Fast start propels Brewers to 9-3 victory over Cubs in NLDS opener

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jackson Chourio sparked Milwaukee's fast start at the plate, and Freddy Peralta delivered a steady performance on the mound.

The Brewers looked more than ready for October.

Chourio capped Milwaukee's six-run first inning with a two-run single, and the Brewers trounced the Chicago Cubs 9-3 on Saturday in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.

Hoping for a breakthrough after years of playoff frustration, Milwaukee showed off the same approach that helped the team roll to baseball's best record during the regular season. The Brewers ranked third in the majors in scoring this year despite finishing just 22nd in homers.

It was more of the same in the team's postseason opener. The NL Central champions had 13 hits and no home runs, while three solo drives accounted for Chicago's offense.

“The home runs are so important these days, (but) this is scrapping hits together, keeping the line moving, all the cliches that you can think of,” said Blake Perkins, who had two hits for the Brewers.

“It’s fun to be a part of, and I think we all build off of each other. I’m kind of sitting there, too, (thinking), like, 'Dang, how are we doing this?′ sometimes. It’s a cool feeling, and it’s really fun to be a part of.”

The only issue for the Brewers on Saturday was Chourio's right hamstring tightness. He departed in the second after becoming the first player with three hits in the first two innings of a playoff game.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is on Monday night.

Chourio, who missed a month of the regular season with a strained right hamstring, underwent an MRI after the victory. Manager Pat Murphy said the injury “could be devastating,” while Chourio sounded much more optimistic.

“Physically I feel good, and I feel in a position where I’m ready to keep going and keep competing,” he said through an interpreter.

Staked to an early lead, Peralta permitted two runs in 5 2/3 innings. His nine strikeouts tied Don Sutton, Yovani Gallardo and Brandon Woodruff for the Brewers’ single-game playoff record.

Michael Busch, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner homered for Chicago.

Brewers-Cubs games in Milwaukee generally have divided crowds because of all the people who make the 90-mile trip from Chicago, but that wasn’t the case Saturday. The vast majority of spectators were Brewers fans waving yellow towels and booing Cubs manager Craig Counsell.

“It didn’t seem 50/50, for sure,” Murphy said. “It felt like a home game. It definitely felt like a home game. They were difference makers.”

Counsell, who grew up in the Milwaukee area, is the winningest manager in Brewers history, but he left for Chicago after the 2023 season. He has been jeered whenever his name has been mentioned over the American Family Field loudspeaker since he departed.

Counsell’s decision to start Matthew Boyd on short rest didn’t work out. The All-Star left-hander was lifted with two out in the first.

The Brewers scored four runs or fewer in their last nine regular-season games. They had gone 2-11 in their last 13 playoff games, scoring over four runs in just one of those contests and failing to exceed five runs in any of them.

This time, they had six runs by the end of the first, matching their highest scoring playoff inning in franchise history.

After Busch opened the game with a 389-foot drive over the wall in right-center, Chourio, Brice Turang and William Contreras started the bottom half of the first with consecutive doubles.

“I made a few mistakes early," Boyd said. "A little too much plate to Turang and Contreras. It ends up being the difference in the game right there.”

Contreras scored from second when Hoerner mishandled a slow grounder from Sal Frelick. Perkins capped an 11-pitch at bat with a two-out RBI single to center.

Michael Soroka walked Joey Ortiz to load the bases and allowed a two-run single to Chourio.

“Bottom line, they had really good at-bats,” Counsell said. “They hit balls hard. They spoiled pitches. The Perkins at-bat was just a great at-bat. You’ve got to give him credit for that.”

Boyd had only three days of rest after throwing 58 pitches in the Cubs’ 3-1 Wild Card Series Game 1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

Milwaukee added three more runs in the second. Caleb Durbin delivered a two-run single before Chourio’s infield hit made it 9-1.

