To say David Castillo is fanatical about the Milwaukee Brewers would be an understatement.
His love for the Brew Crew started as a child when his family moved from Santa Clarita, California, to the Dodge County community of Horicon in 1988. The next summer, Castillo landed on a T-ball team that happened to be named the Brewers.
“I’ve been a diehard fan ever since,” said Castillo, who moved to Oconomowoc a few years ago after a stretch in Wauwatosa. “I grew up attending games at County Stadium and then became a season seat holder in 2007 and have remained one ever since.”
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His Brewers’ fandom grew even more when he and his family began attending the team’s Downtown fan festivals at the MECCA.
“We used to go every year, Robin Yount and Paul Molitor would be there signing autographs; it was so much fun,” Castillo said.
Castillo, 44, was in the stands at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in 2008 when the Brewers snapped a 26-year playoff drought by clinching a National League Wild Card berth on the final day of the regular season and when the Brewers won Game 3 of the NLDS before eventually losing the series to the Philadelphia Phillies.
“We celebrated pretty hard that night. We had the time of our lives,” Castillo said.
That began a streak of what will become 30 consecutive Brewers’ playoff games that Castillo has attended when he enters American Family Field on Friday when Milwaukee plays its first World Series game in 44 years.
Keeping the streak alive hasn’t come without its challenges.
“In 2023, I had a new job that had me train in Chicago, and I had to be down there for eight weeks,” Castillo said. “The Brewers made the playoffs, and I said I have to get back to Milwaukee. There were two weekday playoff games and I drove from Chicago to Milwaukee, watched the games and drove back to Chicago, went to work, then the next day I drove back to Milwaukee again and did it all over.”
After so many lean years, seeing the Brewers in the playoffs in a noisy home ballpark holds a special place for Castillo and fuels his drive to keep the streak alive.
“It’s the atmosphere that I enjoy the most,” Castillo said. “A family member from Mexico sees all my posts on social media and tells me ‘You are the definition of a fanatic.’ There’s nothing like it. I can’t stand sitting down. I want to get the crowd pumped up and the team feeds off the crowd. People tell me the energy I bring is something else. I’m just a nut.”
It’s often Castillo leading the cheers in his section at American Family Field.
“I get ‘Let’s go Brewers’ going all the time,” he said. “If there’s a key moment and it’s a bit too quiet, I usually get my whole section going.”
Castillo started off with two seats in his partial season ticket package, but that grew to four tickets over the years.
“I generally go with three buddies but sometimes spouses attend and other close friends tag along,” he said.
He attended a watch party at American Family Field that drew nearly 20,000 fans on Oct. 16 when the Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to sweep the National League Championship Series and put Milwaukee in the World Series for the first time since 1982.
“I burst into tears, tears of joy because I’ve been through so much with this team,” Castillo said. “It was like wow this is hitting so hard. I put my hands on my head and just burst into tears.”
For Castillo, the action outside the ballpark is an important start to a day of cheering on the Brewers on the field.
He’s known for hosting large tailgate parties and expects around 30 people to attend his Game 1 gathering on Friday and even more on Saturday
“Saturday will be a really big one,” Castillo said, adding that his cousin is making a custom Brewers cake for the occasion. “We’ll have brats, burgers and hot dogs, all the staples everyone wants.”
Castillo said he can’t really pinpoint his favorite Brewer because the current roster is loaded with so many great players.
“This young team just brings so much good energy,” he said. (Jackson) Chourio is just a special player, and I love to watch him. Miz (Jacob Misiorowski) does stuff that no one has ever done. (William) Contreras with his Wild Bill antics, I know some people love to hate him, but he’s the heart of the team and then there’s (captain Christian) Yelich. He’s very humble and lives in the moment. He tries to deliver the most for the team because it means so much to him. And his connection with (legendary announcer Bob) Uecker was unbelievable. This team has a special bond.”
So special, that Castillo is confident that the Brewers will win the franchise’s first-ever World Series championship when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the best-of-seven series.
“I said we were going to win the NLCS in five but the Brewers one-upped me with that sweep,” he said. “But I’ve said it all along that Brewers are winning the World Series in five games.”
If that happens, he’s hoping that a World Series championship parade will be held on his birthday on Nov. 2.
“That would be the biggest gift. Celebrating my birthday and my favorite team bringing home the World Series,” he said.
Castillo expressed ongoing fondness for the 1982 Brewers team that lost four games to three in the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals and have remained beloved heroes among Milwaukee fans ever since.
“They’re the greats. They kind of have a little bit of that going on with this club, with the young kids. They were up and coming and you see the old videos and know how much that team meant to Milwaukee,” Castillo said.
“But now’s the time to put that in the past when this team brings home the first World Series title. It’s going to be something special. It’ll no longer be partying like it’s 1982, because we’re going to be World Series champions.”
