The Brewers' Most Memorable Labor Day Wins—and Their Next One

While Labor Day is a day off for many working people, it is rare that Major League Baseball players get to take an extra day off during the season. The Brewers have gotten the holiday off only four times since they have been in existence: 1989, 1994 (the strike year), 1999, and 2020 (when COVID left stadiums empty and the incentive to schedule games on the holiday was muted).

Since their inaugural season of 1970, the Brewers have played a total of 60 games on Labor Day, winning 25 while losing 35. Somewhat ironically, it used to be common that teams would play doubleheaders on Labor Day. In fact, the Brewers played twin-bills in nine different seasons, the last one coming in 2002. Milwaukee split in seven of those seasons, and were swept in 1971 and 1990.

Here are a few fun facts for Labor Day games.

Largest attendance at Milwaukee County Stadium: 41,348 (1992)
Largest attendance at Miller Park/American Family Field/Uecker Field: 44,462 (2018)

Smallest attendance at Milwaukee County Stadium: 10,627 (1976)
Smallest attendance at The Ueck: 19,588 (2003)

Record at Milwaukee County Stadium: 8-10
Record at The Ueck: 3-9
Record on the road: 14-16

On Labor Day 2025, the Brewers host the Philadelphia Phillies to begin a three-game series, with a chance to cement their playoff status against a team that is in the hunt for a bye in the National League postseason. Here’s hoping the Brewers can turn around their lack of success at home on Labor Day.

Without further ado, here are three of the top wins for Milwaukee over the last 55 seasons on this Labor Day holiday.

September 3, 2018 (Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 3)
The Brewers woke up Labor Day morning 2018 with a record of 77-61, five games behind Chicago. The Crew had been fairly hot over the previous two weeks, winning nine of 13 games since mid-August, but the Cubs were a bit better, going 10-4 over the same span. That brought the two front-runners in the National League Central to a short two-game holiday showdown.

The Cubs struck early before a crowd of 44,462, many of them pro-Cubs. With Javier Báez on first with one out, Anthony Rizzo singled to center, and as Báez was going first-to-third, center fielder Lorenzo Cain lost his grip on the ball while trying to throw, allowing Báez to score.

The 1-0 lead held until the bottom of the fifth, as both Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels and Brewers hurler Zach Davies showed their stingy sides. Orlando Arcia singled with one out and moved to second after a strikeout and a balk by Hamels. Cain atoned for his earlier miscue by stroking an RBI single and moving to second on the throw. Cain stole third and then scored on Christian Yelich’s single. After five, the Brewers led 2-1.

Davies left after five innings, bringing on Josh Hader, who in his second year as a Brewer was more of a medium-leverage pitcher than a closer. The flame-throwing southpaw retired six straight hitters before running into trouble in the top of the eighth. He walked Ian Happ before striking out Daniel Murphy and Báez. Happ stole second. Then, Rizzo blasted a two-run shot to the right-field bleachers to give Chicago a 3-2 lead. Corey Knebel took over for Hader and retired Kris Bryant on a flyball to right.

The Brewers greeted reliever Carl Edwards, Jr. in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of singles by Curtis Granderson and Cain before two strikeouts. Ryan Braun walked to load the bases, before yet another walk to Mike Moustakas forced in a run. Steve Cishek came in to put out the fire, and the teams went to the top of the ninth tied 3-3.

Jeremy Jeffress took care of the Cubs in the ninth, allowing a single and a stolen base but keeping the visitors off the scoreboard. The Brewers used an unconventional bottom of the ninth to score the game-winner. Erik Kratz walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Keon Broxton. Arcia was hit by a pitch, and both runners moved up a base on a passed ball by Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. After a Granderson strikeout, Cain was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

With one out, Jesse Chavez relieved Cishek to face Yelich. On a 1-2 count, Yelich hit a chopper to a diving Bryant at third. The third baseman tagged the base for the second out, but his throw to first was too late to get Yelich as Broxton scored the winning run.

The win cut the Cubs’ lead to four games. A hot September (19-7) allowed the Brewers to catch them, and a Game 163 playoff went the Brewers' way, sending the Crew to the postseason and vaulting them all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS.