Chicago’s Aaron Civale, who started the season with Milwaukee, and Ben Brown combined for 6 1/3 innings of shutout relief.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Milwaukee Brewers players, from left, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins and Sal Frelick celebrate defeating the Chicago Cubs 9-3 in Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Nick Mears (25) celebrates with Jake Bauers (9) after defeating the Chicago Cubs 9-3 in Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers players high-five after defeating the Chicago Cubs 9-3 in Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Chicago Cubs' Michael Busch (29) high-fives teammates after hitting a home run during the first inning in Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Chicago Cubs, Pete Crow-Armstrong pops out during the third inning of Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta (51) reacts to striking out a batter during the fifth inning in Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits an RBI single during the second inning of Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd watches as Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits a two-run scoring single during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

LONDON (AP) — The BBC has issued a public apology to President Donald Trump over a misleading edit of his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, but said it “strongly disagreed there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

Since it was established more than a century ago, Britain's public broadcaster has been no stranger to controversy. Over the past week, it has been embroiled in a major crisis as its director general stepped down, its head of news quit, questions were raised over the veracity of its journalism and Trump says he's poised to file a billion-dollar lawsuit.

“We'll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” Trump said as he flew aboard Air Force One to Florida for the weekend.

Here's what to know.

Pressure on the broadcaster has been growing since the right-leaning Daily Telegraph newspaper published parts of a dossier compiled by the BBC's adviser on standards and guidelines on Nov. 3.

As well as criticizing the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raising concerns of anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service, the dossier said that an edition of the BBC’s flagship current affairs series, “Panorama” — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — broadcast days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election was misleading.

Specifically, it showed how the third-party production company that made the film spliced together three quotes from two sections of the Jan. 6, 2021, speech into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”

By doing so, it made it look like Trump was giving the green light to his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The outcry from opponents of the BBC — and there are many both in the U.K. and abroad — was immediate and vociferous.

The broadcaster, which is funded by an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by all U.K. households who watch live TV or any BBC content, was accused of bias against Trump, symptomatic of they say an inherent liberal bias within the organization.

For days, the BBC said very little, saying it did not report to leaked reports. Many thought that was a misjudgement as it allowed the narrative around the edit to be led by its opponents.

By Nov. 9, the pressure on the BBC was becoming increasingly acute, prompting its top executive, Tim Davie, and head of news Deborah Turness to resign over what the broadcaster called an “error of judgment.”

It was also revealed that Trump was demanding a retraction, apology and compensation over the sequence — but that hasn't stopped him from planning to sue. “I think they defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it,” Trump said this past week.

Trump had set a deadline of Friday for the BBC to respond to his challenge.

While the BBC said earlier in the week that the edited portion of the program was an “error of judgement,” it did not apologize to Trump directly until Thursday evening.

In a statement, it said its chair, Samir Shah, had personally sent a letter to the White House saying that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit of the speech.

While the BBC statement doesn’t respond to Trump’s demand that he be compensated for “overwhelming financial and reputational harm,” the headline on its news story about the apology said it refused to pay compensation.

In addition to insisting that the apology won't stop a lawsuit, Trump said Friday night that he planned to speak to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer soon, noting, ”He actually put a call into me. He’s very embarrassed.”

“The UK is very, very embarrassed by BBC, what they did,” Trump said.

Legal experts have stated that Trump would likely face challenges in taking the case to court in the U.K. or the U.S. They argue that the BBC could demonstrate that Trump wasn’t harmed, as he was ultimately elected president in 2024.

While many legal experts have dismissed the president’s claims against the media as having little merit, he has won some lucrative settlements against U.S. media companies and he could try to leverage the BBC mistake for a payout, potentially to a charity of his choice.

However, this latest crisis pans out in the days and weeks ahead, the heat will remain on the BBC, especially in its newsrooms where any mistake, or seeming bias, will no doubt be picked up by opponents.

As a public broadcaster, the BBC must be impartial in its coverage of news events. It's a fine balancing act that often gets the BBC into trouble. Some think it leans too much to the right, while others think it goes the other way. Whatever the truth of the matter, many think that the BBC is often cowed in its coverage, particularly on domestic political matters.

Not only does it need to find a new director-general and head of news, it has to negotiate its future with the government.

The left-of-center Labour government, which is considered to be one of the most pro-BBC political parties in the U.K., will soon start the once-a-decade process of reviewing the BBC’s governing charter, which expires at the end of 2027.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the government would ensure the BBC is “sustainably funded (and) commands the public’s trust,” but did not say whether the license fee might be scaled back or scrapped.

Pedestrians are reflected as they walk outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Outgoing BBC Director-General Tim Davie outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday Nov. 11, 2025. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Pedestrian walks outside the BBC Headquarters in London, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A view of the logo outside the BBC Headquarters in London, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)