The Brewers Have Baseball’s Best Record. Is This Finally Milwaukee’s Year?

For the second straight season, the Milwaukee Brewers enter October with baseball’s best record. This time, they have pushed further: 103–59, a franchise record and the club’s first 100-win season. They have a first-round bye and home-field advantage for every series they play, including the World Series.

The question is whether this is the team that finally delivers Milwaukee its first championship—or another great Brewers team that discovers how little a regular-season record guarantees in October.

Milwaukee has more than a good record

The Brewers did not reach 103 wins by dominating one part of the game and hoping the rest would hold up. They finished with MLB’s second-best team ERA at 3.51 and scored the second-most runs, 832. They did that despite hitting only 154 home runs, the second-fewest in the majors.

That contrast is the heart of this team. Milwaukee can score without waiting for a three-run homer. Its hitters sustain rallies, put runners in position and make opponents work for outs. Entering the final week of the season, the Brewers led MLB with an .801 OPS with runners in scoring position. In a postseason where one hit can decide a game, that is an encouraging strength.

It can also be a fragile one. October pitchers are better at ending rallies before they start, and a lineup that relies on several good at-bats in a row has less room for error when opposing starters take control. Milwaukee knows that better than anyone: the Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year’s NL Championship Series and held them to a .118 batting average across four games.

Jacob Misiorowski changes the argument

Milwaukee’s clearest reason for believing this October can end differently is Jacob Misiorowski. The 24-year-old finished the regular season leading the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), WHIP (0.80) and opponents’ batting average (.157). He is lined up to start Game 1 of the Division Series.

An ace of that caliber can change a short series. If Misiorowski gives the Brewers a strong start, they can put an opponent under immediate pressure and hand a lead to their bullpen. Behind him, Logan Henderson went 11–3 with a 2.47 ERA. Those two give manager Pat Murphy a formidable opening pair.

The concern comes after them. Milwaukee has not settled on a clear third starter, and the club’s postseason plans could again involve openers and heavy bullpen use. That approach can work, but it asks Murphy to get nearly every pitching decision right as a series grows longer. Brandon Woodruff’s return from his latest shoulder setback remains an extreme long shot, according to Murphy.

The path is favorable, but it will test them quickly

Milwaukee opens the NL Division Series at home on Saturday, October 3, against the winner of the Cubs–Padres Wild Card Series. The Brewers went 9–4 against the Cubs this season but 2–4 against the Padres. Those records do not predict a postseason result; they do show that either opponent brings a different challenge.

The bye gives Milwaukee time to set its pitching staff and address late-season health concerns. Joey Ortiz was dealing with several injuries during the final weekend, though the club was optimistic he would be ready for Game 1. Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Pratt were also expected to recover from illness in time.

Home-field advantage matters. So does beginning a series with Misiorowski. Neither will help if the offense disappears against elite pitching, as it did against Los Angeles last October.

Milwaukee’s only previous World Series appearance came in 1982, when it lost Game 7 to St. Louis. This club has earned the chance to end that wait. It has the best record in baseball, an extraordinary ace, another dependable young starter and an offense that found ways to score all season.

This could be Milwaukee’s year. To make it so, the Brewers must prove that the rallies and pitching depth that won 103 games can survive the opponents and pressure that stopped them a year ago.