching hot the last 2-3 weeks after a pretty sluggish second half.

Here's the home run. This isn't a bad pitch. Just good hitting by Suzuki.

Misiorowski was a bit home run prone during the regular season. A lot of these huge fastball guys are. The bigger issue with him is walks. He'll lose the plate and give out free baserunners. Misiorowski went 3-2 to Ian Happ after the homer, but got him to ground out.

Chicago is out-homered the Brewers 9-5 in the NLDS through four games and change.

Pomeranz had retired every batter he faced prior to homer. 17 up, 17 down, then the dinger.

William Contreras has given Milwaukee an early lead in this winner-take-all contest. Contreras just launched a solo home run with two outs off opener Drew Pomeranz.

Here's a look:

Both teams elected to use an opener tonight. Trevor Megill retired the Cubs in order in the top of the first. Pomeranz was unable to match, and Chicago now trails as a result.

Contreras' home run ensures that this series will end with each game featuring at least one first-inning run.

For the first time this series, the Cubs did not score in the first inning. 1-2-3 inning for Megill with two fly outs and a strikeout.

Megill delivers a strike to get us going.

The last team to erase a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five Division Series is the 2017 Yankees. They came back against Cleveland. Didi Gregorius hit two home runs off Corey Kluber, that year's Cy Young winner, in Game 5. The Cubs are trying to do exactly that too. Erase a 2-0 deficit while being the road team.

I'm a bit surprised the Brewers didn't start a lefty, given that Craig Counsell sat Michael Busch against a lefty opener in Game 2. Busch is the best hitter in the lineup right now. He's homered three times, twice leading off the game, this series. The Brewers possibly didn't want to run Aaron Ashby out there again since he's been hit hard twice this series, but they have three other lefties. I you can take the bat out of Busch's hands even once, it would be worth it.

First up, the visiting Cubbies:

1. 1B Michael Busch, LHB
2. 2B Nico Hoerner, RHB
3. DH Kyle Tucker, LHB
4. RF Seiya Suzuki, RHB
5. LF Ian Happ, SHB
6. C Carson Kelly, RHB
7. CF Pete Crow-Armstrong, LHB
8. SS Dansby Swanson, RHB
9. 3B Matt Shaw, RHB

SP Drew Pomeranz, LHB (opener)

Justin Turner (RHB) and Moises Ballesteros (LHB) loom as pinch-hitters, though neither is likely to play the field, so using them would require burning two bench guys (Willi Castro can play anywhere). In a win or go home game, you do what you have to do. Here now is the starting nine for the home Brewers:

1. LF Jackson Chourio, RHB
2. 2B Brice Turang, LHB
3. C William Contreras, RHB
4. DH Christian Yelich, LHB
5. 1B Andrew Vaughn, RHB
6. RF Sal Frelick, LHB
7. 3B Caleb Durbin, RHB
8. CF Blake Perkins, SHB
9. SS Joey Ortiz, RHB

SP RHP Trevor Megill, RHP (opener)

Isaac Collins, who will get plenty of Rookie of the Year votes (and might even win it), has three plate appearances this postseason and has not started a game. Pretty deep, these Brewers are.

Nothing quite sums up the evolution of baseball than the way pitching is used in the playoffs these days. What would have been unheard and laughed out of the proverbial room even in the 1990s or the first decade of the new millennium is on display here in Game 5 of the NLDS. The Cubs are using lefty short reliever Drew Pomeranz while the Brewers are starting their closer, Trevor Megill.