Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy braces for a high-stakes divisional showdown against the Chicago Cubs in a four-game slate at Wrigley Field.
The Milwaukee Brewers head to Wrigley Field knowing they were just defeated by the Texas Rangers, 7-4.
That said, this is a Brewers team that was riding a four-game winning streak and they still have an extremely comfortable lead in the National League Central, but manager Pat Murphy knows winning the division is far from a guarantee.
Sitting at 85-52 is amazing, no doubt, but they're set to play the Chicago Cubs seven times over the next 10 days, so truly anything can happen in a division that sees the Brewers up by only eight games.
With these first four games all taking place in Chicago, that gives Brewers' former manager Craig Counsell an early advantage before these two teams will meet again at American Family Field from Sept. 7-9.
Also, it's worth noting those final three games will mark the end of a 16-game stretch in 16 days for the Brewers, so it'll be interesting to see not only how their bullpen looks, but how team morale is along with how much juice these players have left in the tank.
Murphy on making the trip to Wrigley
Surprisingly, this is the first time these two teams have met in the second half of the regular season. For whatever reason, when the 2026 schedule was put together, MLB thought it would be a good idea to have these teams not play each other from June 28 until Aug. 31.
When looking back at the first half, the Brewers swept the Cubs, in Chicago, from May 18-20. Fast forward to the end of June, and that's where the Cubs took two of three at American Family Field.
To this point, with seven games remaining, the Brewers hold a 4-2 season series lead over the Cubs.
"There’s a lot of things to like,” Murphy said about the state of this Brewers team, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. “Our defense and baserunning have got to be part of our game every time. The pitching has been great. Offensively, I think with William [Contreras] and [Christian] Yelich much better than they have been recently.
“I think there’s good signs, but we need to play with a certain intensity," he added. "It will be a great opportunity in a great environment.”
Brewers need to win three of seven to take season series
If the Brewers keep playing at the level they have been recently, there's a chance they could wrap up this season series away from home.
Remember, they already swept the Cubs at Wrigley once this season, so who's to say they can't do it again?
With a 4-2 lead going into this four-game slate, all it would take is for the Brewers to go 3-1 against the Cubs, and then it's not that the three-game slate a couple of games later wouldn't matter, but it would certainly take a lot of the pressure off knowing the season series was already wrapped up. At that point, it’d be more about knocking the Cubs out of the playoff picture entirely.
