Eventually You May Have To Believe In The Dang Milwaukee Brewers

It is difficult to wrap the human mind around the fact that, in the grand old year of 2026, the Milwaukee Brewers are really, truly good. Or maybe that is a personal problem, as someone generally disconnected from the ongoings of the NL Central. What happens over there? None of my business! The operating assumption is that the Milwaukee Brewers will scam the division with 90-or-so wins every year, reaping the benefits of the four other flailing, barely trying teams who share the ignominy of playing in that blighted division, and then will immediately turn around and lose in the National League Wild Card round, or Divisional Series.

Perhaps last year should have served as a legitimate indicator. The Brewers, after all, won 97 games, the most in either league. But the way the Brewers achieved those 97 wins was undeniably weird. There were (said to the tune of “Shots” by LMFAO) hits, hits, hits, hits, hits, hits and double-digit win streaks somehow chained to other win streaks and the swingiest of games, all of which gave the Brewers’ record a faint tinge of eau de frauduleux. The Brewers squeaked out of the NLDS against their divisional rivals, the Chicago Cubs, before getting absolutely curbstomped by none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers—at their closest pass to their purported juggernaut form—in the NLCS.

But this year! This year it feels more real. Maybe it’s because Pete Crow-Armstrong is popping off for the Cubs, so it feels like there’s some real competition within the division, or at least like anyone else is taking it seriously.