Brewers news: Quinn Priester's chance at history, Cubs' Tucker returns to lineup, Brewers and Cubs' season record

After what has felt like four years on the North Side of Chicago, the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs have reached the final game of their five-game series. Despite winning the series opener on Monday afternoon in emphatic fashion, the Brewers have dropped the last three contests. Even still, the Brew Crew holds a six-game lead in the NL Central, with a chance to make it seven before returning home for a three-game weekend series with the San Francisco Giants.

Luckily for the Crew, they have one of their steadiest pitchers set to start Thursday's matinee; Quinn Priester will toe the rubber first for the Brewers in today's series finale. After close losses in each of the last three games, the Brewers are aiming to flip the script in game five this afternoon, and with Priester on the bump, they should have a good shot to do so. However, opposing Priester at the Friendly Confines today is Shota Imanaga, whose 3.06 ERA suggests that a pitchers' duel could be in the cards.

Before first pitch, which is set to take place at 1:20 p.m. CT, catch up on three storylines that have emerged prior to today's series finale.

Quinn Priester has opportunity to break franchise record for most consecutive winning decisions

Not only will the Priester and the Brewers be looking to end their three-game skid in today's contest at Wrigley Field, but the former also has a chance to set a new franchise record. As outlined in the Brewers' Game Notes, which are carefully curated by Mike Vassallo and Milwaukee's exceptional media relations team prior to every game, Priester has a chance to earn his 11th consecutive winning decision this afternoon. In doing so, Priester would pass former Brewers starting pitchers Chris Bosio and Cal Eldred for the most consecutive winning decisions without a loss in franchise history. Both Bosio and Eldred won 10 straight decisions back in 1992.

Along the way, Priester has had some close calls, but his past two games stick out among the rest. First off, a brief overview on what it takes to earn a win as a starting pitcher: the pitcher must throw at least five innings and exit with a lead that their team maintains through the end of the game. If any lead changes occur, the game results in a "no decision" for the starting pitcher, meaning if the Brewers are losing when the starting pitcher exits the game, but then they come back to win it doesn't count as a win or a loss for the starter. This has been the case in each of Priester's last two starts. Back on August 10, the Brewers came back and won against the New York Mets thanks to Isaac Collins' walk-off homer. Then, in Priester's next start, they came back and won their 14th straight game thanks to Andruw Monasterio's 11th inning three-run shot.

The stipulation for the franchise record is that Priester can't lose a decision. Games in which he doesn't record a win or a loss don't affect the streak, meaning today is not necessarily his last chance at earning the new record. If he records a no decision in today's game and wins his next start, he will still be the holder of the impressive franchise record. However, with the Crew needing a win today, why don't we just get the franchise record out of the way and have Priester record his 11th consecutive winning decision this afternoon?

Kyle Tucker returns to Cubs' lineup for series finale

Several days ago, when it was revealed that the Cubs were going to give their All-Star right fielder, Kyle Tucker, a few days off to reset, as he was struggling through a prolonged slump at the plate, Brewers manager Pat Murphy speculated that he might be trying to play through an injury and it was affecting his performance. Yesterday, it was revealed that Murphy was in fact correct in his speculation; Tucker suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand back in June.

Despite maintaining his usual impressive offensive output through the month of June, Tucker's numbers slipped quite a bit in July, and he's become almost unplayable in August, hence the Cubs' decision to bench him for a couple of days. It's more than possible that lingering effects from his hand injury back in June are affecting his performance at the plate, and his attempts to play through the pain are only making it worse.

However, despite the Cubs winning all three games in Tucker's absence, the 4x All-Star is back in the lineup for today's series finale. He will bat in his usual spot, the two-hole, and play right field.

Cubs secure season series with win on Wednesday night

You may have heard the Brewers' broadcast team or someone in line for a free George Webb burger yesterday mention that the Cubs had a chance to secure the season series over the Brewers with a win in last night's game. But what exactly does that mean, and why does it matter?

With a win last night, the Cubs have officially won seven games against the Brewers this season. Since the teams will square off in their 13th and final matchup of the season this afternoon, the Cubs have taken the season series, meaning they won more games than they lost against the Brewers in 2025. At best, the Brewers will finish with a 6-7 record against the Cubs this season.

It matters because, as of the 2022 season, teams who are tied for first place in their division at the end of the season no longer play a game 163 tiebreaker like the Brewers and Cubs did back in 2018. Nowadays, the winner of the division, in the event of a tie, is determined by who won the season series. As such, the Brewers lead over the Cubs is essentially one game less than it could have been if they had won the season series, because a tie means that the Cubs would take the NL Central.

So long as the Brewers start winning games again, the season series against the Cubs matters not. With a six-game lead in the division, that could extend to seven with a win today, and a little over a month of games remaining, the Crew should not be worried about the season series. Rather, they just need to focus on continuing to compete and winning games, and the rest will take care of itself.