After years of postseason struggles, the unstoppable Brewers ended all doubt: Milwaukee is the model of a modern major league team

When the MLB postseason started, sportsbooks deemed the Brewers a distant second to the Dodgers in World Series odds. Why? Most measures of team quality pointed to the Brewers being cofavorites, at worst. Milwaukee led the majors in wins and run differential for the second straight season and had home-field advantage throughout October to show for it. Sure, the Dodgers’ deserved records were strong, they’d outbid the Brewers for Tarik Skubal, and their roster seemed slightly better tailored to October. But the idea that anyone was way better than the Brewers seemed less like a reality rooted in results than a notion cooked up to make Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy’s underdog posturing possible.

Setting aside a small disparity of a few hundred million dollars in payroll, the perceived difference came down in large part to previous playoff success—or in Milwaukee’s case, the absence thereof. One wouldn’t think the bookmakers would be overly swayed by something as nebulous as the Brewers’ seven pre-pennant playoff defeats in the preceding eight seasons, which ranged from a one-and-done wild-card defeat to an exit in NLCS Game 7. On paper, the Brewers were capable of playoff glory. But they couldn’t convince the world of that until they showed it, and their repeated playoff exits produced a reputation. Maybe Milwaukee’s shit didn’t work in the playoffs and the Brewers’ regular-season secret sauce doomed them to turn from powerhouses to pumpkins just as jack-o'-lanterns appeared.

Hence the nagging doubts. The Dodgers were two-time reigning champions. The Brewers were championship virgins who not only hadn’t won a World Series in the 57-year history of the franchise but also hadn’t reached one in 44 years. Yet the only thing standing between the Brewers and a title—and, by extension, the unofficial title of the true best team in baseball—was one good month. As William Contreras told The Players’ Tribune last week: “We’re a great team. We’ve been a great team. It’s just that every year, we’ve run into a team where it’s like, Those guys … they found the magic. Now it’s THE WORLD SERIES though—so I guess it’s only two options left??? Either we’re about to run into them, or we are them.”

This year, for the first time, the Brewers were them—and Contreras was Him. After polishing off the Padres in the NLDS and sweeping L.A. in the NLCS, the Brewers steamrolled the Rays in a five-game World Series that ended with a 4-1 victory (and a Contreras series MVP award) on Wednesday. Belatedly, the Brewers are on the board. They can count the ring. And with that long-awaited win, they’ve cemented their status as both the best team in baseball in 2026 and the model of a modern major league organization. 

The game that removed the monkey from the Brewers’ backs ended with a 99 mph fastball, par for the course for one of the game’s hardest-throwing and most heater-centric teams. Contreras called for the pitch, which induced a rolled-over roller from the Rays’ Richie Palacios with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4. Trevor Megill threw it, and second baseman Brice Turang and first baseman Jake Bauers supplied the assist and putout, respectively. The quartet of players who combined to make that play provides a decent guide to the many ways in which the Brewers have put together talent.

Contreras has been at least the second-best backstop in baseball since the Brewers somehow stole him from the Braves, who had their eyes on Sean Murphy (the 11th-best backstop over the same span). All Contreras cost Milwaukee in that trade—which seemed inspired even at the time—was Esteury Ruiz (career WAR: 1.4), whom the Brewers had picked up from the Padres (along with World Series Game 3 winner Robert Gasser) in the Josh Hader deal. Megill, who eventually succeeded Hader at the back of the Brewers’ bullpen, had been in pro ball for eight years when Milwaukee sent cash and a minor leaguer who still hasn’t sniffed Triple-A to the Twins for Tylor’s brother. In the Brewers’ hands, the replacement-level reliever with zero saves to his name became an All-Star closer. Turang, drafted 21st overall in 2018, has blossomed into an MVP-caliber all-around star who’s outproduced any player picked ahead of him. And Bauers, a long-since-faded prospect whom Milwaukee signed to a minor league deal last year, morphed from sub-replacement journeyman into the team’s best hitter (and NLCS MVP).

The Brewers are built out of brilliant acquisitions like these, most of them trades in which they got more than they gave. The team hasn’t had a top-15 payroll since 2012 or drafted higher than 15th since 2017, but it’s fourth in the majors in regular-season wins since the latter year, and second since 2021. The path to this moment for Milwaukee began in late 2015, when the Brewers hired David Stearns away from the Astros and poached Matt Arnold from the Rays. It didn’t take long for the franchise, which had fielded a 68-win team in 2015, to return to respectability and prominence. In 2017, the Brewers finished one game away from a wild-card berth. In 2018, buoyed by the January trade that brought Christian Yelich from Miami to Milwaukee (for four prospects who’ve collectively totaled –7.0 fWAR), they won the NL Central and took the predynastic Dodgers to Game 7 of the NLCS.

