Dansby Swanson just revealed Brewers-Cubs reality rest of MLB must get on board with

The Milwaukee Brewers are hosting the Chicago Cubs for the first time in 2026, and though the former currently has a seven-game cushion on their rivals from the North Side of Chicago, fans can be sure the three-game weekend series will still be tense.

Both teams are entering the weekend "in form." The Brewers are coming off a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark, during which they received stellar pitching performances from both Brandon Woodruff and Brandon Sproat, before sneaking away with a narrow victory in the series finale despite having a short-handed bullpen.

The Cubs, meanwhile, are winners of seven of their last 10 games, and are coming off a sweep of the New York Mets in Queens. The Cubs scored 10 runs in each of their two wins during a doubleheader against the Mets yesterday, in large part due to a pair of excellent games from shortstop Dansby Swanson. The 32-year-old Swanson, who has otherwise had a rough season at the plate, collected seven RBI in game one thanks to a grand slam and a three-run homer, before going 3-for-5 with a triple and four RBI in game two. Swanson's 11 RBI on the day were almost triple the total amount of runs he drove in during the entire month of May (4).

Despite still boasting a season-long slash line of .202/.303/.385, which results in a sub-.700 OPS, Swanson has picked things up at the plate as of late. In the month of June, he's slashing .262/.333/.557, good for a .890 OPS that is much more in line with what the Cubs were expecting from Swanson when they signed him to a seven-year, $177 million contract back in 2023.

Earlier today, FanSided's Adam Weinrib, host of The Baseball Insiders podcast, caught up with Swanson to discuss topics such as the Cubs and White Sox' rivalry, Chicago's deadline plans, and the World Cup -- Dansby is married to soccer star Mallory Swanson who plays for Chicago Stars FC and the U.S. Women's National Team, so naturally he is a soccer fan. Check out the full interview below, and be sure to read Weinrib's write-up of the interview, which is available over at FanSided.com and linked below the video for your convenience.

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For Brewers fans, certainly the most important moment of the interview was when Swanson weighed in on the difference between the Braves-Mets rivalry that he experienced when he was playing for Atlanta, and the ongoing Brewers-Cubs rivalry that he's a part of now. When asked by Weinrib which of the two is a "fiercer rivalry," Swanson said that Brewers-Cubs took the crown. Swanson's claim resurfaces a debate that has been brought up several times in recent years: how does the Brewers and Cubs' current rivalry rank among the best in baseball?

The Brewers and Cubs' rivalry has been the best in baseball over the last three years

The Central divisions in MLB don't always get the love they deserve. From the star-studded roster of the Los Angeles Dodgers to the historic rivalries of the NL and AL East, MLB teams in the Midwest rarely garner the same attention from the national media as their coastal counterparts.

However, the recent rivalry between the Brewers and Cubs deserves more attention. For starters, no other two teams have finished first and second in their division (ties included) in each of the last three seasons. The Brewers have won the NL Central three years in a row, and in second place (or tied for second place) in each of those campaigns were the Cubs. Milwaukee has won the division pretty comfortably in each of those three years, but that doesn't mean there weren't heated contests throughout the season between the two NL Central rivals.

Pair those last three seasons with the tense division race back in 2018, when the Brewers chased down the Cubs before defeating them in a Game 163 tiebreaker to claim the division crown, and the rivalry gains another layer. However, the Brewers and Cubs' ongoing rivalry extends past the standings. Former Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who played an integral role in turning the organization around, left Milwaukee prior to the 2024 season for the Cubs after Chicago offered him a record-breaking contract to manage their team. Then, the two teams met in the 2025 NLDS and played one of the most memorable postseason series in Brewers' franchise history, which ended in a Game 5 victory for the Brew Crew at American Family Field.

Perhaps the biggest factor in the Brewers and Cubs' rivalry, however, is the proximity of the two teams. Milwaukee and Chicago are separated by just 90 miles, which is closer than Los Angeles is to San Diego and Philadelphia is to New York City. It's about as close as you can get to a cross-town rivalry without actually being in the same city. As a result, the games between the Brewers and Cubs are filled with fans of both teams, making for a tense environment that makes every game feel like it carries extra weight, which in recent seasons, it has. This weekend in Milwaukee will certainly be no exception.

It's natural for the national media's attention to be drawn to the coasts, but it's time for the rivalries of the Central divisions to start getting the respect they've earned. No rivalry has been greater than the Brewers and Cubs' over the last three seasons, just ask Dansby Swanson, who has been a part of both the NL Central rivalry and the more-publicized rivalries of the NL East.

With the Brewers atop the division once again, and the Cubs currently tied for second place, this heated rivalry isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

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