Five years ago, Brewers beat the Cubs in Game 163 to win division

This story first appeared in 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdown as part of the "50 in 50" series looking at the 50 greatest Wisconsin sports moments of the previous 50 years (this was No. 18).

When the Milwaukee Brewers switched from the American League to the National League in 1998, they brought some baggage.

Sure, the Brewers had fostered a pretty heated rivalry with the Chicago White Sox during the AL days, but the vitriol rose to a new level when the Chicago Cubs became the nearest divisional rival. Every time the Brewers hosted the Cubs, Chicago fans made the short trek north to Miller Park and overwhelmed the hometown support. On good days, the rooting interest was perceptively 50/50. On bad days ...

There's a reason Miller Park became Wrigley North. No matter the club-orchestrated campaign to try to ensure a healthier representation of Brewers fans, the Cubs fans still came out in droves.

But a funny thing happened Oct. 1, 2018.

Game 163 of the teams' season, to settle a tie atop the NL Central standings between the Brewers and Cubs, was set to take place at Wrigley Field thanks to Chicago's 11-9 edge in the season series. Perhaps it was the sudden scheduling (a noon Monday game on short notice) or perhaps it was the sheer enthusiasm of Brewers fans electrified by their team's memorable September runut either way, Wrigley Field — at least for one day — had turned into Miller Park South.

Wisconsin fans made their presence felt, and the Brewers converted it into on-field success. Singles from three massive contributors — Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun — all plated runs and the Brewers prevailed, 3-1. Milwaukee got to skip the wild-card game the next night (which the Cubs lost) and advanced directly to the National League Division Series, en route to a thrilling postseason run that ended one game shy of the World Series.

A takeover of Wrigley Field and sending the Brewers' biggest rival toward an early playoff exit? It was hard to find a more complete emotional experience for a Milwaukee sports fan.

The 2018 September was a month to remember

September 2018 was nothing short of magic for the Brewers, a club that entered the month scratching and clawing for a wild-card spot, a half-game behind St. Louis for the honor. At four games behind the Cubs, winning the division felt far-fetched.

"We just kept saying, 'One game at a time, one game at a time,'" said Yelich, whose monstrous final month helped solidify his selection as the 2018 most valuable player in the NL. "That was our focus. We really wanted to avoid that wild-card, one-game playoff. This is how we've been winning all year long, people stepping up in big situations."

The journey had several memorable notes that month:

• Sept. 3, Yelich legged out a fielder's choice against the Cubs on Labor Day to score the winning run in a 4-3 walk-off victory.
• Sept. 17, Yelich got his second cycle in three weeks when he accomplished the feat in an 8-0 win over the Reds. He'd done the same Aug. 30 against the same team.
• Sept. 26, Milwaukee clinched a playoff spot with a 2-1 win over St. Louis to complete a series sweep when pinch runner Adolis García fell down between third and home as he tried to score what would have been the tying run in the bottom of the eighth. 
• Sept. 28, Braun's home run that bounced off the glove of right fielder Nick Castellanos provided the winning run in the eighth inning of a 6-5 win over Detroit. 
• Sept. 29, Yelich did it again with a seventh-inning blast — his second of the game — to account for the winning run in a 6-5 victory over Detroit.
• Sept. 30, An 11-0 win over Detroit to cap the season sealed a tie with Chicago and prompted fun-loving first baseman Jesus Aguilar to proclaim afterward about the Cubs, "They know they have a problem tomorrow."

The Brewers won their final seven straight games to force the tie and went 19-7 in September. Yelich narrowly missed a triple crown. A win against the Cubs would secure a 96th win, good for the top seed in the NL playoffs and tied for the most wins in franchise history.

"It was just so exciting," said Braun, who drove in the second run in the eighth with a laser-beam single in Game 163. "It's one of those moments we had all envisioned as a group, as a team. The odds were stacked against us as we entered the month of September. We knew how well we had to play for an extended period of time.

"There's so much gratitude now for everything we've accomplished. To get back to this level this quickly is pretty remarkable. We earned this. This is the way it was supposed to go. It wasn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't supposed to be an easy game. We knew it would be a close game."

Singular focus

The game itself was tight throughout. Yelich's two-out single in the third gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead, but Anthony Rizzo led off the fifth with a homer to knot the score against Jhoulys Chacin.

