Pat Murphy made a plan, and executed it brilliantly. So did the Brewers’ three most emblematic hitters of the 2025 season, And under the pressure and the bright lights of a win-or-go-home playoff game, Jacob Misiorowski spearheaded a brilliant pitching performance for the victorious Milwaukee Brewers. They beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1, to earn a place in the National League Championship Series. They’ll square off with the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Monday in Milwaukee.

This is, almost inarguably, the biggest win for the franchise since they came back to win the pennant against the Angels in 1982. It was a game full of catharsis and joy, as well as suspense and terror—a perfect distillation of the searing season just played by one of the best clubs ever to wear Brewers colors. 

Needing 27 outs but lacking a starting pitcher he could trust against a strong Cubs lineup that had already dismantled Quinn Priester once, Murphy turned to a bullpen game with his season on the line. That meant beginning with the closer, Trevor Megill, who had spent so much of the season sealing Milwaukee wins but went down at the end of August with a forearm strain that looked like it could end his campaign. Instead, there stood Megill at the center of the cauldron when the game began, pumping 98-mph fastballs and roiling curveballs. He’s not quite his best, healthiest self, and the Brewers handled him carefully each time they turned to him during this series. Giving him the first inning was one way to eliminate uncertainty and put firm boundaries around his outing; he turned out not to need them. On just 11 pitches, he put the Cubs down in order. The way he came off the mound gave the first clue that this team was brimming with confidence, and that the environment would remain as unfriendly to the Cubs as Wrigley Field was during the middle phase of the series.

In the bottom of the first, the Crew jumped on the visitors, availing themselves of a poor decision by Cubs manager Craig Counsell to start lefty Drew Pomeranz. The veteran southpaw retired the first two batters he faced, but on a 3-2 pitch, he threw William Contreras a two-out, two-strike fastball—the sixth in a row, in the at-bat—and paid a dear price.

It wouldn’t be that simple; it couldn’t be. This was Game 5, do-or-die, and it was against the hated Cubs and the defector Counsell. Seiya Suzuki responded with a solo home run of his own in the top of the second against Misiorowski, and the game remained tied until the bottom of the fourth. That’s when the same thing played out, with only the names changed. Colin Rea retired the first two batters he saw, but then he got stuck in a deep count with Andrew Vaughn. On a 3-2 pitch, Vaughn did something he’d only done one other time since mid-August—but that, too, having been during this same series.

Misiorowski made it four innings, leaving the Brewers just 12 outs to get to secure the victory. That didn’t come easy, either. Clinging to a one-run lead, Aaron Ashby allowed the first two Cubs batters of the sixth inning to reach base—but then, he struck out Kyle Tucker, and Murphy rescued the situation by lifting him in favor of Chad Patrick. After a lineout by Suzuki, Patrick froze Ian Happ on the best backdoor cutter in team history, killing the uprising. 

In the bottom of the seventh, it was time for the team’s best all-around player (this year, anyway) to put the challengers out of their misery. Andrew Kittredge got two outs to open the bottom of the seventh, but once more, two outs proved to be one too few. The Brewers are never dead. Just when you think they are, you’re dead, instead. Turang didn’t wait for a full count. He blasted a first-pitch slider to center field, well over the wall (don’t tell Pete Crow-Armstrong, if you see him, but it was), and the deed was virtually done.

As fitting as it was to have Contreras (the team’s gladiator), Vaughn (their latest impossible discovery) and Turang (as big a player-development win as a first-round pick can ever be) provide the scoring, though, perhaps the most fitting moment came last. Abner Uribe entered and mowed down the Cubs to close out the series win. He issued a walk and allowed some hard contact, but he sailed through six outs in just 22 pitches. Uribe, whose misplaced aggression led to a suspension and whose wildness led to a demotion (before a season-ending injury) last spring, represents the maturation of this team. It’s still aggressive, and even, occasionally, aggro (see Uribe’s celebration after the final out, which included an emphatic phone gesture toward the Cubs dugout that seems to be part of a team-wide, somewhat unearned grievance with Counsell). It’s still young, and electric, and (like all electric things) a bit dangerous. But it’s also a team with an unswerving sense of purpose and an intensity that doesn’t crack under pressure. 

They are, in short, champions. They’ve been the NL Central champions for three years now, but they reasserted that dominance Saturday night. More importantly, they look like a worthy contender to become the champions of the entire league. This franchise has never summited that mountain. They might not do it this year, either. For at least one more night, though, they were the best team in baseball—with more wins and fewer losses than anyone else, and more swagger and more toughness, to boot. ‘Bragging rights’ is much too small a phrase for what they won by beating the Cubs in an October doubledown after another full-season win. They won, for themselves and fans, a real sense of superiority and freedom from a long-hanging shadow of playoff failure. Now, they just have to go do it all (in a slightly different form) again.