Benjamin Brown: Everything you need to know

Brown (1-0) earned the win in relief Wednesday against the Phillies after tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits but striking out five. Brown tossed 28 of his 37 pitches for strikes, and even though he gave up a double to Trea Turner in his first at-bat, he immediately retired Bryce Harper to close out the fifth inning. Brown also allowed baserunners in the following two innings, but he got the job done after striking out five of the final seven batters he faced. This was Brown's fourth consecutive scoreless outing, a stretch in which he's posted a 9:2 K:BB while allowing seven hits through 8.1 innings.

Brown tossed 3.1 scoreless innings of relief in Tuesday's 2-0 loss to the Angels. He allowed a hit and a walk while striking out five. Brown finished up the game for the Cubs, and he did enough to keep his team in the contest late but couldn't get any run support to potentially earn his first win of the year. The righty reliever has now covered exactly 3.1 innings in both of his two relief outings so far this season, and he's allowed two runs while striking out eight. Brown can rack up strikeouts in a hurry, which would make him someone worth keeping an eye on if he were to slide into Chicago's rotation. For now, he's mostly off the fantasy radar as a long reliever.

Brown allowed two runs on three hits across 3.1 innings in Thursday's 10-4 loss to the Nationals. He walked one and struck out three. Brown was forced into early action after Chicago starter Matthew Boyd covered only 3.2 innings in a rough outing. The righty reliever served up a two-run home run to Jacob Young to account for the runs against him. After making 23 starts for the Cubs across the last two seasons, it looks like Brown will handle a long-relief role out of the bullpen in 2026. He should be a decent source of strikeouts, though his overall fantasy value will be capped as a reliever.