September 2, 1996 (Milwaukee 7, Cleveland Indians 6)
The Brewers entered this contest with a record of 66-72, 16 games behind the Indians in the AL Central race. But on this ‘Indian Summer’ day with temps in the low 80s, the Brewers would come from behind and come out ahead, in a game at County Stadium that they trailed early by a 5-1 score.

The Indians got to Brewer starter Ben McDonald in the first frame, scoring a pair of runs on RBI singles by Albert Belle and Julio Franco. Omar Vizquel led off the top of the second with a home run just inside the right-field foul pole to increase the lead to 3-0. The Brewers got that run back in the bottom half of the second, courtesy of a home run to deep right field by John Jaha on the first pitch from Albie Lopez. 

In the top of the third, Belle and Manny Ramírez walked and then scored on a ground-rule double by Sandy Alomar to increase the Indians' lead to 5-1. The Brewers tied the score in the bottom of the fifth. Matt Mieske singled and was followed by free passes to Jesse Levis and Mark Loretta to load the sacks. Jeff Cirillo drew a four-pitch walk to force in a run and end Lopez’s day. Kent Mercker came on in relief and immediately gave up a sacrifice fly to Dave Nilsson that scored Levis, to make it 5-3. Jaha then singled to left to push Loretta across the plate, and José Valentín followed with a sac fly to center that scored Cirillo to tie the game.

The Indians went ahead in the top of the ninth when Franco singled to center to score Belle, who had doubled against closer Doug Jones. The Brewers entered the home half of the ninth trailing 6-5 against All-Star closer José Mesa, who came into the game with 31 saves. It didn’t look good for Milwaukee after Cirillo singled with one out and was forced at second by a Nilsson groundout. David Hulse pinch-ran, though, and promptly stole second and advanced to third on an infield single by Jaha. A wild pitch scored Hulse and moved Jaha to second, tying the game. Valentín hit a looping liner to left field and danced down the first base line, as Jaha scored the winning run.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Jaha said. “It’s real big, it shows this team can play.”

The Brewers would move up one spot in the standings by winning 14 of 24 games in September and finish just below .500, at 80-82.

September 6, 1976 (Game 1: Milwaukee 3, Cleveland 2)
The Brewers came into the Bicentennial Labor Day doubleheader at County Stadium mired in last place in the AL East, a dismal 20.5 games behind the eventual AL champion New York Yankees. 

After a scoreless first, the Tribe tallied a pair of runs in the second off Brewers starter Jim Colborn. Buddy Bell and Ray Fosse led off the inning with singles. Tommy Smith doubled to left to score Bell and move Fosse to third. Frank Duffy then hit a fly ball to center that scored Fosse, but Smith was caught trying to move to third: 8-2-5 if you're scoring at home.

Sixto Lezcano led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and moved to third on a pair of groundouts. Darrell Porter cut the lead in half when he laced a single to right field off Cleveland starter Stan Thomas to score Lezcano and make it 2-1. 

Milwaukee tied the game in the bottom of the sixth after Lezcano and Bernie Carbo singled, with Lezcano moving to third. Lezcano scored on Mike Hegan's 3-6 groundout. 

Stan Thomas was still on the mound in the ninth inning, in a 2-2 game. With one out, Porter walked. Then Danny Thomas, 'The Sundown Kid,' banged a double off the left field wall to score Porter for the 3-2 win. (The Indians won the second game by an identical 3-2 score.)

Labor Day 2025
As the Brewers head into September, their 6.5-game lead over the ‘Jekyll-and-Hyde’ Cubs is comfortable and substantial. Milwaukee has looked mortal at times, and unbeatable at others. The 14-game win streak was followed by a stretch of games that showed equal parts strengths and weaknesses. Is Milwaukee the team that can find ways to win no matter what the situation, or are they the team that has gone 7-9 in the fortnight that followed the long winning skein?

With key players like Rhys Hoskins, Trevor Megill, and Joey Ortiz expected to return from injuries sometime during the month, one would expect the team to be fortified and finish the season with a win total near 100. Jackson Chourio has proved he is back, going 6-for-9 with a homer and two doubles in a pair of games against Toronto in his return. 

September 1 is the starting line for the final sprint to the postseason, and if the Brewers can start and finish fast, they will go a long way toward reaching the pinnacle. All of that can begin with another memorable Labor Day win—after which, yes, the team that has played 19 times in 18 days will finally get a day of rest.

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!