Owners of the best record in MLB, the Milwaukee Brewers look like the definitive best team in baseball

Yahoo

5 days ago

For weeks, the Milwaukee Brewers' success was difficult to describe. They weren't flashy, and there weren't a lot of frills, but they just found ways to win. After a slow start to a season with low expectations from the outside, they had something to prove.
And now, with the team having put together not only the best stretch in baseball this season but also the best stretch in franchise history, there's only one way to describe the 2025 Brewers.
The best team in baseball.
Over the past two months, there has been seemingly nothing the Brewers can't do. Comeback victories? Done. Blowout wins? Got it. Offensive breakouts? Yep. Elite starting pitching? Of course. And the contributors can be found up and down Milwaukee's 26-man roster — a roster that has seen plenty of additions throughout the course of the season.
Entering play Wednesday, the Brewers have the best record in the sport by five games, and they were the first team in MLB to clear the 70-win threshold. Calling their recent two-month stretch incredible almost doesn't do it justice. Since June 1, the Brewers are 44-16; that's a .733 winning percentage. For perspective, the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who won an MLB-record 116 games, won at a .716 clip.
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Two months is a ridiculous amount of time for the Brewers to sustain play at this level, and while many have been expecting them to cool off, they simply haven't. With Tuesday's 14-0 demolition of the Pirates, Milwaukee has won 11 straight, marking its second 10-plus-game winning streak since the start of July. The Brew Crew are just the 10th team in the divisional era to have multiple 10-plus-game winning streaks in a season.
And so the question when it comes to the Milwaukee Brewers' dominance becomes: How are they doing this? And can they keep it up?
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Well, they've made a habit of doing just about everything well. Offensively, the Brewers are second in batting average, second in on-base percentage and fifth in slugging percentage since June began. On the mound, they rank second in starter ERA and third in bullpen ERA. And defensively, they've been solid all season, ranking third in outs above average and sixth in defensive runs saved.
'We like putting pressure on and getting guys on base and moving runners, so that's always going to be our bread and butter,' right fielder Sal Frelick said recently. 'But at the same time, it's awesome when you see guys going and taking shots and hit balls over the fence.'
The old adage goes, 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,' and that's a mentality that many recent Brewers teams have embodied. This season is no different, but make no mistake, this squad is also getting strong individual performances from some unlikely contributors.
First baseman Andrew Vaughn, the third pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, no longer had a spot in Chicago after a disappointing tenure with the White Sox. But a trade that sent him 90 minutes north has brought the Cal product new life. Since joining the Brewers, Vaughn has been one of baseball's best hitters, slashing .347/.413/.642 with eight homers in 30 games. His 1.055 OPS since July 7 ranks sixth in MLB (min. 100 PAs).
'He's been huge for us,' Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich said. 'Just stepping up, and it's kind of a theme throughout our team. You get an opportunity, you're put in a position, just do what you can to contribute and help the boys out. So it's been great to see from him. He fits our group really well, just who he is as a person and competitor and player.'
On the mound, right-hander Quinn Preister, once a top prospect in baseball, was also looking for a new home after beginning the season with the Red Sox's Triple-A affiliate. With the Brewers needing to stabilize their injured rotation early this year, Milwaukee took a chance on the 18th overall pick from the 2019 draft, trading for Priester in April.
Since then, Priester has more than filled a void for Milwaukee. Even with other starters getting healthy, he has earned himself a regular spot in the rotation. The Brewers' right-hander is 11-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 2025 and has been even better as a starter, with a very respectable 3.03 ERA.
Beyond the new faces in Milwaukee, even known commodities such as Yelich have been able to turn back the clock. Although no longer the superstar talent he once was, Yelich has stayed healthy and been productive this year while providing the veteran presence on a young roster. The 2018 NL MVP has 23 homers on the season so far, his most since 2019.
But, as manager Pat Murphy pointed out, 'It's not just all slug. He does all the other things … Defends when you put him out there. Run the bases. Take the extra base. And offensively, bunts, does whatever he has to do to help us win. Runs a hard 90. Cuts the bases as good as anybody. He's a good player, and when one aspect is not going good, he can do it another way.'
It's worth noting that Milwaukee's impressive couple of months have coincided with their division rival Chicago Cubs enduring their worst stretch of the season. While the Brewers have looked almost unbeatable since the beginning of June, the Cubs have gone a mediocre 31-29. As a result, over the past eight weeks, Milwaukee has moved from third in the NL Central and trailing Chicago by 5.5 games to leading the division by 7.5 games over the Cubs.
The Brewers will play a five-game set against Chicago next week at Wrigley Field in what is shaping up to be a critical final battle between the two teams. It could be the Cubs' last real chance to get back in the divisional race. Or, given the way the teams have been playing lately, the Brewers could extinguish any remaining hope the Cubs have of winning the NL Central.
'Seems like it's the best rivalry in baseball right now — between that and the Dodgers and Padres,' Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill said of the Cubs and Brewers. 'Every time we play, either [in Milwaukee] or over at Wrigley, it's not a seat in the house that's empty, and everybody is energized.'
Beyond the impact on the NL Central, the Brewers' incredible summer run has changed the complexion of the entire National League. If the season ended today, Milwaukee would be the NL's No. 1 seed, with a ticket punched for the NLDS and home-field advantage through the NL playoffs.
'The Brewers are a very good organization,' Cubs manager (and former Brewers skipper) Craig Counsell said recently. 'They're very well run. They have exceptional leadership. That's a part of that. And so, yeah, it makes this fun, right? And it makes this interesting. And it makes this good competition, man. This is the highest level of competition. That's what's great about it.'
On the surface, the Brewers' success might look unsustainable, but they seem to have found a recipe that's allowing them to maintain their level of play for months at a time. They're confident and composed, playing like a team that has been here before. Still, it should be pointed out that they're one of the youngest squads in baseball, and while many of the players on this year's roster played in the 2024 wild-card round against the Mets, most of the team's new faces and rookies, such as Isaac Collins and Jacob Misiorowski, are getting a crash course on the big leagues in the midst of a pennant race — and thriving.
At this point in the season, with baseball's contenders separating themselves and the playoff picture emerging, nothing seems to be slowing the Brew Crew down, and what they're building looks strong enough to wreak havoc in October. Could this be the team that finally wins the franchise's first World Series?
'There's still two months of baseball left — we know that,' Yelich said earlier this month. 'Let's go out there and play our game, try to put pressure on [the other team], and you never know what can happen. Just play hard and make it messy out there and kind of play our style of baseball and see what happens.'