Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers tiebreaker game preview, Monday 10/1, 12:05 CT

Anthony Rizzo says it all:

And so here we are, one day after the 2018 regular season was scheduled to end, still playing on.

The Cubs and Brewers tied for the N.L. Central title with records of 95-67, so we’re having a tiebreaker game at Wrigley Field, since the Cubs won the season series from Milwaukee 11 to 8. The winner gets two days off and then hosts the winner of the wild-card game in the division series opener Thursday. The loser hosts the wild-card game Tuesday... so it’s entirely possible the Cubs and Brewers will meet again this week.

I mentioned this briefly Sunday, but this might wind up being important (records updated through Sunday’s games).

Brewers in night games: 68-35
Brewers in day games: 27-32

Cubs in night games: 49-37
Cubs in day games: 46-30

That obviously didn’t affect the Brewers Sunday in defeating the Tigers, but let’s be honest: There’s a reason the Tigers lost 98 games this year. The Cubs are a better team than that, and they have the best day-game record in the National League this year — while the Brewers’ is the only losing day-game mark among the N.L. postseason teams. Also, here’s the Cubs/Brewers record in day and night games this year against each other:

Cubs were 6-3 vs. Brewers in day games
Cubs were 5-5 vs. Brewers in night games

So... maybe that’s a factor this afternoon.

Also, it might rain today. (Gee, what a surprise, this season seems like it’s been one big rainstorm.) So, here’s the radar for you:

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

You already know a tremendous amount about these teams, so let’s move right on to the starting pitchers.

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Jhoulys Chacin, RHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

These two pitchers have seen a lot of each other. This is a pitching rematch of the game September 5 in Milwaukee. Q threw 6⅔ innings and allowed five hits and two runs, and the Cubs got seven hits and five runs off Chacin in 4⅔ innings, including a home run by Daniel Murphy.

There was another matchup of Q and Chacin September 11 at Wrigley Field. Q threw 6⅔ shutout innings. The Cubs got just one hit off Chacin but scored two runs.

More importantly, Quintana has an outstanding career record against the Brewers: 10 starts, 1.60 ERA, 0.817 WHIP, 63 strikeouts in 67⅓ innings. In only one of those starts did he allow more than two runs, and that one (August 14 at Wrigley Field) was the only one where he did not complete at least six innings. In that start: five runs in five innings. In the other five starts against Milwaukee this year: four earned runs in 32⅓ innings (1.12 ERA), 17 hits and nine walks allowed, 28 strikeouts, two home runs.

Perhaps most importantly, Christian Yelich vs. Quintana: 1-for-11, three strikeouts. Overall current Brewers are hitting .203 (63-for-310) against Q.

Fun Quintana fact:

Another fun Quintana fact:

Today’s game is on ESPN. Announcers: Karl Ravech, analysts Eduardo Perez and Tim Kurkjian and reporter Buster Olney.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Site note: A game thread for the Dodgers/Brewers tiebreaker will post at 3 p.m. CT, whether this game is over or not. A recap of the Cubs game will follow shortly after it ends.

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. Here’s how it works.

You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads” so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.