MILWAUKEE BREWERS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: Is game 2 (0-1) of a 3-game, 4-day road trip to Chicago-NL to begin the 2023 season…..following this series, the team begins its home schedule with a 6-game, 7-day homestand against New York-NL (3g) and St. Louis (3g).
CURRENT ROSTER (bold indicates not on Opening Day roster):
PITCHERS (13) – RH Corbin Burnes, RH Matt Bush, RH Javy Guerra, LH Eric Lauer, LH Wade Miley, LH Hoby Milner, RH Joel Payamps, RH Freddy Peralta, RH Peter Strzelecki, RH Gus Varland, RH Devin Williams, RH Bryse Wilson, RH Brandon Woodruff
CATCHERS (2) – Victor Caratini, William Contreras
INFIELDERS (6) – Willy Adames, Mike Brosseau, Owen Miller, Rowdy Tellez, Brice Turang, Luke Voit…..OUTFIELDERS (5) – Brian Anderson, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Jesse Winker, Christian Yelich
OPENING DAY ROSTER (bold indicates not on current roster):
PITCHERS (13) – RH Corbin Burnes, RH Matt Bush, RH Javy Guerra, LH Eric Lauer, LH Wade Miley, LH Hoby Milner, RH Joel Payamps, RH Freddy Peralta, RH Peter Strzelecki, RH Gus Varland, RH Devin Williams, RH Bryse Wilson, RH Brandon Woodruff
CATCHERS (2) – Victor Caratini, William Contreras
INFIELDERS (7) – Willy Adames, Mike Brosseau, Owen Miller, Rowdy Tellez, Brice Turang, Luis Urías, Luke Voit…..OUTFIELDERS (4) – Brian Anderson, Garrett Mitchell, Jesse Winker, Christian Yelich
IN THE TRAINER’S ROOM: RHP Jason Alexander (right rotator cuff), LHP Aaron Ashby (left labrum), RHP Adrian Houser (right groin), OF Tyrone Taylor (right elbow), INF Luis Urías (left hamstring) and LHP Justin Wilson (left elbow) are on the injured list….. Alexander and Wilson are on the 60-day IL.
THE NEW BREW: INF/OF Brian Anderson (free agent), C William Contreras (trade with ATL), RHP Javy Guerra (trade with TB), LHP Wade Miley (free agent), INF/OF Owen Miller (trade with CLE), RHP Joel Payamps (trade with OAK), RHP Gus Varland (Rule 5 Draft from LAD), 1B Luke Voit (free agent), RHP Bryse Wilson (trade with PIT) and OF Jesse Winker (trade with SEA).
GONE FROM 2022: RHP Brad Boxberger (CHC), C Mario Feliciano (DET), RHP Trevor Gott (SEA), RHP Jandel Gustave (ARI), RHP Trevor Kelley (TB), OF Andrew McCutchen (PIT), C Omar Narváez (NYM), RHP Luis Perdomo (Japan), INF/OF Jace Peterson (OAK), OF Hunter Renfroe (LAA), INF/OF Pablo Reyes (OAK), LHP Taylor Rogers (SF), OF Esteury Ruiz (OAK), LHP Brent Suter (COL), RHP Justin Topa (SEA) and 2B Kolten Wong (SEA).
TODAY’S STARTER: #53 – RHP BRANDON WOODRUFF
WOODRUFF AT A GLANCE: Brandon Woodruff, 30, went 13-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 27 starts last season…..he led the team with a career-high 13 wins…..the team went 19-8 in his starts…..he made 15 quality starts…..he held opponents to a .215 batting average with 190 strikeouts in 153.1 innings pitched…..Woodruff missed a month of action while on the 15-day injured list from 5/30-6/27 with a right ankle sprain and Raynaud’s syndrome affecting his pitching fingers…..he went 8-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 18 starts after coming off the injured list (109.2ip, 29er)…..Woodruff was selected by Milwaukee in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Mississippi State University…..
he is under club control through 2024.
CAREER: Is 41-25 with a 3.18 ERA in 119 games/104 starts (613.1ip, 217er)…..is in his seventh MLB season, all with the Brewers (2017-23)…..was a 2019 and 2021 All-Star.
CAREER AT AMERICAN FAMILY FIELD: Is 23-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 60 games/53 starts (318ip, 105er)…..went 8-0 with a 2.06 ERA in 13 starts last
season (78.2ip, 18er).
CAREER ON THE ROAD: Is 18-17 with a 3.41 ERA in 59 games/51 starts (295.1ip, 112er)…..went 5-4 with an 4.10 ERA in 14 starts last season (74.2ip, 34er).
