Brewers' longtime kryptonite finally retiring after storied Cubs career

Though he left the NL Central one year ago in free agency, Kyle Hendricks was always going to be remembered as a Chicago Cub.

Now, after one lone season with the Los Angeles Angels, the soft-tossing right-hander is calling it quits on a storied career that featured decisive starts in Game 6 of the NLCS and Game 7 of the World Series in the Cubs' curse-busting playoff run in 2016.

This news doesn't have any significant impact on the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers or the division at large; the Cubs made the playoffs in 2025 without the services of Hendricks. Their offseason plans, penny-pinching moves and all, almost certainly never included a reunion with "The Professor".

Instead, this news serves to mark the official end of an era in the NL Central, one in which the Brewers emerged from a brief rebuild to record the strongest stretch of regular season play in franchise history.

Kyle Hendricks, long a thorn in the Brewers side, retires after 12-year career

For his career, Hendricks made the most of a slow-throwing profile, utilizing a devastating changeup and elite knowledge of the strike zone to navigate opposing lineups. He turned in a 3.79 ERA over 1,745 career innings, plus a 3.12 ERA in the postseason. Somehow, despite winning the ERA title in 2016 and finishing top-ten in Cy Young voting twice, he never made an All-Star team, a fact a Cubs fan will be quick to remind you of if you bother engaging.

Though it was always the St. Louis Cardinals that Hendricks dominated, there was never any love lost between him and the Crew. In 36 career starts against Milwaukee, he went 10-9 with a 3.79 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 199 2/3 innings. He effectively threw an entire season's worth of games against the Brewers throughout his career, and it's tough to argue with the results.

Of course, the most memorable game of their rivalry was when Hendricks tossed a complete game shutout on Opening Day in 2020. It's hardly a fond memory, but it is a reminder that in an age of velocity and strikeouts, the Cubs' starter was able to succeed with an archaic model of precision and baseball IQ.

All's well that ends well, though. The Cubs, who won the division in that truncated 2020 season, haven't done so since. The Brewers, meanwhile, have claimed four NL Central titles over the past five years.

And, because he spent 2025 in Hollywood, Hendricks can ride off into the sunset knowing he wasn't part of the Cubs' NLDS loss to the Brewers.