Milwaukee baseball fans are hungry for a winner.
Yes, the franchise has yet to win a World Series in the Brewers’ five-and-a-half-decade existence in Milwaukee.
For now, we’re talking about a hunger of another sort. On Tuesday night, the Brewers can trigger one of the more unique promotions in sports.
Free burgers!
The Brewers have won 11 consecutive games after defeating the Seattle Mariners, 6-0, on Monday, July 29. With a win in Tuesday night’s game, the Brewers will hit a milestone (at least in Milwaukee) 12-game winning streak and earn local fans free hamburgers from George Webb, a local restaurant chain.
The restaurant’s namesake, George Webb, was an avid baseball fan and the genesis of the 12-game winning streak promotion dates back to the minor league Milwaukee Brewers and through the brief tenure of the Milwaukee Braves. However, it’s been the current incarnation of the Brewers who have fed fans with free burgers.
How many times has George Webb given out free burgers after the Brewers won 12 straight games?
The most recent was in 2018, when the Brewers won the final seven games of the regular season, prevailed in the one-game NL Central tiebreaker against the rival Chicago Cubs, swept the Colorado Rockies in three games in the division series and then won Game 1 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The most famous instance of the Brewers prompting George Webb’s 12-game win streak promotion was in 1987. ‘Team Streak’ – as that season’s Brewers were called – won the first 13 games of the season. That run included one of the most iconic moments in franchise history, an epic come-from-behind win against the Texas Rangers on Easter Sunday at County Stadium. That was win No. 12, and a dramatic way to earn Milwaukee fans free hamburgers. The next night, the Brewers defeated the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park for their 13th straight win to start a season, which remains tied for the longest such win streak in baseball’s modern era.
Three days after the Brewers won their 12th straight in 1987, George Webb restaurants handed out almost 168,194 free hamburgers, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.
How have the Brewers gotten to this point?
Impressively, the Brewers’ 11-game win streak includes six wins against the defending World Series champion Dodgers. It opened with a road win against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, July 6, then proceeded with sweeps at home against the Dodgers and Washington Nationals before the All-Star break. The Brewers opened the season’s second half with a sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles and then won Monday night’s series opener against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
With their current streak of victories, the Brewers have leapfrogged the Cubs atop the NL Central and finished play Monday night with the best record in Major League Baseball. Not too shabby for a team just two of six USA TODAY Sports experts predicted would make the playoffs.
Who’s pitching for the Brewers on Tuesday night?
Glad you asked.
It’s rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, who was a controversial selection for the All-Star Game after making just five big-league starts. Countering ‘The Miz’ on the mound for the Mariners will be right-hander Logan Gilbert.