CAREER vs. CUBS: Is 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA in 16 games/14 starts (74.1ip, 27er), including 0-1 with a 5.28 ERA in 3 starts last season (15.1ip, 9er)…..has gone 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA in 9 career games/7 starts at Wrigley Field (36.2ip, 15er).
CHICAGO CUBS NOTES:
GO FOR TWO: The Chicago Cubs today play the second of a season-opening threegame set against the Milwaukee Brewers after winning Thursday’s season opener, 4-0 … Chicago looks to go 2-0 to start a season for the second-straight season, having opened last year with two-consecutive wins vs. Milwaukee … prior to 2022, the team hadn’t won its first two contests to begin a campaign since 2016.
The Cubs open the season with 16 of their first 25 games through April 27 at Wrigley Field … of those first 25 tilts, just six are against their own division, the N.L. Central: this Brewers series is followed by a three-game set in Cincinnati, April 3-5 … in fact, after April 5 the Cubs play 29-straight games outside of the division until hosting the Cardinals for three games, May 8-10.
What’s even more odd? … following the three-game set in Cincinnati, April 3-5, the team’s next road series against an opponent in its own division is not until June 19-21 for three games in Pittsburgh.
Starting with an April 10 home game vs. the Mariners, Chicago will have a stretch in which 13 of 16 games through April 27 are against 2022 playoff teams (three games vs. the Mariners, seven games in 10 days against the Dodgers and three games vs. the Padres).
OPENING DAY RECAP: Marcus Stroman spun 6.0 shutout innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out eight in Chicago’s 4-0 Opening Day victory over Milwaukee on Thursday … he’s just the fifth Cub to toss at least 6.0 shutout innings with at least eight strikeouts on Opening Day, joining: Lon Warneke (4/17/34 @ CIN), Bill Bonham (4/9/74 vs. PHI), Jeff Samardzija (4/1/13 @ PIT) and Kyle Hendricks (7/24/20
vs. MIL).
Dansby Swanson in his Cubs debut went 3-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored … he became the first Cub to have three-plus hits in a team debut on Opening Day since Emilio Bonafacio (4, Mar. 31, 2014 at Pittsburgh) and the first at Wrigley Field since Kosuke Fukudome (3, Mar. 31, 2008 vs. Milwaukee).
Five Cubs made their team debut in Thursday’s starting lineup (Bellinger, Hosmer, Mancini, Mastrobuoni & Swanson), the most for Chicago in one Opening Day since six did so in 1902.
STEELE ON THE BUMP: Justin Steele today makes his 2023 season debut coming off a strong finish to 2022 in which he posted a 0.98 ERA (4 ER/36.2 IP) with 13 walks and 47 strikeouts in his final seven starts from July 22-Aug. 26 … he limited opponents to a .235 average and a .636 OPS in that span before his season ended when he was placed on the I.L. Sept. 2 with a low back strain.
Steele in 10 career games (eight starts) against Milwaukee has posted a 2.55 ERA (12 ER/42.1 IP) with 10.2 strikeouts per 9.0 innings (48 SO/42.1 IP) … he made six starts against the Brewers last season, going 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA (7 ER/31.0 IP), including a 1.00 ERA (2 ER/18.0 IP) in his final three outings.
THIS AND THAT: Eric Hosmer has gone 21-consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout dating to Aug. 17 of last season – that’s the tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the majors (Washington’s Ildemaro Vargas leads with 29 AB).
As you know, the Cubs bullpen on Thursday tossed 3.0 scoreless frames to preserve a 4-0 win … did you know that the team’s bullpen posted a 2.23 ERA in the team’s final 19 games of 2022 dating to Sept. 20?
DEBUT DANDIES: Besides the aforementioned five Cubs debuts in Thursday’s starting lineup, both Brad Boxberger and Michael Fulmer also made their Cubs debuts … team historian Ed Hartig notes that just twice in the franchise’s first 21,932 regular season games have more players made their Cubs debut in a game.
April 25, 1876, the Cubs first N.L. game, saw nine Cubs make their debuts … April 2, 2001, eight players made their Cubs debut.
The Cubs all-time roster is at 2,207, with five members of the roster still looking to make their Cubs debut.
FIRST-TIMERS CLUB: Four Cubs on Thursday made their first career Opening Day rosters: Javier Assad, Mark Leiter Jr., Miles Mastrobuoni and Hayden Wesneski.
