Brewers take one last shot at Cubs after clinching NLCS berth
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers poured out of the first base dugout at American Family Field and converged on the mound in enthusiastic celebration.
The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, snuck back into their own dugout and eventually into the visitors’ clubhouse.
It was the end of the Cubs’ season – and the end of the first-ever playoff meeting between these two teams.
But that certainly wasn’t the end of the Cubs-Brewers rivalry.
The NL Central champions made sure of that.
Instead of just celebrating their first playoff victory since 2018, the Brewers jumped at the chance to take a chance against the Cubs.
As the Brewers celebrated as a team on the field, they brought out a Cubs “L” flag, like the one that flies above Wrigley Field after losses.
They even held it while the whole team took a photo on the field, with former Cub – and Saturday’s starting pitcher for the Brewers – Trevor Megill holding it:
The Brewers’ official
They also took the time to stick the L flag on the famous Beanstalk in downtown Chicago:
Three days earlier, the official Cubs account posted an edited video of a W flag draped over the beanbag:
Cubs manager Craig Counsell took a moment to pay tribute to the Brewers after the game.
“First of all, congratulations to the Brewers,” Counsell said. “It’s a very good baseball team and a team that deserves and has earned its way to the right to go to the World Series. It’s a good baseball team.”
Before the season started, many baseball experts picked the Cubs to win the division, even though the Brewers finished first in 2023 and 2024.
Milwaukee is MLB’s smallest market, while the Cubs play in the third-largest market and regularly boast one of the league’s top 10 payrolls.
The Brewers played in the “underdog” identity all season, reaching 97 wins and the best record in baseball.
This gave them home-field advantage in this NLDS, which ended up being the difference. The home team won every game in the series.
In the end, it was the Brewers who won the playoff battle. And for hours after Game 5 ended, large graphics occupied every available video board in American Family Field with a simple phrase: “NLCS BOUND.”
And after this hard-fought series, the rivalry could be pushed into new territory next year.
“It’s absolutely a great battle,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before Game 4. “Two teams in the same division. The Cubs were picked to win the division for how many years in a row. Nobody really believed we were going to be great.
“It’s a dogfight every time we play them. It’s great. The players know each other, respect each other. The fans don’t like each other and we don’t like them during the game. But it’s been great. It’s a great series.”
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