The NL Division Series between the Cubs and Brewers gets started today, with Matthew Boyd facing Freddy Peralta in the Game 1 pitching matchup. Here are the full 26-man rosters for both teams in the clash of NL Central rivals…
Cubs catchers: Moises Ballesteros, Carson Kelly, Reese McGuire
Infielders: Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson, Justin Turner
Outfielders: Kevin Alcantara, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker
Utilityman: Willi Castro
Left-handed pitchers: Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar
Right-handed pitchers: Aaron Civale, Ben Brown, Brad Keller, Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Michael Soroka, Jameson Taillon
Brewers catchers: William Contreras, Danny Jansen
Infielders: Jake Bauers, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, Andrew Vaughn
Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, Sal Frelick, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins, Christian Yelich
Left-handed pitchers: Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, Jared Koenig, Jose Quintana
Right-handed pitchers: Grant Anderson, Nick Mears, Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, Abner Uribe
The Cubs are going with almost the exact roster of 14 position players and 12 pitchers that were used in their wild card series victory over the Padres, except Brown will take the place of left-hander Taylor Rogers. Manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and other reporters that Chicago opted for Brown over Rogers and Javier Assad due to Brown’s strikeout ability, and on how Brown projects to match up against the Brewers. This leaves Pomeranz and Thielbar as the only left-handed relievers to be mixed and matched against Milwaukee’s left-handed bats.
The Brew Crew’s first roster of the postseason doesn’t contain too many surprises, as there was already an expectation that the team would use Misiorowski and Gasser as a pair of intriguing rookies out of the bullpen. Milwaukee is also deploying an alignment of 14 position players and 12 pitchers, but one position player that didn’t make the cut was Rhys Hoskins. This is also not a shock given how Hoskins has been essentially supplanted by Vaughn as the first-choice option at first base. A thumb sprain and a bone bruise cost Hoskins over two months of the season, and after returning from the injured list in September, Hoskins received only sparing playing time.
A pair of prominent injured pitchers weren’t included on either team’s NLDS roster. Counsell said Cade Horton won’t be involved in the series even as an injury replacement, which isn’t surprising since Horton (who is recovering from a rib fracture) wouldn’t be eligible to be activated from the 15-day IL until Game 5. Brewers manager Pat Murphy told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and other reporters yesterday that Brandon Woodruff might still be available to pitch later in the postseason if the Crew advances deeper into October, but the veteran right’s lat strain will keep him out of the Division Series.