ROSSY AT THE HELM: David Ross is in his fourth season as manager of the Cubs after he was named the 55th manager in franchise history, October 24, 2019, replacing Joe Maddon … this is Ross’ 26th professional baseball season … he played 15 major league seasons as a catcher, including his final two with Chicago (2015-16) … is a two-time World Series champ with Boston (in 2013) and Chicago (2016). © Ross in 2020 led the Cubs to the N.L. Central Division title … the 2021 club was 71-91, a season in which Chicago utilized a MLB single-season record 69 players, and last year went 74-88.
SUMMARIZING THE SPRING: The Cubs finished Spring Training with a 17-12-2 record, the third-best Cactus League mark behind the Angels (18-11-2) and Royals (19-13-1) … Cubs pitching recorded a 3.90 ERA (117 ER/270.0 IP), the lowest mark in the Cactus League and second-best in the majors behind Houston (3.30) … Chicago batted .241 (243-for-1,009) with 35 home runs and a .729 OPS.
JUST A MATTER OF TIME: Ed Hartig noted that Thursday’s game time of two hours, 21 minutes was the quickest season opener at Wrigley Field since April 9, 1974, vs. the Phillies (2:09).
Just two of Chicago’s 31 spring games went over three hours: the team’s opener, Feb. 25 vs. the Giants (3:06) and March 25’s game at the Angels (3:07) … the team’s quickest game this spring was the next day, March 26, a tidy 1-hour, 57-minute contest vs. the Royals.
Starting Pitcher
35 LHP Justin Steele (0-0, 0.00)
Last Time Out
Justin received his fourth-straight no-decision, but made his third-straight quality
start, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts … has tallied five-plus
strikeouts in five-straight starts since July 28 (39 total), the fifth-most in the N.L.
during that stretch … has posted a 0.86 ERA (3 ER/31.1 IP) since July 22, the secondlowest ERA in the majors during the run (min. 6 GS).
2022 Splits and Season Notes
Justin in 24 starts in 2022 went 4-7 with a 3.18 ERA (42 ER/119.0 IP), 50 walks, 126 strikeouts and a 1.35 WHIP … finished among the team leaders in strikeouts (1st), strikeouts per batter faced (1st, 4.06), home runs per 9.0 IP (1st, 0.61) and innings pitched (2nd, 119.0).
His season was cut short when he was put on the Injured List Sept. 2 with a low back strain.
Posted a 2.78 ERA (22 ER/71.1 IP) at Wrigley Field, allowing two or fewer earned runs in 10 of his 14 starts.
Recorded his first two career 10-plus strikeout games, doing so on May 15 at Arizona and Aug. 5 vs. Miami.
Became the first Cub draftee with a 10-strikeout game since Jeff Samardzjia (May 16, 2014 at San Francisco).
On Aug. 5 vs. Miami, became the second starter in Cubs history to record 10-ormore strikeouts in 4.2-or-fewer innings pitched (also Bill Caudill, August 17, 1979 vs San Diego) … also joined Miami’s Trevor Richards as the only pitchers in MLB history to allow no runs and strike out 10 batters in 4.2-or-fewer innings.
Became the 11th lefthander in Cubs history to strike out nine-plus batters in consecutive outings, May 15-21.
Became the first Cub to record 19-plus strikeouts in a two-start span since Yu Darvish (20, Sept. 4-9, 2020) and the first lefty to do so since José Quintana (21, Aug. 13-18, 2019).
Went unbeaten in seven-consecutive starts from May 31-July 4, going 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA (13 ER/34.2 IP) during that stretch.
In July and Aug. combined, made nine starts and posted a 1.46 ERA (8 ER/49.1 IP), which leads the majors in the stretch (min. 45.0 IP) … his 0.96 ERA (3 ER/28.0 IP) in the month of August was fourth-lowest in the majors during that span.
Career Notes
Justin is in his 10th season in the Cubs organization … is 8-11 with a 3.53 ERA (69 ER/176.0 IP) in 44 games (33 starts) after making his MLB debut in 2021.
Owns a career 18-23 minor league record with a 3.44 ERA (133 ER/348.0 IP) over 89 outings (80 starts).
Was added to the Cubs 40-man roster Nov. 20, 2018.
Received Carolina League mid-season All-Star honors in 2017, as he went 6-7 with a 2.92 ERA (32 ER/98.2 IP) over 20 starts with Single-A Myrtle Beach.
Was named a MiLB.com Cubs Organizational All-Star in both 2015 and 2017.
Selected by the Cubs in the fifth round of the 2014 draft out of George County High School in Lucedale, Miss.
Was named 5A Player of the Year in Mississippi by coaches in 2014 and won the Mississippi Hall of Fame Award for High School Baseball the same season.
Was committed to the University of Southern Mississippi before signing with the Cubs.
