How the Brewers will respond if Jackson Chourio isn't ready for Game 2

In Game 1 of the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs' NLDS matchup, 21-year-old Jackson Chourio set the tone for Milwaukee right away. Moments after a Michael Busch leadoff home run gave Chicago a 1-0 lead, Chourio doubled off of Matthew Boyd, and the Brewers never looked back.

After Chourio's leadoff double, Brice Turang and William Contreras slugged doubles of their own, giving the Brewers an early lead before they ultimately plated six runs in the first inning and three more in the second. With Chourio batting leadoff, he received two at-bats in the first inning and another in the second, collecting hits in all three, which has never been done before in the history of MLB's postseason, as reported by Sarah Langs on the social media platform X.

Unfortunately, he was removed from the game after his third at-bat with hamstring tightness. A hamstring injury to the same leg caused him to miss nearly the entire month of August. Chourio's post-game MRI came back inconclusive, but he underwent drills and testing during the team's off day. While Brewers fans should be optimistic leading up to Game 2, it has yet to be officially confirmed if Chourio will be good to go.

How the Milwaukee Brewers might respond if Jackson Chourio is not ready for Game 2

With the Cubs sending out left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga in Game 2, if Chourio is healthy, they could easily roll out the exact same lineup that torched southpaw Matthew Boyd in Game 1. That lineup consisted of Chourio (1) at leadoff, followed by Brice Turang (2), William Contreras (3), Christian Yelich (4), Andrew Vaughn (5), Sal Frelick (6), Caleb Durbin (7), Blake Perkins (8), and Joey Ortiz (9).

Should Chourio not be ready for tonight's contest, Isaac Collins is a lock to take over in left field. However, given the fact that Collins has slashed just .232/.324/.408 against lefties this year, don't expect him to also replace Chourio in the leadoff spot in Pat Murphy's batting order tonight.

One under-the-radar option to leadoff tonight's game if Chourio does end up on the bench is Perkins, who has three hits in his four at-bats against Imanaga throughout his career. His gritty 11-pitch at-bat in Game 1 showcased the kind of plate approach you'd want from a leadoff hitter. If Perkins gets the nod, Collins could shift to the eighth spot in the order, helping maintain a balanced mix of left- and right-handed bats throughout the lineup.

Another option includes shifting everyone up in the lineup, so that Turang would bat leadoff, Contreras second, Yelich third, Vaughn cleanup, and so forth. Murphy would then have to figure out where to put Collins, with sometime after Frelick being a likely placement.

In the end, the exact lineup configuration may not matter all that much. Murphy has mixed and matched his players all season long, with Turang and Frelick both batting 1-9 throughout the year, resulting in players being comfortable hitting in different spots.

The best-case scenario is that Chourio is healthy enough to play tonight, and the Brewers can roll out the same lineup that dominated Chicago on Saturday afternoon. But if the worst comes true, expect the Brewers’ "next man up" mentality to keep spirits high in Milwaukee's clubhouse.