Cubs break embarrassing postseason streak in Game 3 win over Brewers

After statement wins in Games 1 and 2 of the NLDS, the Milwaukee Brewers couldn't pull off the sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night in Wrigleyville. Despite battling up until the last out, the Brew Crew couldn't overcome a short start from their No. 2 starter Quinn Priester, who was pitching in his first career postseason game at the ballpark he grew up going to.

Priester struggled to command his pitches in the opening frame, allowing a leadoff homer to Cubs first baseman Michael Busch, before walking two batters and surrendering two more hits. After the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he believed, "the moment got to him a little bit," before Priester took full responsibility for the Brewers’ Game 3 loss. In the end, it was an unfortunate stat line of four earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning for the 25-year-old right-hander that the Brewers acquired at the beginning of the season, and those four runs were enough for the Cubs to outlast the Brewers' "wood-pecking" throughout the remainder of the game.

Not only did those four first-inning runs give the Cubs enough cushion to pull off their first win of the NLDS, but they also broke a pretty embarrassing record for the North Siders that explains their lack of postseason success in the years following their 2016 World Series run.

Cubs score more than three runs in playoff game for the first time in eight years

Back in 2017, the Chicago Cubs won a thrilling 9-8 elimination game over the Washington Nationals to advance to their third-straight NLCS. However, the Los Angeles Dodgers made quick work of the Cubs in the NLCS, winning the series in five games in large part due to Chicago's lack of offense. The Cubs failed to score more than three runs in any of those five games.

The Cubs returned to the postseason the following year as a Wild Card team after the Brewers took care of business in a Game 163 showdown to determine the winner of the NL Central. In the one-game Wild Card matchup with the Colorado Rockies, the Cubs scored just one run and packed their bags for the offseason.

In 2020, the year that never happened, the Cubs were dominant for the shortened 60-game season, easily winning the NL Central, but when the playoffs rolled around, Chicago's offense once again didn't show up. They scored a total of one run in two games against the Miami Marlins and once again were eliminated from the postseason in quick fashion.

The Cubs then missed out on the postseason for four straight seasons from 2021-2024, before playoff baseball returned to the North Side of Chicago this year. In their three-game Wild Card Series matchup with the San Diego Padres, the Cubs somehow won two games without scoring more than three runs, saying more about the San Diego Padres' offense than anything else. After advancing to the NLDS to face the Brew Crew, the Cubs posted run totals of exactly three in each of the first two games of the series.

In total, that's 13 straight postseason games that the Cubs failed to score more than three runs, an embarrassing streak that was broken in the first inning on Wednesday night. With Milwaukee averaging more than six runs per game in the NLDS, the odds remain in the Brewers’ favor to advance past the NLDS for the first time since 2018. While Pat Murphy has yet to name a starter for Game 4 tonight, whether it's the Brewers' ace Freddy Peralta or another bullpen game from Milwaukee's lights-out group of relievers, there's reason to believe a new lack-of-scoring streak will begin for the Cubs tonight.