Tyrese Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers point guard, officially severed ties with his lifelong baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, at Wrigley Field on Thursday night. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch wearing a Cubs jersey before Chicago hosted the Brewers, a move that felt less like a simple appearance and more like a declaration of war. This wasn’t some quiet breakup; this was public, loud, and years in the making.
The Brewers Said No, So Haliburton Said Goodbye
Haliburton, who grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was a hardcore Brewers fan his entire life. You hear that? *Lifelong*. But that allegiance crumbled back in 2024. The story goes that the Brewers invited him to throw out a first pitch that summer. Sounds cool, right? Nope. They pulled the offer after his Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs. Seriously? That’s cold.
He spilled the beans in April 2025 on “The Pat McAfee Show,” making his stance crystal clear. “I was a Brewers fan and then I was supposed to throw the first pitch last summer and then they X’d that after the playoffs ended,” Haliburton said. “So I said, you know what, I’m no longer a Brewers fan.” Can you blame him? That’s a brutal way to treat a hometown hero. Ever since then, he’s been spotted at Pacers games sporting Cubs and Dodgers gear, including a Cubs jersey at a preseason game in October 2025. The man doesn’t forget.
A Full-Blown Rivalry and a New Home
The beef didn’t just fade away, either. It intensified. When the Dodgers swept the Brewers out of the National League Championship Series in the fall of 2025, Haliburton leaned into it, openly rooting against Milwaukee. The Dodgers even noticed! Their manager, Dave Roberts, extended an invitation, asking Haliburton to jump on the bandwagon and throw out a first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Roberts put it out there on Amazon’s “Good Sports With Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson,” saying, “I’d like to offer him the first pitch at Dodger Stadium, and he can rock that Ohtani jersey in its rightful place.” Haliburton, who now proudly calls himself a “baseball free agent,” certainly has options.
Looks like he’ll have plenty of time to practice his pitch, too. Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder in June 2025. That injury kept him out for the entire 2025-26 season, and the Pacers aren’t expecting him back on the court until late 2026. So while Brewers fans are still reeling from his Wrigley stunt, maybe we’ll see him rock that Ohtani jersey in Dodger Blue sometime next season. The “baseball free agent” is making moves, even if he’s not on the court.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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