MLB Baseball
2025-10-06 - Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball Playoff Divisional Series Game 2
Monday 6th October 2025 - Scheduled 9:08pm
2:08am (British Time)
Preview
At this stage of the season, every decision made by the Managers will be dissected and criticised or praised, depend on the final outcome of each Playoff Game of course.
Chicago Cubs Manager Craig Counsell is not going to be surprised that so many have criticised the late decision to have Matthew Boyd start Game 1 of this Divisional Round Series on short rest. Craig Counsell stated that he felt Boyd had pitched well in the Wild Card Round without being overly taxed, but the short rest decision came back around to bite Chicago who were trailing comfortably by the end of the Second Inning.
However, it was not the perfect start for National League Central Winners Milwaukee Brewers.
The amount of runs scored through the first couple of Innings meant the batting lineup being asked to bat at least a couple of times, which is not a bad thing. Unfortunately for the Brewers, Jackson Chourio picked up a hamstring injury and his status for Game 2 is up in the air, while any prolonged absence would be a huge blow.
After having three Hits, Chourio did state after the game that it was 'precautionary' to leave a game that the Brewers were controlling.
The Brewers will need all of their batting talent if they are going to win the World Series, and so all eyes will be on the news about Jackson Chourio, although the belief is that he is likely going to miss the remainder of this Series.
It does mean having to deal with a bit more pressure for the pitching unit, but the Brewers will be happy handing the ball over to Quinn Priester.
The third year pitcher finished with a 13-3 record and a 3.32 ERA in twenty-nine appearances in the regular season and twenty-four were in starts. Quinn Priester will give the Milwaukee Brewers a few Innings and he ended the season having not allowed more than three runs in any of his last seven starts.
The pitcher was roughed up by the Chicago Cubs for seven runs in a little over 4 Innings thrown earlier this season, but Quinn Priester bounced back in the next two outings against this Divisional rival. In those, Priester allowed three runs in 10 Innings thrown and he earned the decision win once.
After the original expectation was that Colin Rea would start Game 1, the veteran is set to open up for the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 instead.
Like Matt Boyd, he pitched in the Wild Card Round, but Colin Rea was only asked to remove five batters in a couple of relief Innings and he has had a normal rest between games. This should help Colin Rea and the Chicago Cubs, especially as the pitcher only allowed a single Hit in that game out of the bullpen.
Colin Rea faced the Milwaukee Brewers twice in the regular season- he earned the decision win at home, but took the loss on the road when throwing 4 Innings in this ballpark and allowing four runs.
Prediction
Losing Jackson Chorio is clearly going to be a problem for the Milwaukee Brewers, but they should get enough from those remaining in the lineup to still have the edge over the Chicago Cubs.
The road have to be more competitive after effectively giving Game 1 away before it had really gotten going.
Poor decisions cost Chicago and so there is pressure on pitcher Colin Rea to make sure that he shows that another is not being made by asking him to start Game 2.
Quinn Priester has pitched well for the Brewers this season, although he had some tough moments in September.
Most impressive is the way he has handled the Cubs batting lineup and Priester may set the foundation for another Milwaukee win and to move 2-0 ahead in the Series.
The Pick :
Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 Chicago Cubs
