Will 2026 See the Temperature of Cubs-Brewers Rivalry Come Down—or Keep Climbing?

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri / Sam Navarro / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images-Imagn Images

For Brewers fans, beating the Cubs in Game 5 of the NLDS last fall was much-needed catharsis. It wasn't just about advancing in the postseason; it was also about proving that their supremacy in the NL Central was real and complete. It was energizing, for many, to see the team hold up an 'L' flag during their on-field team picture after the game. The phone gestures toward the Cubs dugout by William Contreras and Abner Uribe at key junctures are iconic moments from that series. 

However, while it's easy to forget this part of the reporting, there was a collective hesitation by the team before they agreed to hold up the flag. While Contreras seemed to savor beating the Brewers' top rivals (and an organization by which his big brother felt slightly disrespected), he also singled out Craig Counsell in a Player's Tribune column last fall—not for the so-called treachery of leaving his hometown team to manage the Cubs, but for his excellent treatment of Latino players.

Counsell and Pat Murphy have a many-layered, lifelong friendship. The Cubs keep picking up players (Colin Rea, Hoby Milner) whom the Brewers employed first, and who still have nothing but good things to say about the Milwaukee organization. New Brewers prospect Jett Williams has a surprisingly close relationship to Alex Bregman, whom Murphy also knows and immensely likes.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Brice Turang, Bregman and Matthew Boyd have been Team USA teammates this month for the World Baseball Classic. Contreras, Jackson Chourio and Cubs closer Daniel Palencia are together on Team Venezuela. Tyler Black and Jameson Taillon (Canada) and Joey Ortiz and Javier Assad (México) were tournament teammates, too.

Their entrenched places at the top of the division make their games feel extremely important; the enmity between the fan bases is real (and unfortunate); and the front offices have some ongoing and real (though low-level) beef. On the field, however, it's harder all the time to make the case that these teams don't like each other. There's been mutual respect even at harder moments, like Counsell's first season in Chicago. Now, with Murphy locked in for a long tenure with the Crew and some of the resentment of Counsell's departure blunted by the success of the team he left behind, there's something much like mutual affection between the teams.

Off the field, the rivalry is likely to remain bitter for a while. Because the Brewers just came to the National League in 1998 and the two teams didn't overlap near the top of the standings for the first fistful of years, this is still an adolescent rivalry. It's not as settled or comfortable as those between, for instance, the Cubs and Cardinals or the Brewers and Twins. A rivalry born in the age of the internet, it's also burned a bit hotter from its inception than many of the game's older rivalries did. It'll be interesting, though, to see whether the shared DNA of the two teams and their lack of genuine dislike at the field level begins the inevitable process of bringing down the temperature of the off-field hatred.

Reasonable people can disagree about the value of sports rivalries, but there have been many times over the last decade when the fans, franchises and even players and coaches in this particular one have been deleteriously angry and confrontational with one another. Entering 2026, that feels less likely to happen on the field than at any time in the last 20 years. Whether that reduction of tension can carry over to the crowds at games and the timelines on social media remains to be seen.

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[Frisbee Slider]

I can’t think of any reason why the temperature would decline after last season.

[MattK]

With such dislike between the football franchises, one would think that also carries over a bit into the baseball relationship. 

[hawing]

18 hours ago, MattK said:

With such dislike between the football franchises, one would think that also carries over a bit into the baseball relationship. 

Not to mention the long history of (some) Illinois residents regarding Wisconsin as their playground and Wisconsinites as their staff.  

[Robert The Bruce]

Let's see. . . we just saw three complete seasons where Cubs outspent MKE and had better roster, and Cubs finished BEHIND division-winning Brewers in standings in each one.  Including two FULL years after Cubs lured Milwaukee's manager away.  No temperature turn down.  Cub fan, get out of my stadium and go back to that rat-infested, crumbling, pee-stained dump you call home.  Stop cutting in concession lines in the Club area and then telling me the rules of etiquette in my home ballpark when I call you on it.  Stick that W flag where the sun doesn't shine. "We would at least have given the Dodgers a series".  Laughable, man.  We'll never know because MKE beat you. Last year's divisional playoff win, and game 163 AT WRIGLEY in 2018 are the gifts that keep on giving.  Here's to Brewers continuing to be the pesky gnats the wealthier, allegedly more powerful and sophisticated Cubs can't get rid of that keep ruining their garden parties.   PS:  your owner gave $5 mil to the Scott Walker for President campaign 😂😂😂

[Matthew Trueblood]

22 minutes ago, Robert The Bruce said:

Let's see. . . we just saw three complete seasons where Cubs outspent MKE and had better roster, and Cubs finished BEHIND division-winning Brewers in standings in each one.  Including two FULL years after Cubs lured Milwaukee's manager away.  No temperature turn down.  Cub fan, get out of my stadium and go back to that rat-infested, crumbling, pee-stained dump you call home.  Stop cutting in concession lines in the Club area and then telling me the rules of etiquette in my home ballpark when I call you on it.  Stick that W flag where the sun doesn't shine. "We would at least have given the Dodgers a series".  Laughable, man.  We'll never know because MKE beat you. Last year's divisional playoff win, and game 163 AT WRIGLEY in 2018 are the gifts that keep on giving.  Here's to Brewers continuing to be the pesky gnats the wealthier, allegedly more powerful and sophisticated Cubs can't get rid of that keep ruining their garden parties.   PS:  your owner gave $5 mil to the Scott Walker for President campaign 😂😂😂

As performance art, to demonstrate what I'm desperately hoping we see much less of, this is great, RtB.