Former Brewers outfielders’ comments on Cubs rivalry ignores recent history

There's been a surprising amount of players to cross the line in the sand between Milwaukee and Chicago in recent years. José Quintana, Aaron Civale, Drew Pomeranz, and Colin Rea are just a few of the names who have made a stop with the Brewers and Cubs in the 2020s, and that's far from an exhaustive list (bonus points to anyone whose first thought was Daniel Norris).

We can now add Tyrone Taylor to those ranks, though not because he chose the Cubs on his own. The Mets sent him there alongside Clay Holmes as part of one of the trade deadline's most surprising moves, which earned that distinction because the North Siders forked over top prospect Jefferson Rojas for a pair of rentals.

Taylor obviously knows the Cubs well from his five-year tenure with the Crew, and he had no problems stoking the flames of the rivalry when discussing being on the other side of it after the deadline.

Tyrone Taylor's evocation of "Wrigley North" narrative is an outdated projection of his frustrations

There's nothing wrong with a player inviting some passion from the fans when he knows both sides well. It's not like Taylor, a longtime friend of the program, ended his Brewers tenure on a sour note -- he was a part of the Coleman Crow trade along with Adrian Houser. Prior to that, he had been a part of the organization for 11 years.

It's the fact that he's evoking the whole "Wrigley North" narrative, which was a problem (to an extent) during some of his tenure in Milwaukee. Back when the Brewers were a struggling team before Taylor's time with the Crew (and the Cubs were in the midst of their curse-busting run), it felt inevitable that Chicagoans would invade then-Miller Park for an important series.

Now, though, that's a tired talking point. The Brewers won all three of their games against the Cubs in last season's NLDS at AmFam Field and are 25-16 against them in the regular season at home since 2021. And throughout last season's postseason series, the crowd leaned heavily in favor of Brewers fans. Though they may not get quite the same foot traffic as Wrigley Field (which is situated in one of the country's most populous metropolitan areas), the Crew are only drawing a few thousand less fans per game this season than their division rivals.

Perhaps Taylor is just projecting some frustrations, since he never hit the Cubs particularly well; in his career, he owns a .198 batting average in 47 games against them. It's got to be nice to avoid your kryptonite just because you sided with Lex Luthor.

In any case, Taylor and Cubs fans will be put to the test shortly: They'll be visiting Milwaukee next month, from Sept. 7-9, in a series with huge playoff implications. We'll see then just how legitimate his comments are.

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