MILWAUKEE – The Cubs and Brewers have never played each other in the playoffs, but they did the next-best thing in 2018.
They faced off in a tiebreaking Game 163 at Wrigley Field to decide the National League Central. The Brewers played spoiler on the Cubs’ home field, sending them to the wild-card game.
Now the NL Division Series between the Cubs and Brewers, which opens Saturday at American Family Field, will write a new chapter in the already robust division rivalry.
“We’ve competed against each other a lot, in big moments and throughout seasons, for divisions,” Ian Happ, the longest-tenured Cub, told the Sun-Times on Friday. ‘‘And so, to meet up in the playoffs, it felt like this was destined to happen since 2018.”
In ranking the Cubs’ rivalries, history supports their battles with the Cardinals. But in recent years, their clashes with the Brewers have gained fervor.
“You have two teams that have been sitting close to each other in the standings for years — call it a gap in there for a couple of years,” Happ said. “And even in the years that we didn’t make the playoffs, in ’23, it was us and them neck and neck. And we fell back and didn’t make the playoffs. But there has been this fight over the last eight years.”
The disappointing 2023 season that Happ mentioned ended at American Family Field. The clear plastic rolled up at the top of the Cubs’ lockers for when they clinched a playoff berth went unused.
That offseason, adding fuel to the fire, the Cubs hired longtime Brewers manager Craig Counsell over to the other side of the rivalry.
Brewers fans have booed him during every introduction and every pitching change at their home ballpark since. But none of those moments has held such high stakes as his moves will throughout this NLDS.
“From my perspective, being on both sides of it, I think the regular-season matchups are awesome,” Counsell said. “It’s a lot of fun. And a lot of times, there’s extra energy from fans, and there’s fans from both teams in the building. . . . These are two cities that are close together, very close. I think each city’s residents have thoughts about each other’s residents — harmless, obviously.”
The managers also have a decadeslong friendship, dating to Counsell’s college playing days, when Pat Murphy was his coach at Notre Dame. Murphy also spent eight years by Counsell’s side in the Brewers’ dugout as his bench coach.
In the two years since Counsell’s departure, the Brewers have held on to the NL Central title. They won the division by 10 games in 2024. And when the Cubs improved to 92 wins this year, the Brewers put together the winningest season in franchise history (97-65) and the best record in the majors.
“Coming into this year, there weren’t a lot of people that were speaking all that highly of the NL Central,” Happ said. “And so, first and foremost, to have three teams in the playoffs was awesome. Speaks to the depth of the division and how talented it was. And I think we knew that coming in.
“To be in this spot, to play each other is really cool for both fan bases, but also for the players and the NL Central.”
The division title got the Brewers a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if they advance.
“That side of things is done,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “And now it’s onto five games head-to-head, which is a really exciting opportunity.”
One team will be advancing to the NL Championship Series, a stage the Brewers haven’t visited since 2018 and the Cubs haven’t seen since 2017.
The Cubs are coming off a best-of-three wild-card victory against the Padres, all at Wrigley Field, with a raucous home crowd on their side. But Cubs fans traditionally also have traveled in droves to Milwaukee, some 90 miles up the road, for regular-season games.
To get under Brewers fans’ skin, Cubs fans have nicknamed the ballpark “Wrigley North.”
The first two games of the series will be played in Milwaukee. It will move to Wrigley for Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4. If the series goes all five games, it will end up back on the Brewers’ turf.
“I’m sure they’re trying as hard as they can not to sell tickets to Cubs fans,” Happ said. “Maybe there’s some fake names going on and some fake addresses. But I’m sure they’ll be here; I’m sure they’ll be supporting.
“I know the Brewers fans are going to be here; I know it’s going to be loud; I know [Counsell] is going to get booed. It’s a great part of what makes this sport so special — that the fan bases care that much. It’s going to make it really fun.”