Wrigley North: Willy Adames lights a fire under Brewers fans amid Craig Counsell return

Often times when the Chicago Cubs visit American Family Field, there are more or as many Cubs fans as there are Milwaukee Brewers fans in the stands. Passionate Cubs fans make the drive up north to go see their team play on the road. With that in mind, American Family Field is sometimes referred to as Wrigley North.

It's safe to say that the home of the Brewers was not Wrigley North for Monday's matchup between these two NL Central rivals. That was easy to predict with Craig Counsell making his return to Milwaukee, but his return exceeded everyone's expectations, including Brewers players.

Especially Willy Adames.

Willy Adames lights a fire under Brewers fans amid Craig Counsell return

Once Counsell left the Brewers for the Cubs, you knew this series was one they'd have circled on their calendar. I mean, the Cubs series always is, but it meant more now that Counsell was on the other side. It's not like Counsell chose to join a team that is mostly irrelevant to Brewers fans, he signed with arguably their biggest rivals. That meant something to them.

Not only did that series mean more to the fan base, as evidenced by their boos of Counsell before the game, but it meant more to the players like Adames as well.

“A lot of us were waiting for this series, because it’s always intense when you’re playing the Cubs, especially because we have Counsell coming for the first time since he left,” said Adames. “When you’re playing in energy like that, it’s incredible. I wish we could have that every night.”

Brewers fans were rowdy from the jump, doing whatever they could to try and will their team to an important victory over second-place Chicago.

The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the eighth, but the Brewers finally got their bats going with Adames providing the keynote.

Milwaukee's shortstop turned what was a one-run game into a four-run game with one big swing. He launched a three-run shot to dead center field, and the crowd absolutely roared.

That's the kind of energy Adames wants to see from Brewers fans every night. Just look at how fired up he is and his teammates are. He felt confident swinging 3-0 and he hit one of the biggest home runs of their season thus far. This wasn't just an important win for Brewers fans, but it was an important one for their players too.