Couneell leads Cubs in NLDS against the Brewers, his former team, and Murphy, his old bank coach

Milwaukee (AP) -CRAIG COUNCELL saw the Milwaukee Brewers-Chicago Cubs racing from just about every perspective. He grew up in the Milwaukee area as the son of former Brewers director of community affairs, John Counsel. He played for the Brewers and later became the team’s winning manager before the Cubs attracted him to Chicago. So he especially understands the atmosphere that will expect on Saturday when the Brewers and Cubs open a best of 5 NL division series. “These are two cities that are very close to each other,” Counselell said. “I think the residents of each city have thoughts about each other’s residents – harmless, of course. But yes, so the closeness of the cities makes it nice, undoubtedly about it, and the proximity also makes rivalry. And good teams make rivalry. ‘ Those rivalry also creates hard feelings, so Counsell should expect a chorus of evil when his name is mentioned on American Family Field. This is what happened every time the Cubs has visited Milwaukee since leaving the Brewers after the 2023 season. “This is the feeling the supporters have,” said Brewers, Freddy Peralta, Werper of the Brewers. “Probably this will happen again tomorrow, probably louder than normal.” Counseling went 707-625 as Milwaukee manager and led the Brewers to five playoffs in his last six seasons before heading to Chicago. Milwaukee has since won two direct division titles under Pat Murphy, who coached Counsel at Notre Dame and served as his bank coach in Milwaukee. Murphy says he and Counsell are still talking “once a month, maybe, something like that.” Although they are friends for many years, they have different styles. “I think when the reports were here, they were a good supplement of each other,” said Brewers outdoor player Christian Yelich. ‘Board is quite cerebral about the game and more reserved, calm behavior. And Murphy is going to tell you exactly what he thinks and feel at the time. He is not always going to say the thing that is politically correct, or that is too much concerned about how people feel about it. That’s just who they are. They are both successful. ‘ What they have in common is a desire to lower their roles in this series. Counseling said the novelty of running a visiting team in Milwaukee fired long ago. “I think we’re about the part,” Couneell said. ‘We are getting ready for a play -off series and is trying to move forward to have a chance to play in the World Series. This is now the task that is at hand, and that is now the focus. We’ve done the other things already. ‘ The Brewers were on May 24, 25-28 and 6 ½ games behind the Cubs before they were 72-37 the rest of the way for the best record of the regular season in Franchise History. The Brewers took first place for the first place by beating the Cubs 8-4 on July 28. Chicago went 7-6 against Milwaukee in the usual season. The Cubs advanced to this stage of the playoffs by winning an NL Wild Card series with the San Diego Padres. Milwaukee’s Game 1er is Peralta, who faces the Cubs for the fifth time this year. The All-Star Judge hand led 3-1 with a 3.43 era against them during the usual season. He has an overall record of 17-6 with a 2.70 era. The Cubs did not announce their Game 1 starting batsman. “I think we are going with a few plans with this,” Counselell said. “We’re all going to make them throw and make a decision then. But we definitely have what we prefer to do. ‘ Trevor Megill of Milwaukee says he feels good for the post-season after returning from a month-long lead on the injured list to set up a 1-2-3 turn in the final season of the regular season. The All-Star Closer says he is open to playing in another relief if needed. While Megill recovered from his right Flexor tension, Abner filled Uribe when Milwaukee approached and did not allow a run over his last nine appearances. “I told Murphy that I was ready for everything that was the turn, it didn’t matter,” Megill said. “Let’s just win a few ball games.” Brewers-Cubs games in Milwaukee often have atmosphere in the bakkie with a reasonable split of fans taking root for each team due to Chicago’s proximity. Milwaukee’s outdoor field Frelick said he didn’t care about the atmosphere, even if it meant the brewers didn’t get the same kind of home field as they would have enjoyed if the roads were advanced. “I would assume that it would be very similar to when they came here (in the usual season), a nice 50-50 distribution,” Frelick said. ‘However, this is a fun environment. That’s what you want. ‘ The Brice Turang of Milwaukee beat a 0.902 ops against the Cubs this season. William Contreras hit .298 with a .421 base percentage. As for the brewers who struggled against the Cubs this year, Yelich beat 0.170 and had 19 strokes in 47 at bats, while Caleb scored Durbin .167. Chicago’s Kyle Tucker beat a .314 with a .467 base percentage on the Brewers during the regular season. Seiya Suzuki hit .120 with 22 strike in 50 at bats against Milwaukee. ___