Comparing the Brewers and Cubs 2026 lineups after the Alex Bregman signing

After the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs went the distance during the NLDS in 2025, the Cubs, who lost that matchup, have finally made an offseason splash to replace their departing star, Kyle Tucker, and signal to the rest of the league that they are serious about competing with the Brewers in the NL Central in 2026.

Early on this offseason, Chicago confusingly committed over $20 million to Shota Imanaga as he accepted the team's qualifying offer. The Cubs also committed $14.5 million to reliever Phil Maton, brought back veteran bullpen arm Caleb Thielbar for $4.5 million, added Hoby Milner at $3.5 million, and took a flier on 1B/OF Tyler Austin for $1.25 million. More recently, they swung a trade for starting pitcher Edward Cabrera, parting ways with OF Owen Cassie and other top prospects in the process.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, has remained quiet, despite Freddy Peralta being the center of trade rumors. The Brewers' biggest addition so far has been bringing Brandon Woodruff back for the 2026 season via the qualifying offer. Milwaukee also swung a deal for left-handed pitcher Ángel Zerpa, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Isaac Collins and Nick Mears. They made a few smaller moves as well, adding relief arm Sammy Peralta and outfielder Akil Baddoo to their 40-man roster.

However, by far the most impactful move that either of the two teams has made this offseason was Chicago's recent addition of 3x All-Star Alex Bregman, whom they inked to a five-year contract over the weekend. Bregman, who has been a part of a playoff-qualifying team in every season other than his rookie campaign, is the Tucker replacement that the Cubs desperately needed. Let's take a closer look at how his addition to the Cubs' lineup impacts Chicago's attempt to knock off the Brewers, who have controlled the NL Central for the last three seasons.

Comparing the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs 2026 lineups after the Alex Bregman signing

In order to compare the Brewers and Cubs' lineups, several assumptions will have to be made, chief among them being the actual starting lineups that managers Pat Murphy and Craig Counsell will use most frequently in 2026. While the order is certainly not set in stone, it's likely the following 18 players make up the two lineups, assuming no major injuries or transactions happen before Opening Day.

Milwaukee Brewers' projected 2026 lineup:

1. Jackson Chourio LF
2. Brice Turang 2B
3. William Contreras C
4. Christian Yelich DH
5. Andrew Vaughn 1B
6. Sal Frelick RF
7. Caleb Durbin 3B
8. Garrett Mitchell CF
9. Joey Ortiz SS

Chicago Cubs' projected 2026 lineup:

1. Michael Busch 1B
2. Alex Bregman 3B
3. Ian Happ LF
4. Seiya Suzuki RF
5. Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
6. Nico Hoerner 2B
7. Moises Ballesteros DH
8. Dansby Swanson SS
9. Carson Kelly C

Again, don't get caught up in the order -- both Murphy and Counsell have been known to shake things up throughout the season -- but what really matters for the purposes of this article are the players included, and it's highly likely that these end up being the 18 players who will make up the Brewers and Cubs' Opening Day lineups this March.

Using numbers from the 2025 season, here is how those two lineups compare going position-by-position. The statistics chosen, Baseball Reference's Wins Above Replacement (bWAR), on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), fielding run value (FRV), and baserunning runs above average (BSR) were selected to offer a holistic view of each player. That said, these four statistics don't necessarily tell the whole story, and with so many young players in each lineup, accounting for early-career development means that the 2026 season could look much different than 2025 for several players. Regardless, this is what the picture looks like at this moment, assuming neither team makes massive changes to their offenses in the coming months.

Catcher is certainly a position where the Brewers should have a leg up on their division rivals in 2026, but the numbers from last year wouldn't necessarily suggest so. The 31-year-old Kelly had a shocking year in 2025, by far the best of his 10-year MLB career. Meanwhile, the 2x All-Star Contreras played most of the season with a fractured index finger on his glove hand and was still named a finalist for the NL Silver Slugger Award at the position over Kelly at the end of the season. Health for Contreras, and expected regression implied by Kelly's underlying power metrics indicate that Milwaukee will have a much more significant edge at the catcher's spot in 2026.

Shocked by Vaughn's numbers? That's just how tough his start to the 2025 season was with the Chicago White Sox. Obviously, Vaughn was a completely different player with the Brewers, collecting 1.3 bWAR and posting a .869 OPS during his time in Milwaukee in 2025, but the player he was before the trade must still be taken into consideration. Vaughn is something of an X-factor for the Brewers in 2026; depending on which version of Vaughn Milwaukee gets, their lineup could look very different. If it's the second-half version, the Brewers are neck-and-neck at the first base position with the Cubs, who are hoping for Busch to build off of his 2025 breakout season. In fact, Vaughn's numbers with the Brewers look very similar to Busch's numbers throughout the 2025 season. However, if Vaughn is closer to his White Sox version, the Cubs have a clear advantage at first base. Not to be discredited is the impact that both Jake Bauers for the Brewers and Tyler Austin for the Cubs will have on the 2026 season, with each of them likely to see significant time at the cold corner as Vaughn and Busch's platoon partners.