That's where it stayed until the eighth. Orlando Arcia singled and Domingo Santana doubled off Justin Wilson, and Cain unknotted the score with a single to center. Cain, a free-agent signing before the season, had enjoyed a sensational season that would have put him in the MVP conversation had Yelich not wrapped the honor up.

"I've taken that leadoff role to heart this year," Cain said. "(Pat) Cishek, he's tough to get a fly ball against with his two-seamer. He's pretty nasty. I was able to have a good at-bat, laid off some good pitches. But even the pitch I hit up the middle, he came inside as well.

"I was able to just pull the hands in, stay through the middle and not roll over anything and get it done."

Yelich struck out in the next at-bat. No matter; Braun — whose MVP season coincided with the previous Brewers postseason appearance in 2011 — singled off Brandon Kintzler to give Milwaukee a 3-1 lead. 

Audible "Let's go Brewers!" chants began throughout the stadium.

Lefty relief ace Josh Hader entered in the eighth and retired all three men he faced, with two strikeouts. In the ninth, he registered two quick outs before a Javier Baez single and then induced a fly ball from Rizzo to Keon Broxton in deep center.

"Keon, catch this damn ball so we can win this game," Hader said when asked what was going through his mind after Rizzo made contact. "It felt like the ball was in the air for about 10 minutes."

One night later, the Cubs were done, having dropped a shocking 2-1 game against the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card game at Wrigley Field. The Brewers were preparing to face the Rockies in a series they would sweep, 3-0.

"Even when we were five games back, we could have said, 'OK, we're just gunning for the wild card,'" said Brewers general manager David Stearns. "This group never thought that. The sights for this group in here were always for the division. It's pretty incredible we pulled it off."

How the moment lives on

Milwaukee dominated the series with Colorado, starting with a walk-off single by Mike Moustakas in Game 1 in the 10th inning. The Brewers outscored the Rockies over the next two games, 10-0, and advanced to face the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

The Brewers won a Game 1 thriller at Miller Park, 6-5, and then won in Game 3 as well to take a 2-1 lead. But a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss in 13 innings tied the series, and a 5-2 loss in Game 5 put the Brewers on the brink of elimination. Milwaukee won back at Miller Park, 7-2, thanks to a four-run first, then fell in the seventh game of the series, 5-1.

It was a disappointing end to the best season since the 1982 run to the World Series. The Brewers were back in the playoffs one year later, qualifying for the wild-card game (and enduring another heartbreaking loss to Washington). It's only the second time Milwaukee has been to the playoffs in consecutive seasons.

A change to the playoff format in advance of the 2022 season expanded the field to six teams per league but also eliminated "Game 163" as a concept, with tiebreakers settled through regular-season results.

Woodruff vs. Kershaw

The 2018 NLCS ended with a disappointment, but Game 1 provided a pretty remarkable moment – one that narrowly missed a spot on the 50 in 50.

The Brewers turned to Brandon Woodruff in relief of Gio Gonzalez after just two innings, but it meant Woodruff would have to lead off the third inning against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Woodruff, at a disadvantage as a lefty swinger against the lefty Kershaw, drilled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right-center for an improbable home run, a game-tying blast in what ultimately became a 6-5 win for the Brewers.

"I mean, I just go in there and try to put up a tough at-bat," said Woodruff afterward. 

Woodruff, an up-and-coming right-hander who was slowly emerging as an ace of the rotation, let out a scream as he rounded first.

"I've never seen Brandon like that," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "To make it the first run your team scores in the NLCS and homer off Clayton Kershaw, that's exactly how you should run around the bases. It just fired everybody up."

"He should be able to talk about that the rest of his life," said Brewers third baseman Mike Moustakas. "He's a legend in Milwaukee right now."

Rules of the 50 in 50 series

• Moments are recorded over the 50-year window from 1970 to 2019 (sorry 2020, but you\'re disqualified)
• These are moments and not achievements, although that largely goes hand-in-hand.
• These are "greatest" 50 moments, so you won\'t see moments that are pivotal but ultimately heartbreaking (like the NFC Championship loss to Seattle, Kareem getting traded, etc.)
• You also won't see (many) moments that came to be recognized for their greatness later, such as the day the Bucks drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo or the day the Packers traded for Brett Favre.
• Moments considered include teams based in Wisconsin and Wisconsin athletes competing in individual sports or as part of national teams (such as the Olympics), or moments on Wisconsin soil.
• These are singular moments. You're supposed to remember where you were when they happened.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.