CHICAGO -- Memories came flooding back for Milwaukee president of baseball operations Matt Arnold on Monday while he sat in Wrigley Field’s first-base dugout. The first pitch of the first Brewers-Cubs regular-season game since last year’s National League Division Series was fast approaching.
“Think of the magnitude of that series,” Arnold said. ‘Those are franchise-altering games.”
How then, he was asked, will the Brewers keep from making these three games in May seem bigger than they are?
Arnold gave a puzzled look.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m fired up.”
His team fired on all cylinders Monday in a way the Brewers haven’t very often this season, getting 400-plus-foot bank shots off the right-field scoreboard from Christian Yelich and Jake Bauers in Milwaukee’s decisive, 9-3 win over Chicago in the series opener. There are still two games to go in the series and more than four months to go in the regular season, but at this juncture, the teams are right where they expected to be coming into the season: Neck and neck atop the National League Central.
The Cubs, seeking to avenge the Brewers’ win in last year’s NLDS, saw their lead in the division standings dwindle to a half a game after the Brewers won for the ninth time in their past 11 games. It was the Cubs’ first loss at home since April 11, ending a 15-0 run at the Friendly Confines.
"The Brewers are the team that’s won the division the last three years. That’s what we want to do,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell. “Last year, they beat us and they had a fabulous season. So, we’ve got to improve to get there. They’re a good team again -- no question about it. That’s where it’s at."