As Joe Sheehan noted this week, Milwaukee catcher turned broadcaster turned patron saint Bob Uecker, in the moments after that loss, foresaw future success, saying, “What I saw, up and down, and coming from the minor leagues here, and … the players that we saw in spring training, I don’t think there’s anything that can go wrong here, I really don’t.”

Mr. Baseball was right, although Ueck couldn’t have anticipated the roster Milwaukee would win the World Series with the year after his death. The Brewers, like America according to Terence Mann, have been “erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again.” The two constants are Yelich and Brandon Woodruff, who at 34 and 33, respectively, were peripheral players in this series. The players who powered this run arrived recently. The 2026 Brewers weren’t so different, personnel-wise, from the 2025 team, but they were nearly unrecognizable from the 2022 edition, which (just like the 2017 squad) mustered 86 wins and fell one game short of the playoffs. After that setback, the Brewers almost miraculously rebuilt on the fly, without a step-back or bridge year, let alone a teardown or tank.

Arnold replaced Stearns, Murphy replaced Craig Counsell, and a younger, better core arose from the lightly singed remains of the earlier club. (We can’t call them “ashes” when there wasn’t a fire sale.) Now, Contreras, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, and more make up a championship core for a championship club. The 2026 Brewers boasted the youngest pitching staff in the league and a youthful lineup that figures to get sprightlier still as extension recipients and midseason promotions Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara see more action.

Pratt, a World Series hero who turned 22 in August, is positively seasoned compared to two teenaged, Dominican, Double-A shortstops coming up behind him, Jesús Made (the consensus top prospect in the sport) and Luis Peña (a top 20-ish guy), not to mention another 19-year-old, top-100-ranked shortstop at High-A, 2025 first-rounder Brady Ebel. That’s more shortstop talent than one team needs. Fortunately, shortstops tend to travel well, whether to other positions or (via trade) to other teams. The Brewers’ biggest problem may be figuring out what to trade for. (More starting pitching, perhaps?)

When they finally broke through in October, the Brew Crew made it look easy, going 11-2 against first a dangerous San Diego team that won the second-most games in the majors after the All-Star break, and then the Dodgers and Rays, who had the second- and third-most wins overall. The only losses came in one-run games, one of which went to extras. In a low-scoring postseason, Milwaukee was the only team to hit better than the regular-season league average. And the club’s bullpen, effective during the regular season, saved the Brewers’ bacon in October (take a bow and ice that arm, Aaron Ashby), ranking anywhere from first to fourth in all-time single-season win probability added, situational wins, and (with a minimum of 40 innings pitched) good ol’ ERA and FIP.

Maybe 2026 became the Brewers’ year because they assembled more elite talent than they had before. Last year, I praised their depth, and they still stand out in that regard: Only the Dodgers had more 1-plus-WAR players this season, and only three teams compiled less negative WAR. But the Brewers also sported three players (Misiorowski, Turang, and Chourio) with 4.5-plus WAR for the first time since 2012. (Not since Harvey’s Wallbangers have they fielded four.) Or maybe Milwaukee triumphed because of midseason tweaks to the team’s plate approach that unlocked a little more power and enabled the Brewers to beat playoff opponents with both long balls and BABIP. (Unlike the 2018 Milwaukee club, which resembled the 2015 Royals—the last small-market champ before this year—these Brewers could bop.) Or maybe their victory is a testament to the value of long-term contention. Take enough cracks at October—“bites of the apple,” as Stearns once said—and eventually, you’ll hit playoff pay dirt. If at first (or seventh), you don’t succeed, cry, and try again.

It’s almost as if Milwaukee clustered all of its overdue October wins within one dominant month. The pent-up demand for those Ws manifested in fan support, too, as the fourth-longest wait for a franchise’s first trophy in MLB history translated to record merchandise sales, boffo regional ratings, and big, loud crowds not only at Milwaukee’s home games, but at visitor takeovers of the Trop and sold-out watch parties at American Family Field.