Easily two of the top three true second basemen in the NL, Turang and Hoerner have an under-the-radar competition ongoing between the two of them. Turang won the NL Gold Glove (and Platinum Glove) at the position in 2024, and Hoerner won it in 2023 and 2025. Each was nominated for a Silver Slugger Award this year, but Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks took home the honor; Marte is also a big reason why neither Turang nor Hoerner has an All-Star Game appearance in their careers thus far. The two are very similar players, each offering value in the field and on the basepaths (FRV doesn't do Turang's defense justice, though there's no denying his glove took a step back in 2025). Turang has more pop at the plate, and therefore a higher ceiling, but Hoerner's high floor makes it tough to give the Brewers much of an edge in this position battle. In the end, Turang and Hoerner are likely to be of similar values in 2025, assuming Chicago doesn't trade their second baseman -- a rumor that existed even before the Cubs signed Bregman.

Third base leaned slightly the Brewers’ way, with Durbin having a much better rookie campaign than the Cubs' Matt Shaw, until Chicago added Bregman to their lineup. Now, the position is clearly in Chicago's favor after they signed one of the top free agent bats on the market over the weekend. That said, don't count out Durbin after what turned out to be an impressive rookie campaign that netted him a nomination for the NL Rookie of the Year Award at the end of the season. No one is expecting him to put up offensive numbers even close to what Bregman is likely to produce next season, but with a strong baserunning game and a glove that consistently improved throughout the season, the difference in WAR between Durbin and Bregman might not be as significant as fans believe it will be at the end of the 2026 season.

Shortstop certainly isn't a position where fans are expecting the Brewers to outplay the Cubs in 2026. But here's the good news for Brewers fans: it can't get much worse than 2025. Ortiz is almost guaranteed to improve at the plate, and assuming his strong defense remains, it's not unfathomable to expect the Brewers' shortstop to post a 2.0-2.5 WAR season in 2026. There will almost certainly still remain a gap between Ortiz and Swanson, but Swanson will be 32 years old this year and remains a career 97 OPS+ hitter (100 is league average). Ortiz is unlikely to reach the home run numbers that Swanson is likely to produce, but a 2026 season closer to his 102 OPS+ rookie season would make the gap at the shortstop position between the Cubs and Brewers look less glaring.

It's not a stretch to say that the Cubs have one of the best outfield groups in all of baseball. Both Happ and Crow-Armstrong have reached the All-Star Game, and the latter and Suzuki both received MVP votes in 2025. However, the Brewers have an exciting young group of outfielders themselves. Chourio is likely to take a step forward even after posting two 20-20 seasons in his first two years in MLB, Frelick is an exceptional all-around player, and Mitchell, should he stay healthy, has an exciting blend of power and speed that he pairs with an elite glove in center field. Chicago absolutely has a leg up in the outfield, assuming PCA can replicate his 2025 campaign and the 31-year-olds, Suzuki and Happ, don't start to see a hit to their production, but don't count out the young stars in Milwaukee's outfield just yet. The blend of speed, defensive acumen, and youth that the Brewers boast in their outfield group is enough to make any opposing team jealous.

A veteran entering his 14th MLB season and a rookie who has played just 20 big league games; the DH battle between the Brewers and Cubs is certainly an interesting one. Theoretically, Yelich is the more "sure-thing" of the two, seeing as he's been facing MLB pitching since 2013, but the worry with Yelich is always that an injury will derail his season. However, avoiding the IL in his first season post-back surgery and crushing 29 homers is certainly a good sign for the former MVP. There's no reason to believe he can't replicate that success in 2026. Meanwhile, Ballesteros is an exciting young talent. He maintains his rookie status despite debuting in 2025, and is the type of bat who could have a sneaky big impact on the Cubs' lineup in 2026. He impressed in his brief time in MLB last season, and his minor league track record suggests it wasn't a fluke. Even still, as the league adjusts to Ballesteros, expect Yelich to handily out-perform the Cubs' rookie over the course of the 2026 season.

Using production from the 2025 season as a baseline, this position-by-position comparison between the Brewers and Cubs highlights how closely matched these two clubs remain, even after factoring in Bregman’s arrival. The departure of Tucker and arrival of Bregman to some extent cancel each other out, meaning the slight edge that the Cubs' offense had over Milwaukee's in 2025 remains, but the Brewers make up for that difference elsewhere on their roster. It should make for a great division race in 2026, with the two rivals once again fighting for the top spot.