Brewers Vs Cubs Series Preview: Can Milwaukee Extend Its NL Central Lead?

The Milwaukee Brewers enter this weekend with a chance to all but slam the door on the National League Central race. The Brewers hold a seven-game lead over the Chicago Cubs entering Friday’s series at American Family Field. With a strong performance, Milwaukee can widen the gap even further after sweeping the Cubs in Chicago earlier this season.

As of Thursday, the Brewers currently possess the edge in the National League Central over the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, who are tied for second place. While there will still be three months of baseball to play after this weekend, this series holds vast implications for both teams. Milwaukee has a chance to put serious distance between itself and Chicago, and the Cubs cannot afford to fall further behind in the standings.

Here is a preview of probable pitching matchups and instrumental players to watch.

Brewers Vs Cubs Probable Starting Pitchers (June 26-28)

Chicago’s rotation is in limbo due to a series of injuries, most notably Wednesday’s moves of starters Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera to the injured list. With that in mind, Cubs manager Craig Counsell has yet to determine who will man the bump to open each game of the Milwaukee series.

Friday, June 26, 6:45 PM CT: Undecided (CHI) vs. Jacob Misiorowski (MIL)

Saturday, June 27, 6:10 PM CT: Undecided (CHI) vs. Kyle Harrison (MIL)

Sunday, June 28, 1:10 PM CT: Undecided (CHI) vs. Brandon Woodruff (MIL)

Brewers Starting Pitching Dominated The Reds

The Brewers’ starting pitchers had Cincinnati Reds’ hitters talking to themselves all series long. The combination of Woodruff, Brandon Sproat, and Shane Drohan gave up a combined zero runs in 16.1 innings:

• Woodruff made his first start since April 30, and he showed no rust after seven weeks off due to right shoulder inflammation. Big Woo retired the first 16 Cincinnati hitters he faced before allowing a single to Tyler Stephenson. No runner reached second base on him, and he finished six strong innings, allowing just that one hit and issuing no walks while striking out ten. Although he did not factor in the decision, Milwaukee was victorious, winning 2-1 in 10 innings.
• On Tuesday, Sproat said, “Whatever you can do, I can do better.” Just like Woodruff, Sproat ceded just one hit and no walks, although he hit one batter, while punching out ten hitters. This time, Sproat earned the victory for the Brewers in a 2-0 triumph.
• Although he did not post the sexy numbers like his teammates, Drohan kept the Reds scoreless during his time on the mound. He threw 4.1 innings, but did allow some traffic on the base paths, surrendering five hits and three walks, which required some timely outs to escape harm. Milwaukee’s bullpen surrendered a 6-1 lead but eventually secured the 27th out to squeak out a 6-5 win.

The best news was that the Brewers’ top two starters, Misiorowski and Harrison, were not needed to secure the sweep. The bad news for Chicago is that they will see them on the mound for the first two games of the weekend series.

The Cubs Enter This Weekend Hungry For Revenge Against The Brewers

The only other time the two teams have met thus far this season took place between May 18-20 at Wrigley Field. The Brewers swept their rivals by outscoring the Cubs 19-5 over their three-game set.

Chicago will travel north on I-94 this week and enter the series playing very good baseball, having won nine of their last 12 games. On June 10, the Cubs were at .500 with a 34-34 record and mired in fourth place. Unfortunately for Chicago, Milwaukee went 8-4 during those two weeks, and they only gained one game in the standings during that stretch.

Over that span, the Cubs’ offense has been lighting up the scoreboard, scoring 87 runs in those 12 games (7.25 per game). Leading the way for the Northsiders is Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has rallied from a slow start to his 2026 season. His 17 home runs and 86 total hits lead his team, and his .285 batting average and .886 OPS also top Chicago’s list.

Ian Happ has found his power stroke, and his 16 round-trippers place him second on the Cubs in that statistic. Dansby Swanson leads the team in runs batted in with 46.

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End Of My Milwaukee Brewers Rant: This Series Will Have An October Feel To It

As always, Brewers fans can expect the migration of Chicago supporters in droves to American Family Field this weekend. While that has become the norm, Milwaukee has become the pacesetter in the division and has taken great pleasure in keeping the Cubs behind them in the standings. Not only that, the Brewers knocked Chicago out of the 2025 playoffs last year.

With the combination of this year’s sweep and last season’s postseason victory, Milwaukee should expect the Cubs to give them their best efforts. If their trio of expected starting pitchers plays to form, Brew Crew fans may have reason to cheer the loudest this weekend.