105.5 mph and 18 games in 17 days: Brewers-Cubs gets loud fast

Last updated: June 26, 2026, during the sixth inning

The radar gun lit up before the night had time to settle in Milwaukee. Jacob Misiorowski fired a 105.5 mph fastball in the first inning, the kind of pitch that turns a division game into a spectacle. By the sixth, the Brewers had flipped the game against the Cubs and were leading 3-1 at American Family Field. The opener carried extra weight because Milwaukee began a grueling run of 18 games in 17 days before the All-Star break.

How Events Unfolded

The Brewers came home after a 4-2 road trip and opened a seven-game homestand against two division rivals. The first test was the Chicago Cubs, a team Milwaukee had already swept at Wrigley Field from May 18-20 while outscoring Chicago 19-5.

Misiorowski wasted no time. On just his third pitch, he reached 105.5 mph against Pete Crow-Armstrong, who managed to foul it off. Across his first 16 pitches, Misiorowski topped 103 mph nine times, struck out Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman, then got Michael Busch on a groundout.

For four innings, it looked like a pure pitchers' duel. Colin Rea, the former Brewer starting for Chicago, worked around traffic, while Misiorowski held the Cubs to a lone baserunner through four. Then Seiya Suzuki changed the score with a full-count slider sent out to right-center, giving Chicago a 1-0 lead in the fifth.

Milwaukee answered in the sixth. William Contreras singled, Jake Bauers walked, and Garrett Mitchell crushed a 409-foot homer to right-center off Ethan Roberts to put the Brewers ahead 2-1. Cooper Pratt walked, David Hamilton tripled down the left-field line, and the Brewers stretched the lead to 3-1.

Critical Details

The matchup was about more than one night. Milwaukee entered at 49-29, first in the NL Central, with Chicago at 44-37. CBS Sports reported that the Brewers had moved a season-high 20 games above .500 and held a 6 1/2-game division lead over the Cubs entering the series.

Misiorowski came in with an 8-3 record and a 1.45 ERA, leading the majors in ERA and strikeouts with 138. MLB.com described his stretch since the beginning of May as especially sharp: a 0.45 ERA over nine starts before the Cubs opener. That matters because Milwaukee is not just protecting a lead; it is trying to bank wins before a compressed schedule tests every arm on the roster.

The Cubs arrived hot, too. Chicago had won six of its previous seven games and swept the Mets in New York, finishing that series with Pete Crow-Armstrong's RBI double in the 10th inning. But the rotation was thin: Edward Cabrera and Ben Brown were placed on the injured list, joining other sidelined starters.

Milwaukee also made a bullpen move before the game, activating left-hander Jared Koenig after more than two months out with an elbow sprain and optioning Craig Yoho to Triple-A Nashville. For a club staring at 18 games in 17 days, that relief help is not cosmetic. It can change how aggressively the Brewers manage late innings.

Reactions & Responses

Misiorowski did not frame the Cubs as a mystery. His preparation, according to MLB.com, centered on identifying which hitters were hot and how specific players had adjusted.

I don’t think there’s much. I’ll go through and see who’s hot. PCA [Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong] has changed his heat map a little bit, so you’ll look at that. But it’s team to team. You maybe focus on a few guys who hit you well the last time and go from there.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell praised his team's sweep in New York before the Milwaukee series, noting how many players were involved in the run. His comment mattered because Chicago came into American Family Field trying to turn a hot week into pressure on the division leaders.

We asked a lot of everybody in this series. When you are playing good baseball, there are a lot of names to mention. That was absolutely the case in the last four days and tonight as well.

On the Brewers' side, pitching coach Chris Hook described the upcoming schedule as a collective stress test for players, the front office, medical staff and strength staff. That context explains why Koenig's return and the alignment of Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison and Brandon Woodruff for the series were central to Milwaukee's planning.

Putting It in Perspective

This is the type of late-June series that can shape July. The Brewers entered with 10 straight wins against NL Central teams and an 11-3 record against division opponents, which means they had already built a margin by taking care of games that count twice emotionally: once in the standings, and again in the division race.

For the Cubs, the urgency is different. They had momentum from a four-game sweep of the Mets, but a battered rotation and a former Brewer in Rea on the mound made the opener a difficult assignment. Rea entered with a 4.99 ERA, while Misiorowski brought one of the most dominant profiles in baseball into the matchup.

There was also a viewing wrinkle for fans across the US: the game was available only through Apple TV's Friday Night Baseball broadcast, with radio coverage on the Brewers Radio Network. PennLive reported that Apple TV+ is carrying 50 Major League Baseball games in 2026, two per Friday night across 25 weeks.

Looking Ahead

The series continues Saturday, June 27, with Milwaukee left-hander Kyle Harrison listed to start at 6:10 p.m. against a Chicago starter listed as TBA in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel schedule. Sunday brings Brandon Woodruff for the Brewers at 1:10 p.m., again against a Cubs starter listed as TBA.

After the Cubs series, Milwaukee's schedule does not loosen. The Brewers are in a stretch heavy on division games, including matchups with the Reds, Cardinals and Pirates before the All-Star break. The question is not only whether Milwaukee can win this series, but whether its pitching depth can survive the workload that follows.