CHICAGO, Ill. (CBS 58) – As the Milwaukee Brewers head to Wrigley Field for Monday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, fans from across the country are coming in to watch the rivalry matchup.

For Brandon Brewer, from Nashville, his name is the reason he’s connected to the team. His desire to watch the Brew Crew win another NL Central Championship, or even advance to the World Series, is what keeps him around. 

“When your last name’s Brewer, it's not often you get to cheer for a team with your last name. I’ve been a Brewers team since Robin Yount,” Brewer said. "Hopefully this is our year.”

Jeff Borman, a Brewers fan from River Lake, Wisconsin, said he experienced some of the friendly banter between Cubs and Brewers fans as he made his way to Chicago.

“I actually just put [my Brewers shirt] on now because I was like, 'I don’t even know if I should wear it,’” Borman said. ‘I can’t wait to see inside and how it’s going to be inside there.”

While the I-94 rivalry has intensified over the years due to the talent level of both the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers, both cities have crossed paths beyond the ballpark. Paul Durica, the director of exhibitions at the Chicago History Museum, said the rivalry is fairly recent in comparison to other rivalries.

“The Milwaukee Brewers started out as an American League team. They didn’t even move to the National League until the late 90s, and then, for a while, it took them a moment to find their place with the National League Central,” Durica said. “But within, I’d say, the last handful of years, they’ve been one of the dominant teams within that division, winning title after title.”

Durica said Milwaukee and Chicago have deeply entwined histories.

“We have lots of different things in common. Histories that really parallel one another, different immigrant communities that have settled in our respective cities, and so there’s a lot of shared history and shared culture,” Durica said. “Each developed as this sort of industrial and manufacturing center. Chicago just happened to get a little bit bigger and become a center for the railroad industry.”

Durica said if things had played out differently, Chicago could have been part of Wisconsin.

As Illinois was preparing to become a state, a gentleman by the name of Nathaniel Pope was representing the territory’s interests in Washington, and he got the border moved farther north,” Durica said. "Imagine a Wisconsin that would have had a Chicago and Milwaukee."

In 1871, when the city experienced destruction from the Great Chicago Fire, some of Milwaukee’s most famous brewers stepped in to help.

“One of the first individuals to respond was Joseph Schlitz of the Schlitz Brewing Company. Chicago had a lot of brewers prior to the fire. After the fire, not so much,” Durica said. “Schlitz began sending water down, but even again sending beer down as well.”

In 1892, prominent members of the Brew City held important roles to make sure the Chicago World’s Fair could happen.

“One of the fair’s biggest boosters lived in Milwaukee, and that was Frederick Pabst,” Durica said.

Durica said these tight bonds between cities elevate the sports rivalry.

“It makes these rivalries intense because it's almost like rivalries between siblings," Durica said.

The Milwaukee Brewers of the past are treated a bit differently than the Milwaukee Brewers that exist today. The fans in Chicago on Monday are looking to the future.

“I’ve gotten enough banter, friendly banter,” Borman said. “Go Brewers!”