Player of the gameRobert GasserMIL4.2ip 3h 1er 2bb 5k
Jackson Chourio is only 22 years old, but he’s been one of the Brewers’ top postseason performers the past two years. So it was fitting when he stepped to the plate and propelled the Brewers to a Labor Day victory over the Cubs that carried all kinds of implications for October. “Sometimes I feel like I was born for those moments,” Chourio said. “Other times, I like the pressure that those moments bring. I don’t know why, but I know I enjoy them.” Chourio punched a go-ahead, two-run single through a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning and then made a sliding catch in the ninth to finish a wild, 4-3 win over the Cubs on Monday at sold-out American Family Field, where a holiday crowd of 42,368 was treated to a thriller. It was baseball’s version of a Labor Day two-for-one sale. Not only did the Brewers win the game to climb eight games ahead of the Cubs in the division standings with 17 to go, but Milwaukee also clinched the season series between the teams, 7-4, with only two head-to-head matchups remaining. That’s critical, because it means the Brewers would hold the tiebreaker over the Cubs should Chicago mount a wild comeback in the division race over the next two-plus weeks. “I didn’t realize we did that,” said Trevor Megill, who locked down his 27th save with help from his defense. “Huge, I guess. We’ve got bigger ambitions than just the season series.” And the Brewers know they might see the Cubs again along the way. An October matchup would mean a rematch of a 2025 NLDS that went the distance. By winning Monday, the Brewers ensured that any postseason matchup with the Cubs would begin at home. “It’s obviously not the playoffs, but it’s a mini-playoff atmosphere,” Christian Yelich said. “It’s probably the closest you can get before the postseason. Any time our teams get together, no matter what time of year it is, it’s big games, big series. You’ve got to go make plays to win.” Brewers starter Robert Gasser was sharp for four innings before running into trouble in the fifth, so four Brewers relievers were called upon to hold the Cubs to two runs over the final 4 1/3 innings to give the hitters a chance to erase a 2-1 deficit in the eighth. They did just that with a rally beginning with Garrett Mitchell -- whose fifth-inning single had briefly tied the game at 1-1 -- working a walk from Cubs starter Matthew Boyd to put the Brewers in business. Joey Ortiz’s double knocked Boyd from the game in favor of reliever Ryan Zeferjahn. The right-hander was
