ESPN'S Jeff Passan made a humorous reference on social media Sept. 2, quoting a Milwaukee Brewers post that showed Christian Yelich's go-ahead home run in his team's 9-4 win over the Cubs one night earlier. "Can I ask, by the way, how people in Chicago felt about their home game turning into a road game?" Passan wrote. "That can't happen." Indeed, Brewers fans were pretty loud as Yelich circled the bases in the top of the sixth, though Passan's sentiment has some added history.
Can I ask, by the way, how people in Chicago felt about their home game turning into a road game? That can’t happen. https://t.co/FVYdN4nKXl — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 2, 2026 Passan caught a little bit of local flak for those same words directed at Brewers fans at the end of June, part of an interview with "Wilde & Tausch" on ESPN Milwaukee.
"Can I ask, by the way, how people in Milwaukee felt about their home game turning into a road game?" he asked, referring to a particularly brutal loss June 28 in extra innings to the Cubs at American Family Field. "That can't happen."
"That can't happen" @JeffPassan on the attendance of Cubs fans at American Family FIeld pic.twitter.com/x0KBFyVSv9 — ESPN Milwaukee (@ESPNMilwaukee) June 30, 2026 Cubs fans have often had a loud presence in Milwaukee for a variety of reasons, the simplest being that Milwaukee is the 31st0largest market in America and is within 90 miles of No. 3. The population of Wisconsin is just more than half the Chicago metro area alone. The Brewers, who sit 12th across Major League Baseball in average attendance, continue to punch above their weight in fan support all the same. And before Cubs fans start claiming any responsibility for that solid average of 33,632 fans per game, subtracting the mere three American Family Field games against the Cubs this year would drop their average all the way to … 13th, just 20 fans per game less than the Los Angeles Angels. And, occasionally, Brewers fans bring their voices to Wrigley Field, too, with no greater example than the one-game tiebreaker after the 2018 season in which Milwaukee won to claim the National League Central title. They were back again for a big four-game series with the team Milwaukee is looking to outpace for the division title again, and Milwaukee holds an eight-game lead.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers fans were loud in Wrigley on Tuesday, and look who noticed