MILWAUKEE – So long, Cubs.
Or is it, “Until we meet again?”
Either way, the Brewers completed their regular-season series against their chief rival on Wednesday, getting a three-run home run from Christian Yelich in the first inning and three more runs on homers from red-hot Jackson Chourio and William Contreras, then hanging on for an 8-6 win at American Family Field that pushed Milwaukee (91-56) 10 games ahead of Chicago (81-66) in the National League Central with 15 to play.
If these teams play again in 2026, it would be in the postseason – a rematch of last year’s NL Division Series that went to a decisive fifth game.
Chourio finished with three hits and two RBIs in Wednesday’s game and logged his 17th stolen base, leaving him three bags shy of a third consecutive 20-20 season to begin his career. He collected eight hits and six RBIs in the series as the Brewers completed a stretch of seven head-to-head games against the Cubs over the past 10 days, winning five of those games to effectively deny Chicago’s hopes of a late-season comeback.
Barring something truly wild over the next 15 games, Milwaukee is on its way to a fourth consecutive division crown.
But, as Yelich warned on Wednesday afternoon, “Nothing’s been accomplished yet.”
Indeed, the Brewers can’t clinch a postseason berth until Friday at the earliest, when they begin a three-game series against the Reds.
In the division race, the Brewers’ magic number to clinch is down to five over the Cubs, since Milwaukee won the season series between the teams and holds the tiebreaker.
Logan Henderson delivered five more sharp innings (two hits, one unearned run) and is looking more and more like the Brewers’ No. 2 starter in the postseason behind Jacob Misiorowski. It was Henderson’s 21st career outing, all of which have been starts, and he has allowed three runs or fewer in all 21. That's the second-longest such streak to begin a career since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893, behind only Zac Gallen’s first 23 starts for the D-backs in 2019-20.