The NL Central Division needed an extra regular season contest to settle things before the MLB Postseason began. The first of two division champions were crowned Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as the Milwaukee Brewers took home the title with a 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Lorenzo Cain drove in the official go-ahead run in the eighth inning, giving the Brew-Crew their first division title since their last playoff appearance in 2011.
Cain singled on a ground ball right back up the middle to give his team the lead for good, while NL MVP candidate Christian Yelich had three hits, but fell short of the Triple Crown. The win for the Brewers was their eighth in a row, as they will now host the NLDS beginning later this week.
Yelich did drive in the first run of the game with a single, and earned the NL batting title with a .326 batting average. Although, he finished with 110 RBI, one behind Javier Baez of the Cubs, while his 36 home runs trailed only Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. He was looking to become the first player to win the Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers in 2012, and the first NL player to do so since Joe Medwick in 1937.
Milwaukee trailed the Cubs by as many as five games in September, but their late-season surge, ending with a sweep of the Detroit Tigers over the weekend, helped them get back and then keep pace with the first-place squad. Orlando Arcia stepped up in a big way from the eighth spot in the lineup on Monday, recording a career-high four hits. Josh Hader came in to close things out by pitching two scoreless innings for his 12th save and giving his team some time off before the NLDS.
The Cubs got a long ball from Anthony Rizzo for their lone run of the game, as Jose Quintana gave up a run on six hits over six innings. Their recently struggling bullpen gave up the deciding runs, as Justin Wilson dropped to 4-5 on the season. Daniel Murphy and Javier Baez had the only other hits outside of the home run, as the Cubs failed to capitalize on home-field advantage. They will play host to the loser of the NL West tiebreaker in the NL Wild Card Game on Tuesday night.
Cain singled on a ground ball right back up the middle to give his team the lead for good, while NL MVP candidate Christian Yelich had three hits, but fell short of the Triple Crown. The win for the Brewers was their eighth in a row, as they will now host the NLDS beginning later this week.
Yelich did drive in the first run of the game with a single, and earned the NL batting title with a .326 batting average. Although, he finished with 110 RBI, one behind Javier Baez of the Cubs, while his 36 home runs trailed only Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. He was looking to become the first player to win the Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers in 2012, and the first NL player to do so since Joe Medwick in 1937.
Milwaukee trailed the Cubs by as many as five games in September, but their late-season surge, ending with a sweep of the Detroit Tigers over the weekend, helped them get back and then keep pace with the first-place squad. Orlando Arcia stepped up in a big way from the eighth spot in the lineup on Monday, recording a career-high four hits. Josh Hader came in to close things out by pitching two scoreless innings for his 12th save and giving his team some time off before the NLDS.
The Cubs got a long ball from Anthony Rizzo for their lone run of the game, as Jose Quintana gave up a run on six hits over six innings. Their recently struggling bullpen gave up the deciding runs, as Justin Wilson dropped to 4-5 on the season. Daniel Murphy and Javier Baez had the only other hits outside of the home run, as the Cubs failed to capitalize on home-field advantage. They will play host to the loser of the NL West tiebreaker in the NL Wild Card Game on Tuesday night.
