MILWAUKEE — The Cubs have made their 26-man roster for the NL Division Series against the Brewers official.

The team made one swap on its pitching staff, adding right-hander Ben Brown and dropping left-hander Taylor Rogers. The rest of the roster that eliminated the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card Series remains the same.

Brown was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on Sept. 15, when the Cubs activated right-hander Michael Soroka from the 15-day IL. He has a 5.92 ERA in 25 games (15 starts) this season, and while he’s struggled to limit damage, his stuff has been devastating for opposing hitters. Brown has 121 strikeouts in 106.1 innings this season and owns a 25.6 percent strikeout rate. That ranks 26th among all pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched this season.

Brown has endured his struggles this season, but he absolutely has dealt against the Brewers this year (and over his career), going 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 2025. The best start of his career came on May 28, 2024, when he tossed seven no-hit innings against the Brewers at American Family Field with 10 strikeouts.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell likely will use Brown as a multi-inning relief option in this series. The Cubs deployed just 11 of their 12 pitchers in the three-game wild-card series (Aaron Civale was the only one who didn’t throw) and now replace the left-handed Rogers with a fresh arm.

Here’s the rest of the Cubs’ 26-man roster:

Pitchers (12)

LHP Matthew Boyd
LHP Shota Imanaga
LHP Drew Pomeranz
LHP Caleb Thielbar
RHP Ben Brown
RHP Aaron Civale
RHP Brad Keller
RHP Andrew Kittredge
RHP Daniel Palencia
RHP Colin Rea
RHP Michael Soroka
RHP Jameson Taillon

The biggest omission isn’t a shocker: Right-hander Cade Horton. Counsell confirmed Friday that the rookie “will not be active this series,” but he would not rule him out beyond that. Horton is on the IL with a rib injury.

“We haven’t pushed him to a place that we would test that,” Counsell said. “I think as we get into later this week, we’re going to have to decide if it’s time to do that, and that decision has not been made yet.”

The other big-name left off the roster is Javier Assad. The right-hander started the regular-season finale against the St. Louis Cardinals and tossed 5.1 innings. He was going to be down for the wild-card series because of that, so he was left off that roster. There was a chance he could have been added this round, but the Cubs opted to leave him off. Part of that is because they don’t necessarily need another starter in their pitching group.

The layout of the best-of-five NLDS means the Cubs conceivably could go with a three-man rotation. There’s a day off after Saturday’s Game 1, then there’s another off day after Monday’s Game 2. The only back-to-back game days are Wednesday and Thursday (for Games 3 and 4), but Game 4 isn’t guaranteed if someone sweeps the series.

The Cubs could pitch Game 1 starter Boyd again on Game 4 on regular rest, and their Game 2 starter could throw Game 5 on normal rest, too.

“The first thing that I notice looking ahead is just the off days,” Counsell said before Friday’s workout at American Family Field. “We played three straight games, and I don’t want to say there’s not time to put your head up, but that’s what it feels like.

“With this series, there’s three off days in the series. That’s significantly different. I think it’s going to create a little bit of a different feel to the series.”

That means Imanaga and Taillon could be the Cubs’ other two starters, with Rea as a long-relief option. Rea threw 1.2 innings in Wednesday’s Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Padres.

Left-hander Jordan Wicks, who was on the active roster on the last day of the regular season, also remains off the roster.

Position players (14)

Catchers

Carson Kelly
Reese McGuire
Moisés Ballesteros

Miguel Amaya, who’s played in one major-league game since May, remains off the roster, but he is with the team as part of the taxi squad. Ballesteros, who had a pinch-hit appearance in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series, will be the first left-handed-hitting option off the bench.

Infielders

Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
Matt Shaw
Dansby Swanson
Justin Turner

No surprises here, as Turner is Counsell’s right-handed-hitting option off the bench.

Outfielders

Kevin Alcántara
Willi Castro
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
Kyle Tucker

Like the infield group, this is straightforward. Alcántara serves as the center field backup to Crow-Armstrong and as a potential baserunner. Castro will be the Swiss-Army knife for Counsell, having the ability to play practically anywhere.

Suzuki played right field in all three games of the wild-card series as Tucker continues to nurse his left calf strain. The Cubs right fielder in the series will be a minor storyline to follow, although it seems pretty certain that Suzuki would be the man in the pasture.