Brewers' arch-rival loses bounce-back candidate for first few months of 2026 season

Though some projection models are bullish on the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds' chances in 2026, most baseball fans expect the NL Central to once again come down to the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs. It's a battle that Milwaukee has won in each of the last three seasons, but in 2025, the North Siders came closer to dethroning the Brewers than they were in 2023 or '24.

While the national media thinks highly of the Chicago's offseason, one that saw Chicago replace Kyle Tucker with Alex Bregman, swing big for starting pitcher Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins, and revamp a bullpen that saw many departures after the 2025 season, Brewers fans (and Cubs fans for that matter) know better than to hand out the division crown based solely on preseason projections. Chicago has been favored to win the Central in each of the last two years only to finish well behind the Brewers at the end of the season.

One under-the-radar offseason move that has contributed to the Cubs' front office earning high marks for their roster construction this winter was the signing of former Brewer Tyler Austin. The slugging first baseman had a very brief, but memorable run with the Brewers back in 2019, during which he appeared in just 17 games. However, thanks to a few big hits, Austin approached "cult hero" status with the Brewers before taking his talents to Japan the following year, where he's played for the last six seasons.

The Cubs signed Austin to be a soft platoon partner for the talented lefty Michael Busch at first base, and the move looked like a savvy one at the time. However, this morning, as reported by Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, among others, Austin recently underwent knee surgery and will be sidelined for "months."

Cubs lose savvy offseason signing Tyler Austin for first few months of 2026 season after knee surgery

Not to compliment the Cubs' front office too much, but Austin was a sneaky good pickup this offseason. Though he's 34 years old and never found much success in MLB, there's clearly still some pop left in his bat, and he cost Chicago just $1.25 million. In 403 games in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) over the last six years, Austin crushed 85 homers and posted an impressive .568 slugging percentage.

Additionally, during his time in NPB, Austin cut down his strikeout rate, which was the main concern in his offensive profile back when he was a member of MLB. From 2016-19, when Austin played for four different MLB teams, he posted a brutal strikeout rate of 36.9% in 209 games. However, during his career in NPB, Austin struck out just 22.8% of the time, leading the Cubs to believe that some of his plate discipline issues have been resolved.

Austin projects to be a bench bat for the Cubs in 2026, so it's not necessarily a division-altering development, but it's a blow for the North Siders nonetheless. In a division where every bit of value matters, Chicago will have to find a way to replace the production they were expecting from Austin in the first few months of the season. Chicago could elect to have Matt Shaw, who lost his starting position when the Cubs signed Bregman in early January, log some innings at first base in the meantime, or give opportunities to top prospect Jonathan Long. Moises Ballesteros could also see some time at the cold corner, but as a lefty just like Busch, he doesn't offer the same value against southpaws that someone like Austin does.