MILWAUKEE — Craig Counsell told a story before Saturday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers about his brother-in-law getting ready to take his family to Friday’s game at the ballpark formerly known as Miller Park.
As Counsell told it, the family was having a nice dinner when the brother-in-law told them to hurry up and get ready to leave.
“They’re like, ‘Why do we have to go?’” Counsell said the family asked.
His brother-in-law quickly responded: “I want to see Craig get booed.”
Counsell said the family made it to the ballpark on time, and his brother-in-law, whom he identified only as Todd, got his wish. Afterward, someone in the family showed Counsell a video of Todd the brother-in-law joining the thousands of Brewers fans in booing the Cubs manager.
You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives.
As it turned out, Counsell had the last laugh, watching the Cubs score nine runs in the first two innings of a 10-0 rout of his former team to grab the opener of the first series between the defending National League Central champions and the current leaders.
A lot has changed after the first month of Counsell’s second season as Cubs manager. They’re one of the top-hitting teams in baseball and the division leaders while the Brewers are struggling to get over .500.
But one thing remains the same — Counsell is not well-liked in Milwaukee, where he grew up and was the proverbial local kid who lived out his childhood dream of playing with, and then managing, his hometown team.
The booing begins when he is introduced on the video board a few minutes before the first pitch and continues whenever he goes out to the mound to talk with a pitcher or make a move. It’s just as heated as it was last year when all of Milwaukee was seemingly in a state of shock at Counsell’s alleged act of treason — going to the hated Cubs for more money and theoretically a better chance of winning with a larger payroll.
Counsell has grown accustomed to being a villain in his hometown, and he doesn’t expect things to change much.
“I think it’s going to happen for a while,” he said. “That’s OK.”
He still maintains his home in Whitefish Bay, Wis., and has been able to sleep in his bed this weekend. And at least the booing doesn’t happen around his house, right?
“It does,” he said with a laugh. “I make unpopular decisions there too.”
Well, it’s a tough town, Milwaukee. Their winters are just as cold as ours.
Counsell can at least take solace in the fact his team is living up to expectations in what everyone concedes is a crucial year for him in Chicago. He doesn’t have to worry about job security with a record-setting $40 million contract that runs through 2028, but after a mediocre 83-79 season in 2024, there were grumblings that the Cubs were no better under Counsell than they were under the man he replaced, David Ross.
Now he’s pushing all the right buttons.
So what has changed?
Mostly it’s the improved offense, which went into a two-month funk at the end of April last season and now looks like it should be able to sustain its early-season success. With 202 runs entering Saturday, this is only the third time in Cubs history the team has scored more than 200 runs in its first 33 games. The other times were in 1929 (215 runs) and 1938 (203 runs). Both of those teams won pennants before losing in the World Series.
The lineup is hitting up and down, and of the top-21 run producers in the majors going into Saturday, five were Cubs: Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki (29 RBIs apiece), Pete Crow-Armstrong (23) and Carson Kelly and Michael Busch (22 each).
“You get confidence individually and it gives the group confidence,” Counsell said. “I do think that not having it be one person, or one pocket of the lineup, to produce runs (helps). … It lets you go through some struggles without feeling the pressure that ‘It’s on me today.’”
Having so many off days in the early going has helped keep players fresh, and Counsell has started his regular outfield of Tucker, Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ together in all but one game. Tucker was DH once, with Suzuki playing right. While Suzuki played the outfield in several spring training games, Counsell has kept him at DH lately because of some right wrist discomfort.
But that might change soon.
“This series has been his most active throwing series,” he said of Suzuki. “He threw up to 150 feet (Friday), so it’s something I would like to do.”
Counsell said there was another reason why Tucker, Crow-Armstrong and Happ start every day.
“Well, they’re good,” he said.
Confirmed. Still, they’re human.
“I’d like to get them DH days and put Seiya in the outfield,” he added.
When a team is hitting on all cylinders, as the Cubs have on offense, it makes it easy for Counsell to go with what works. But it’s a long season, and if Counsell wants his bench players to contribute more, it also would make sense to give Vidal Bruján a day in the outfield, using Happ or Tucker as DH that day.
Maybe even a day off from the field for Crow-Armstrong? Not likely.
Having too many players and not enough spots to play them all is a problem any manager would like to have. Counsell doesn’t seem worried about much these days. The Cubs starters’ 3.46 ERA was third-lowest in the National League, and the bullpen has stabilized somewhat since the demotions of several relievers after poor performances.
If the Cubs can build on their early success, the booing of Counsell in Milwaukee will only get louder every time he comes to town.
Strangely, it has become music to his ears.
