The Cubs’ season ended tonight with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. All five games in this series were won by the home team, which means
that the Brewers advance to the NL Championship Series, 3 games to 2.
Both sides went with a bullpen game and an opener for Game 5. For the first time in the series, the Brewers and reliever Trevor Megill kept the Cubs from scoring in the first inning. The Brewers unfortunately didn’t take the hint in the bottom of the inning as William Contreras hit yet another two-out solo home run off of Cubs starter Drew Pomeranz.
The Brewers’ early lead didn’t last long. Seiya Suzuki led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run off of Jacob Misiorowski, who had come in to relieve “opener” Megill.
The game stayed tied 1-1 until the fourth inning with Colin Rea pitching for the Cubs. Rea did well in the second and third innings, but once again the Brewers struck after two were out with a solo home run by Cubs-killer Andrew Vaughn. The Brewers continued to hit off of Rea, loading the bases after the home run. That led to Craig Counsell calling on Daniel Palencia, who got nine-hole hitter Joey Ortiz to hit a weak gounder to short to end the threat. But the Cubs were still down 2-1 going to the fifth after the Vaughn home run.
The Cubs looked like they had a chance in the bottom of the sixth inning when Brewers manager Pat Murphy pulled Misiorowski for Chad Patrick. Michael Busch led off the inning with a base hit up the middle and then Nico Hoerner made it two on and no outs after getting hit by a pitch. But Kyle Tucker struck out, Seiya Suzuki hit a rocket to left-center that wasn’t far enough away from Jackson Chourio for him not go catch and then Ian Happ struck out to end the threat.
The Brewers added yet another two-out, solo home run by Brice Turang off of Andrew Kittredge in the bottom of the seventh. The Cubs now trailed 3-1 and with how well the Cubs offense was going, that two-run lead looked like it may as well have been five runs.
The Cubs offense failed to take advantage after the first two Cubs batters reached in the sixth. Michael Busch drawing a walk in the eighth inning was the only baserunner after they failed to cash in any of those two baserunners with no outs in the sixth.
All four runs in this game were solo home runs. All three home runs by the Brewers came after two were out. That was a pattern throughout the five-fame series.
As in Games 1 and 2 in Milwaukee, the Cubs couldn’t put together any sort of rally in the late innings. The Cubs went down meekly against Abner Uribe in the eighth and ninth innings, not getting any baserunners in either the eighth or the ninth innings.
So that’s it for the 2025 Cubs’ season. In some ways, it was very successful with 92 wins and a victory over the Padres in the Division Series. In other ways, it was a big disappointment as the Cubs failed to take advantage of chances to take out the Brewers and advance to the National League Championship Series. They had chances to make this a special season, but the Cubs simply didn’t come through when they needed to and now the season is over.
