As of late morning Thursday, neither the Cubs nor the Brewers have announced who will start Game 4 of their National League Division Series, which will begin at 8:08 p.m. CT tonight at Wrigley Field.
Earlier
today in After Dark, Josh posted this question: Who would you want to start Game 4 for the Cubs? At the time of this post, the poll vote was close between “Matthew Boyd on 4 days rest” and “Aaron Civale and then a bullpen game.”
What I’d like to discuss here is what the Brewers will do to counter the Cubs. They, too, have several choices and they are laid out by Brewers beat writer Curt Hogg in this article.
Let’s have a look at the four pitchers he mentions in the article.
Freddy Peralta
This is the most obvious choice. As is the case for Boyd, Peralta would also be going on four days’ rest, as both pitchers started Game 1 of the series on Saturday.
Hogg writes:
While Peralta’s surface numbers on four days rest were better this year (a 2.59 ERA compared to 2.65 on five days’), everything else indicates he actually pitched much better with greater rest. In 17 starts with exactly five days between outings, he owned a 0.982 WHIP and 3.41 strikeout-to-walk ratio; in the four times he went after six days or more off, he had a 0.851 WHIP and 4.17 K-to-BB.
Plus, saving Peralta for a potential Game 5 would also mean he could pitch Game 1 of the National League Championship Series should the Brewers win at Wrigley in Game 4.
Aaron Ashby
Ashby served as an opener for the Brewers in Game 2 and was lifted after 1.2 innings and 43 pitches, which was the most he’d thrown in a game since mid-August.
He also served up the three-run homer to Seiya Suzuki.
If the Brewers do go with Ashby as more-or-less an opener, I would hope Craig Counsell does NOT repeat his Game 2 lineup with Justin Turner leading off. While Turner did go 1-for-2 off Ashby, Busch is having a special series. He should start all the games.
Robert Gasser
Gasser, a left-hander, has made just seven MLB starts, five last year and two this year. He hasn’t appeared in this series and would be going on 11 days’ rest.
His only career appearance against the Cubs came on May 27, 2024 in Milwaukee. Just to show you how much the Cubs have changed since then, of the 12 Cubs who played in that game, only four (Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ and Dansby Swanson) are on the team’s Division Series roster.
Jacob Misiorowski
Misiorowski was the “bulk guy” in Game 2 for Milwaukee, throwing three shutout innings after Ashby was removed (and Nick Mears finished the second inning). The 100 mile per hour right-hander allowed one hit and two walks and struck out four.
Misiorowski was significantly worse on the road this year (5.52 ERA in seven starts with a much lower K rate, 27.8 percent, compared to a 3.44 ERA and a 35.1 K rate away from Milwaukee). And the Cubs scored six runs (five earned) off him in eight total innings during the regular season.
So like the Cubs, the Brewers have some choices that, apart from going with Peralta and then not having him available for Game 5, aren’t really all that good.
Who do you think the Brewers will choose?
