The Chicago Cubs are down 2-0 in the NLDS to the Milwaukee Brewers after losing 7-3 Monday night. For the second straight game the Cubs got out to a first-inning lead just to see it evaporate in the bottom half of the frame. A William Contreras solo home run in the third gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead and Jackson Chourio's three-run homer in the fourth pretty much put the Cubs out of their misery in Game 2.
Obviously the Cubs' pitching staff has been completely outmatched against the Brewers. Craig Counsell was able to maneuver through the Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres, but without a true ace in Justin Steele or rising star Cade Horton, the Cubs were always going to be at a disadvantage going up against Milwaukee. As for the offense, it's been beyond bad.
Monday night's loss continued a historically awful streak for the Cubs, who have now officially set a new standard for sucking on offense in the postseason. Their series win over the Padres in the Wild Card round was Chicago's first the 2017 NLDS over the Washington Nationals. Game 5 of that 2017 NLDS, a 9-8 win, also marked the last time the Cubs have scored more than three runs in any playoff game.
How many playoff games in a row has that been?
Here's the list of those 13 games.
2017 NLCS vs. Dodgers
5-2 loss
4-1 loss
6-1 loss
3-2 win
11-1 loss
2018 Wild Card Game vs. Rockies
2-1 loss
2020 Wild Card series vs. Marlins
5-1 loss
2-0 loss
2025 Wild Card series vs. Padres
3-1 win
3-0 loss
3-1 win
2025 NLDS vs. Brewers
9-3 loss
7-3 loss
Oh and by the way, in that 2017 NLDS against the Nationals, the Cubs were also held to three or fewer runs in the first four games of that series as well before the 9-8 win in Game 5.
Here are the Cubs numbers on offense in their last 18 postseason games, beginning with the start of the 2017 playoffs.
As we saw against the Padres, hitting is a lot harder in the postseason. I always resist the urge to overreact over small samples, which is what the playoffs ultimately give you, but holy shit is this some next level failure by the Cubs. The previous core, this core, awful. Fuck.
The lineup had two hits after Suzuki's three-run home run in the first inning last night. Justin Turner had a two-out single in the second inning, so that's only one hit in the final seven innings by the offense. The Brewers ended the game by retiring 15 batters in a row, following Nico Hoerner's leadoff single in the fifth inning.
Pitiful offense by this Cubs team.
