MILWAUKEE – Cubs third base coach Quintin Berry is used to standing in the coach’s box in front of his team’s dugout at American Family Field. He did it on the first base side for four years – and before that he served as the Brewers’ minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator.
As he took his position in the top of the first inning, however, the stakes were as high as they’d ever been since Berry took the job in Chicago this past offseason on former Brewers manager Craig Counsell’s coaching staff.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” he said before the win-or-go-home Game 5 of the National League Division Series. “All year, chasing them, knowing that this could be a possibility that we play these guys in this series, and just get an opportunity to come back here and play after how the series started … I’m ecstatic.”
That’s Berry, brimming with enthusiasm no matter the pressure or the odds.
The talk around the opposing coaching staffs in this series has centered around the two managers. Counsell and Brewers manager Pat Murphy’s relationship infamously goes back decades, and includes eight years side-by-side in the Brewers dugout as manager and bench coach.
Berry, however, has one of the more unique vantage points in the rivalry. He briefly played for both teams, and was on the roster for part of the Cubs’ 2015 postseason run. He coached under both Counsell and Murphy in Milwaukee and speaks highly of their influence on him.
“Q is special,” Murphy said. “That’s why Couns went and got him. He’s really convicted and he’s really passionate about that area of the game. And he has a way with people. He impacts people. He’s a guy that players can relate to. He’s very genuine, and I think he’s really good at what he does.”
The Cubs’ focus on baserunning starts with Counsell, but that’s why he brought in Berry.
“We have a team that’s really interested in being good at [baserunning], so it’s been a great match from that perspective,” Counsell said in spring training. “And we’ve really focused on some details of it and trying to be great at the small things because it fits our group. And I think Quintin has fun with that.”
Continuing to focus on the details on the basepaths has been a core principle for this Cubs team all year, with regular reinforcement from Counsell, Berry and Cubs first base coach Jose Javier.
“We see guys trying to beat out force plays at second base consistently, going head first, beating out double plays,” Berry said when asked what he’s been most proud of this year. “Getting guys to understand the importance of being selfless and playing for each other, even when things aren’t going well at the plate, or whatever offensive numbers you’re hoping for yourself. Guys are putting each other first.”
Berry also works with the outfielders and played a central role, along with Javier, in helping Pete Crow-Armstrong improve his first step, en route to a Gold Glove-caliber season.
In the playoffs, when every small advantage matters that much more, those habits in the field and on the base paths are all the more important.
Game 5 became the clash between a team that had already won three elimination games this postseason, and a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018.
Berry found himself actively trying to extend a streak he’d been trying to end during the Brewers’ last three playoff appearances.
“You look at our lineup, you look at what our [pitching] staff has been able to do, and put it up to anybody – I think we have a chance to beat everybody in the game of baseball,” Berry said of the Cubs previous elimination-game wins “So when you have that, there is no, ‘It’s over.’ It’s always, ‘Just keep showing up tomorrow and keep playing your game and you’ve got a chance to win.”
He carried a similar confidence while catching up with his former coworkers on the Brewers’ coaching staff after the Cubs dropped the first two games of the NLDS.
“Don’t let us win game three,” he recalled saying. “You let us win game three, you’re going to be in trouble.”
Saturday’s game, however, had the final word.