This weekend marked the first time the Chicago Cubs had played a division opponent in the 2024 season when the Milwaukee Brewers came to Wrigley Field. The weekend started with the Cubs a game behind the Brewers and ended with the two teams tied after the Cubs took two of three. Chicago’s starting pitching was fantastic over the weekend. Hayden Wesneski, Jameson Taillon, and Javier Assad combined to pitch 18.1 scoreless innings. Guys like Wesneski and Assad stepping up with Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, and Jordan Wicks being injured is a big reason the Cubs have played at a 19-14 clip to start the season.

Christopher Morel led the way for the Cubs’ offense over the weekend. Morel homered in each of the first two games. His homer on Friday was especially impressive as he hit it to dead center field into the teeth of the wind. Morel might be the only person on the squad who could have done that. He also added a 1-1 with three walks performance on Sunday. It is good to see Morel step up while Ian Happ, Michael Busch, and Dansby Swanson have been struggling. Swanson did have an impressive home run of his own on Sunday which will hopefully get him going.

The lone downside of the three-game series against Milwaukee was the performance of Adbert Alzolay. He entered Friday’s game with the Cubs leading 1-0. He was only able to record one out while giving up four hits and three earned runs. Alzolay has already been removed as the closer. It might be time for him to head to Iowa to work on regaining his form. Hector Neris, who has been inserted as the closer, did record a save in the win on Saturday.

The Cubs are set to take on the San Diego Padres in a three-game series at Wrigley Field starting on Monday night. Justin Steele is scheduled to start game one of the series in what will be his first start since injuring his hamstring on Opening Day. There was also positive news on Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger over the weekend. Both guys could be back in the next week or so.