Craig Counsell is in for rude awakening with Brewers-Cubs rivalry, despite series victory

The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers already had one of the best rivalries to watch in baseball just based off of their battles in the NL Central division. The rivalry reached new heights when Craig Counsell, one of the best managers in baseball, decided to depart Milwaukee and sign a record-setting deal to manage the Cubs.

Despite Counsell's departure, the Brewers entered the weekend series against the Cubs sitting at the top of the NL Central with a 19-11 record. They were one game up on the Cubs. Well, after Chicago took two of three against Milwaukee, there is now a tie at the top of the NL Central division.

Counsell won round one as his team took two of three, but he hasn't experienced this rivalry in full yet. That's evidenced by his comments ahead of this weekend's matchup.

Craig Counsell still has more to experience in Cubs-Brewers rivalry

"Nobody's an enemy," Counsell said. "This is just baseball competition. You're just trying to beat the other guy. That's what we're here to do and we have fun doing it. The competition is fun. It's fun trying to beat the other guy. That's what we're wired to do."

Are you sure, Craig? Nobody's an enemy? When the Cubs make their first trip to Milwaukee at the end of May Brewers fans will be sure to let Counsell know who the enemy is. It would've been one thing for Counsell to leave Milwaukee, but to join the Cubs? That's unacceptable. Brewers fans will make sure to let Counsell know exactly how they feel about him.

Counsell rebounded in a big way following his brutal first game of the weekend series to lead the Cubs to two huge wins over a Brewers team that they were chasing. This was a good start for Counsell, but there's more to come. There's more for him to experience.

Any divisional matchup has extra importance, but ones featuring these two teams will have extra juice especially when Counsell makes his return to American Family Field. Counsell can say it's just another game all he wants, but deep down he knows that these games mean more. In reality, everyone in these two organization knows that.