LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Brewers manager Craig Counsell insists he’s not focused on the Cubs as his team tries to follow up a breakout 86-win season with a breakthrough into the 2018 playoffs.
But he knows who sets the bar in the National League Central – even if the Cubs are still retooling their pitching staff after big free agent losses – and he has an idea how his team will approach 2018 after its bitter second-half fade from first place this year.
“Of course, there’s motivation for that,” said Counsell, whose team went from 5½ games in front of the Cubs at the All-Star break to finishing six games behind, in second place (going 9-10 against the Cubs).
“The games against the teams in your division have a little extra meaning,” he said. “The Cubs certainly have been the top of the division for the last three years, or two years. So they’re the team to beat. There’s no question about that.”
The Brewers went 9-10 against the Cubs last season, winning only one series (a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field in early September).
How far are the resurgent, young Brewers from catching the Cubs?
“I look at trying to put together 90-win teams … or an upper-80-win team,” said Counsell, speaking during his scheduled Winter Meetings media session Monday. “I think a [small-market] franchise like ours, that’s what we have to do, where we’re at right now. And where that puts us at the end of the year, I’m not sure. The Cubs, I don’t think, are really a factor in that.
The Brewers finished one victory short of the second National League wild card.
“We’re looking just to do a little bit better than that,” he said. “I don’t think the Cubs are necessarily a part of that.”
Follow me on Twitter @GDubCub
Email: gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
