MILWAUKEE — They’ve been counted out before. And if you asked them, they’d probably tell you they prefer it that way. The Milwaukee Brewers have made a habit of surprising people, and so far this season, they’ve shown they might be not only the best team in the NL Central but also the best in baseball.
It was a similar script in 2024 for the Brewers. Last year, the Chicago Cubs looked like the class of the NL Central, while with a younger roster, Milwaukee was expected to take a step back and go through a transition year. Instead, under first-year manager Pat Murphy, the young Brewers played better than expectations, running away with the division and leaving the Cubs in their wake.
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Through the first two-thirds of the 2025 season, the Cubs have actually played at the level they were expected to. They were leading the division for almost the entire first half and looking like one of the top teams in the sport. Meanwhile, the Brewers, lurking like a lion stalking its prey, waited for their moment to pounce, and after weeks of keeping up with the best teams in the league — the Brew Crew are 33-15 since June 1 — they’ve jumped to the top of the National League.
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“You’ve got to be addicted to progress,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said this week. “If you’re addicted to progress, you got a chance. That’s why you can’t let anything that takes away from your energy [during] the season get to you — the trade deadline, where they are, who that team is, that’s not fair, etc.”
Just in time for Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, at which both the Cubs (62-45) and the Brewers (64-43) are expected to be active addressing team needs ahead of the final two months of the season, the two teams locked horns for a three-game set beginning Monday in Milwaukee.
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And in the first two games, Milwaukee showed their rivals to the south not only that they aren’t backing down but also that they aren’t the underdogs anymore. The Brewers took Game 1 and Game 2 from the Cubs in commanding fashion, with an 8-4 victory Monday and a 9-3 win on Tuesday. The Cubs will try to avoid a sweep in Wednesday’s series finale.
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But even after this series concludes, the battle between these two teams isn’t over. The Brewers have the highest winning percentage in MLB since May 1 (.632). Combine that with a Cubs team that has been playing well all season and currently has the third-best record in the NL, and this should be a highly competitive division and a clash at the top of the standings the rest of the way. The Brewers have control for the time being, but the two teams will play five more games in August at Wrigley Field.
“It’s awesome every time we play the Cubs,” Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick said. “Their fans travel pretty well. So it’s always a very fun environment, a playoff-baseball-type environment, and that’s why you play the game. You just wake up a little more excited on mornings like this.”
With the Brewers now atop the division amid a highly competitive National League, all eyes turn to the trade deadline and possible additions to the roster. Brewers general manager Matt Arnold knows his team can pitch — they have a 2.82 ERA over the past month, which ranks second in MLB — so the question is whether they can add on offense.
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The Brewers rank seventh in baseball in runs scored this season, but they lack power in the middle of their lineup. Adding a little thump at the deadline could give the offense a huge boost; history shows that teams that slug have more success in the postseason. And there’s power available on this year’s market, most notably Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Suárez could be a division-altering move for Milwaukee, keeping him off the Cubs while acquiring an impact slugger at third base.
Milwaukee has also needed help at first base in the absence of first baseman Rhys Hoskins, but they might’ve found something in reclamation project Andrew Vaughn, who has been one of the best hitters in baseball since coming to Milwaukee from the White Sox in June. The former first-round pick is slashing .375/.439/.771 with five home runs and 21 RBI in 15 games with the Brewers.
“He’s been huge for us,” Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich said of Vaughn. “Just stepping up. And it’s kind of a theme throughout our team. You get an opportunity, you’re put in a position — just do what you can to contribute and help the boys out. It’s been great to see from him. And you know, he fits our group really well, just who he is as a person and competitor and player.”
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The Brewers are still a young team, and they’re trying to keep everything in front of them and stay focused on the next game, a similar mindset to the one the Cubs are adopting. But regardless of age or experience, Murphy wants his group to find their edge each night. And if they do that, he believes, the standings, the season and their success will take care of itself.
“Trying to find little nuggets that help them understand and shoving them a little bit and nudging them just like a shopping cart with a bad wheel,” he said. “You got to kind of just keep your hands on it, because they are young. You can’t trust that they know the direction. You’ve got to keep two hands on that shopping cart because it’s got a wobbly wheel.
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“There’s a lot coming at some guys for the first time, or some guys we’re running it back and that was their first year last year. You get caught up in letting your energy go elsewhere — your contract or whatever is going on — it can’t pull you away from your edge.”
