After having to pivot on my postseason travel plans I ended up with a Standing Room ticket for Saturday afternoon’s tilt between the NL Central’s Cubs and Brewers, but unlike 87% of the local writers. bloggers and general know it all’s, I’ve actually attended over 50 games from the seats at Miller/AmFam and have a sense of the two fanbases.

Heading into the first-time match between the two teams, theories abounded as to who had the edge, the team who came off a wildcard win or the team that was rested and potentially rusty.

My second stop in Milwaukee, a sports bar within a mile of the ballpark, offered a glimpse of the demo of the day. The crowd usually skews towards a 50/50 split when the Cubs are in town. Instead, there were far fewer neighbors from the south, and the tone was more civil than usual. I was also a little surprised, at first, by the sparser Cubs crowd tailgating. Not only were there fewer Illinois license plates, but there also weren’t as many Cub fans sharing beer and brats.

In the past the Brewers have been known to control/limit the number of tickets available for Cubs fans. It wasn’t necessary this year because the locals didn’t put their tickets on the secondary market and because they didn’t know who there opponent would be.

Even though MLB controls most of what happens in the postseason, there are benefits like opening the park earlier and allowing fans to witness batting practice and fielding drills. Furthermore, both teams are forced to interact with the media and as a result, more players are hanging about and interacting with fans.

Until I read a local media column this morning, I had no idea who was calling the game with Ron Darling on TBS and if they had an on-field correspondent. I also didn’t recognize any of the national media on the field. For whatever reason, few Cubs players were interacting with their fans along the third base line. Conversely, several Brewers were mixing it up on the other side-including star outfielder, Jackson Chourio and reliever Abner Uribe. In fairness to both teams, I didn’t sense either team had an advantage based on what I saw in the pregame. In the past, I’ve witnessed in experienced teams that struggled with their emotions during pregame.

Because I’ve never posted about the physical structure and its many levels I’ll do so now. For the most part, the lower bowl: 100 level is open and has a main aisle behind the last row. One can’t go from left to right field as there is a break in the aisle behind home plate. Viewing from the 100- level concourse is semi–obstructed and for maximum SRO, most of the high-tops and tables were removed. One can circle the ballpark from the 100-level concourse and save for time behind the scoreboard in left-center you can view the action on the field.

The 200-level is immediately above the 100 level suites behind that aisle. All but the last few rows of the 200-level seats are in the open, but the overhang limits the sightlines for those standing on the 200-level concourse Editor’s note: That is where I began the game because of a rail where I could place my water and scorecard.

The 300-level is exclusively Club seating, a luxury that I enjoyed for a season years ago. All the comforts of home including shorter restroom lines. I enjoyed the experience although I missed the connection to the players. The 400-level extends from the restaurant in Lf, back and around to the right field line (almost).

Maybe because of the lag time between the gates opening and first pitch, the crowd 42,678 was a little slower in arriving than I expected and as a result it was a little easier to move around and see my friend, Marty, a longtime Usher Supervisor and man about time. He and his son, Mark provided me with context and warnings to behave myself. The only celebrity that I saw before the game was Salomon Torres, a star from the 2008 team, and 1st pitcher for the game.

Brewers starting pitcher and staff ace, Freddy Peralta got off to an inauspicious start, surrendering a leadoff homer to Michael Busch. However, he rectified things immediately and held them to that one run. Coincidentally, both of these guys has been underappreciated by the national guys all season. Busch has been the Cubs best power hitter and Freddy one of the top pitchers in the game. Look at both of their stats objectively.

Unlike Peralta, Cub starter, Matt Boyd, wasn’t able to adjust on the fly-mainly because the Brewers were on him like peanut butter on bacon. They clearly had a plan for him and executed it brilliantly, doubling on the first three pitches they saw. There were no cheapies. Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang and William Contreras for those keeping score. That was all she wrote as they took the lead 2-1. However, that was just the beginning.

Without a blow-by-blow description of the bloodletting, sure-handed second baseman Nico Hoerner botched a routine grounder which resulted in an additional six unearned runs. Milwaukee sent 11 men to the plate and had a 6-1 lead. Boyd didn’t make it out of the first and his replacement, Mike Soroka wasn’t much better.

Even though he struck out the last batter in the bottom of the first, Soroka couldn’t carry that “magic” over to the second. The first three batters singled and eventually scored as 6 of the 9 batters reached base safely. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Peralta settled down and held them to a single and three walks over the next four innings,

The Cubs LDS MVP and onetime Brewer, Aaron Civale pitched 4 1/3 innings of 3-hit shutout ball. Not only did he hold the team in check, but he also saved the rest of the pen and Counsell from making any mistakes.

Suffice to say the Cubs faithful were very loud after the Busch homer but quieted down during the first inning. Any thought of a rebound ended in the 2nd when the Brewers tacked on those three additional runs for a 9-1 lead. Amazingly, the Brewer fans weren’t as cocky and abusive as has been the case in the past.

With two outs in the 6th, Ian Happ crushed a pitch for a solo homer. After surrendering a single to Carson Kelly, Peralta exited the game with a 9-2 lead and eventual win.

Surprise roster addition, Ben Brown pitched the final two innings for the Cubs and Hoerner hit a leadoff homer in the 8th resulting in a 9-3 final outcome. But for the most part, the Cubs big bats came up empty unable to adjust to Peralta.

While Civale saved the Cubs bullpen from themselves and Counsell, the Brewers bullpen did not exert themselves and will be fresh for the rest of the series-should they be needed. However, the status of young stud, Jackson Chourio remains in doubt after leaving the game after injuring his hamstring on his third of three hits (3-3, 3RBI and run scored). It would be nice if the Cubs off-jeered Pete Crow-Armstrong flashed some of his first half brilliance. Objectively speaking he’s been a major disappointment since the ASG.

Unlike past battle of I94, 70-75% of the fans walked away happily. More on the reactions in a coming post.