Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski piled up 252 strikeouts in 174.2 innings, while Chicago Cubs righty Edward Cabrera battled injuries and inconsistency. Two pitching pipelines produced wildly different seasons, and only one side is still searching for answers.

“I don’t think it’s a stubbornness to change. First of all, we should put the Brewers in perspective. It’s not like the Brewers are just better than the Cubs when it comes to the organization, top to bottom. The Brewers are the model organization right now. I think it’s hard to argue that any team is better than them in any single area.” The Athletic’s Cubs reporter Sahadev Sharma said on Foul Territory. “Until they get results, it’s really just talk. It’s just this intangible thing that fans don’t want to hear about.”

The standings back that up. Chicago went 89-73 and finished 14 games behind Milwaukee, whose 103-59 record came on a payroll about $105 million lighter. The gap starts on the mound: Cubs arms surrendered 231 homers, while Brewers pitchers gave up 171. The bullpens tell a similar story, with Milwaukee’s 3.22 ERA beating Chicago’s 3.93 by roughly seven-tenths of a run.

Sharma then explained how Milwaukee keeps winning even after dealing its aces.

“The Brewers can trade away Freddy Peralta,” Sharma said. “They can trade away Corbin Burnes. The Cubs can’t do that. The Cubs haven’t done that.”

Replacing those aces has not slowed the Brewers. Misiorowski went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA in his rookie season, and Logan Henderson stabilized the rotation at 11-3 with a 2.47 ERA. In October, lefty Aaron Ashby threw 18 scoreless frames of relief, tying Whitey Ford’s 1960 mark, and Milwaukee finished with a 1.86 postseason ERA.

The Cubs have no such safety net. Turning to last winter’s trade for Cabrera, Sharma described a single point of failure.

“One huge move just sunk them, while the Brewers make all these different moves, export so much high-end talent, and don’t skip a beat,” Sharma said.

Cabrera’s injury-hit, underwhelming season left the rotation thin, and Chicago had no homegrown arm ready to cover. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer acknowledged the same gap while discussing the offseason.

“The overall quality of the pitching has to improve,” Hoyer said in an MLB.com report. “When I think about our offseason, and when I think about seasons to come, that has to be the goal.”

The club retained pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and assistant Casey Jacobson, pointing to injuries to Cade Horton, Ben Brown, and Justin Steele as the cause of the struggles.

The lineup, by contrast, offers a brighter picture. Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered a 9.8 bWAR season, anchoring one of the league’s most powerful offenses.

Milwaukee endured such an awful August that it had managed just 117 home runs, the fewest in the majors at the time. Yet, the Brewers still finished the regular season with 154 home runs, tied for the second-lowest total in MLB. Their ability to avoid prolonged losing streaks helped them stay competitive: Chicago endured a 10-game skid, while Milwaukee never lost more than six games in a row.

The head-to-head results were just as lopsided. Cubs manager Craig Counsell, who left Milwaukee before 2024, watched the Brewers win the season series 9-4 and sweep the final September set, despite Chicago’s nine-homer, 17-3 rout on August 31.

Free agency now threatens the rotation. Imanaga, right-hander Kevin Gausman, lefty Matthew Boyd, lefty David Peterson, and right-hander Aaron Civale are all unsigned. Hoyer has roughly $126 million to $130 million guaranteed to work with, but spending only patches holes.

Steadiness like Milwaukee’s is the standard the Cubs must chase, and better results from their own pitching pipeline, not promises, will win back a fan base tired of waiting.

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