Brewers' 2026 Opening Day run parade flips the script from their slow start in 2025

Heading into the Milwaukee Brewers' Opening Day tilt with the Chicago White Sox, much of the discussion was in regard to the intriguing pitching matchup, and rightfully so. Pitted against one another were former teammates in the Brewers' farm system: Jacob Misiorowski and Shane Smith.

The Brewers' half of the pitching matchup lived up to the hype, but the same cannot be said for Chicago's Opening Day starter. While Jacob Misiorowski was busy setting a franchise record for the most strikeouts in an Opening Day start, Smith, who the White Sox snatched from the Brewers in the Rule 5 Draft one offseason ago, was struggling to keep runs off the board.

Smith allowed four runs, three of which were earned, in just 1.2 innings of work. A bases-loaded flare single from Joey Ortiz got the run parade started for the Crew, but a bases-clearing double from William Contreras that put Milwaukee up three runs was the nail in the coffin that forced White Sox manager Will Venable to take his All-Star starter out of the game before the end of the second frame.

What followed was an offensive explosion to the tune of 10 more runs by the end of the seventh inning for the Brew Crew. Home runs from Sal Frelick and Jake Bauers highlighted the impressive showing from Milwaukee's hitters, but quieter contributions like David Hamilton reaching base four times, and Christian Yelich and Andrew Vaughn adding RBI singles of their own, were also key to the Brewers' rout of the White Sox.

In the end, as Glory Days -- the Brewers victory song -- played for the first time in American Family Field this year, a resounding 14-2 Brew Crew victory was what the scoreboard read. It's no doubt a sweet victory for the Brewers, who were back at home for Opening Day for the first time since 2021, but it's made better by the fact that today's game was the polar opposite of how they started the 2025 season.

The Brewers didn't reach a +12 run differential until April 22 in 2025, they achieved that mark in their first game of 2026

No Brewers fan needs to be reminded of how the team started the 2025 season. The Brewers had such a poor showing in their three-game Opening Series with the New York Yankees that baseball fans were calling for the "Torpedo Bats" that the Bronx Bombers were using to be outlawed. The Brewers held a -22 run differential when they headed back to Milwaukee for their home opener -- which didn't go much better.

After an 11-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in said home opener, the Brewers were staring at a historically poor -32 run differential. Though the Brewers did start winning, and evened out their record with four consecutive wins in the days that followed, it took them a while to reach the +12 mark that they have already achieved in 2026. In fact, it wasn't until April 22 that the Brewers' aggregate run differential reached +12 during the 2025 season.

Of course, the Brewers went on to win an MLB-best 97 games last season, indicating that how a team starts the season matters far less than how they finish it, but nevertheless, it's much more fun to watch a 12-run win on Opening Day than watch your favorite team rack up a -32 run differential in the first four games of the season, which is technically still in the cards, but would require an even poorer four-game stretch than the one that made franchise history at the start of the 2025 season.

The Brewers will look to follow up their impressive 2026 debut with another win on Saturday night against the White Sox. 2025 breakout star Chad Patrick gets the ball for the Crew, while 26-year-old right-hander Sean Burke, who is coming off a decent rookie campaign, will start for Chicago.