The only downside of the Brewers bursting their October dam is that there wasn’t much doubt about the outcome. Granted, the old, dubious saying about pizza and sex—even when they’re bad, they’re still pretty good—perfectly applies to the MLB postseason. In the 12-team-playoffs era of 11 postseason series and 40-plus postseason games, even a so-so tournament is guaranteed to produce some scintillating contests and incredible plays along the way. But for neutral and non-Brewers fans, this year’s playoffs were pretty lackluster, especially on the heels of the high of last year’s possibly best-ever Fall Classic.

For one thing, upsets were scarce, as the Chalktober trend held true to the end: Every single series went to the team with more regular-season wins. That’s not so bad, because many of the matchups were exciting, and some of the favorites (wins-wise) were watchable, sympathetic, and surprising from a preseason perspective. On the other hand, most series were speedruns: Only the Braves-Phillies wild-card series and Guardians–White Sox ALDS went the distance, and their decisive games weren’t great. This year’s total games played (40) and percentage of possible games played (40 out of 53, or 75 percent) tied 2022 for the lowest figures in the wild-card series era, and the percentage was the lowest since 2014’s 74 percent (32 of 43). Only six other times in the division series era (since 1995) have teams taken care of business more efficiently.

One way to measure a postseason’s excitement quotient is by adding up the cumulative changes in championship win probability added (cWPA) as teams raise or lower their chances of going all the way. All in all, this year’s total swing in cWPA was less than half of last year’s (which, admittedly, was the most of all time). Even relative to non-spectacular postseasons, this one was meh: 35th all time, despite the fact that almost all previous postseasons contained fewer games. Out of 45 postseasons that included a DS round, it ranked 31st; out of 57 postseasons that included a CS round, it ranked 50th; the World Series alone ranked 100th out of 122; and Game 5 turned in the lowest total for any Fall Classic clincher since 2007, and the lowest for a World Series-ender in Game 5 or later since 1983. Braves-Phillies, Brewers-Padres, Guardians–White Sox, and Rays-Guardians were the only series that rated above average, historically speaking, for their playoff rounds.

Nineteen postseasons that predated the wild-card round, and eight that predated the DS round, managed to produce more cWPA changes than this year’s. And the 2026 postseason’s most consequential individual play, by cWPA, came early, when Chourio walked off the Padres and Mason Miller in NLDS Game 2. That was an indelible base hit, but it’s still a bit of a letdown that we didn’t see something as exciting later on. As Sam Miller found, this is the earliest a postseason’s top play has ever occurred. It’s also the ninth-lowest-cWPA play in 122 seasons with a World Series. Many of this year’s games were close, but they weren’t very eventful, and late lead changes were fairly scarce.

But Brewers fans were fine with less suspense; they’d had their fill of losing long before 2026. With a modest payroll, Milwaukee’s margin for error is smaller than the Dodgers’, but the Brewers should be back, provided other clubs can’t replicate their recipe.

In 2015, Theo Epstein, then the architect of the Cubs, said, “The only thing I know for sure is that whatever team wins the World Series, their particular style of play will be completely in vogue and trumpeted from the rooftops by the media all offseason—and in front offices—as the way to win.”

For 15-plus years, many teams have tried to emulate the Rays, ideally with more money. Milwaukee just proved that being the Brewers is better. So, what’s the Brewers’ way to win? Identify and trade for/sign undervalued players like Bauers, Andrew Vaughn, and Kyle Harrison. Become adept at drafting and development, thereby facilitating the additions of players such as Turang, Chourio, Misiorowski, and Garrett Mitchell. Resist the urge to make a splashy swap or signing when good homegrown guys will do. Don’t overlook the proverbial players with “warts” that “don’t matter.” Be Branch Rickey-esque and unsentimental in dealing the likes of Hader, Corbin Burnes, and Devin Williams for great returns. Oh, and I almost forgot (this is pretty important): Do almost everything well once the games begin. You know, just be among the best at most aspects of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, and when you find yourself trailing, simply score enough runs to take the lead.

Basically, be flawless. Then stay that way for a while, without much payroll room to waste. Do that long enough, and with a little luck and a friendly roof, you’ll win the World

Easier said (and read) than done? Maybe. But it must be doable. Milwaukee made it work.

Thanks to Michael Mountain for research assistance.

Ben Lindbergh

Ben is a writer, podcaster, and editor who covers culture and sports. He hosts ‘Effectively Wild’ at FanGraphs and previously wrote for FiveThirtyEight and Grantland, served as editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, and authored ‘The MVP Machine’ and ‘The Only Rule Is It Has to Work.’