Insane Cubs crowd pop on game-ending play makes Brewers gut-punch loss even more sour

The term "Wrigley North" has been applied to American Family Field when the Chicago Cubs come to visit. It's always been a bit of a misnomer -- the Milwaukee Brewers beat them in Game 5 of the NLDS in this building less than a year ago -- but there are moments when the Windy City faithful show up in droves and drown out the home fans in the crowd.

Over the weekend, one of those moments arrived with full force. Following two fun games to open a crucial late-June set, the two NL Central rivals entered the rubber match on Sunday with a series victory at stake.

While those opening contests certainly leaned in favor of the Brewers in terms of fan volume, the final innings of the finale were anything but. Cubs fans were raucous all afternoon long, especially on the final, back-breaking play that sent the visitors home with jubilation.

It was certainly painful to watch Gary Sánchez fall short in that bases-loaded, extra-innings moment against Jordan Wicks, a pitcher who is on the Cubs' roster by default more than merit. Still, it's fun to see the rivalry keep up this kind of intensity, even if this particular series didn't go the Crew's way.

Brewers maintain NL Central advantage over Cubs despite heartbreaking series loss in Milwaukee

Despite their big week (mostly aided by a laughable collapse from the Mets), the Cubs remain behind the Brewers in nearly every notable metric. The teams are separated by 5.5 games in the NL Central standings, 80 runs in the run differential game, and four spots in FanSided's latest MLB power rankings.

Milwaukee also swept the Cubs in Wrigley Field proper just last month, the first time in a half-decade they've accomplished such a feat. That means they're still winning the season series 4-2 with seven left to play.

Speaking of those remaining contests, these two teams won't meet again until August 31, when the Brewers head back to Chicago for a four-game series to kick off the final month of the regular season. That also gives way to a three-game set back in Milwaukee the following week, meaning they'll play each other seven times in 10 days at the start of September.

There's a lot of baseball to be played between now and then, but that's the stretch that will likely define the seasons of both organizations. Cubs fans can have this win for now; let's see if they can turn AmFam Field into their backyard when it really matters down the stretch.

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