World Series Hope in the future

[TURBO]

48 minutes ago, SF70 said:

"We hope" the Brewers brainpower will allow them to adapt to the new CBA and the beat will continue on. 

Fixed.

You just can't speak in absolutes.

I trust our brainpowers, and if anyone will be able to figure it all out after the CBA kicks in, it is them, but we won't know how good or bad it is for the small market teams until we get through it.

[SF70]

1 minute ago, TURBO said:

Fixed.

You just can't speak in absolutes.

I trust our brainpowers, and if anyone will be able to figure it all out after the CBA kicks in, it is them, but we won't know how good or bad it is for the small market teams until we get through it.

Stop telling me how I can speak or not speak.

[TURBO]

2 minutes ago, SF70 said:

Stop telling me how I can speak or not speak.

C'mon, what's up with the thin skin?

I'm simply saying speaking in absolutes is a dangerous game.  All the things you are saying sound like you think it's factual, none of them are factual.

[Playing Catch]

1 hour ago, SF70 said:

The Brewers brainpower will allow them to adapt to the new CBA and the beat will continue on. 

I share completely, your trust in the front office. And I agree that their general philosophy is to innovate to win.

My primary concern is a salary cap that flattens the competitive landscape to such a degree that it renders front office competancy moot.

I loathe the idea of the league just being a media content creator with a 12-month cycle of ESPN headlines that drive advertising like the NFL or NBA.

But there will be plenty of time to worry about that after the World Series.

[Thurston Fluff]

1 hour ago, Playing Catch said:

I share completely, your trust in the front office. And I agree that their general philosophy is to innovate to win.

My primary concern is a salary cap that flattens the competitive landscape to such a degree that it renders front office competancy moot.

I loathe the idea of the league just being a media content creator with a 12-month cycle of ESPN headlines that drive advertising like the NFL or NBA.

But there will be plenty of time to worry about that after the World Series.

I think competency is as important when there's a cap and revenue sharing. Possibly more so. The NFL actively works for competitive balance and you still see certain teams continuously win and other lose. I'm not worried the Mets are suddenly going to be as good year in and year out because the Brewers can pay compete for players. My worry about a salary cap and revenue sharing is teams like the Brewers start to make decisions based on something other than value for the dollar. Things like paying Willy Adames because he was so important in the clubhouse type of deals are what I hope to avoid.

[Playing Catch]

22 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

I think competency is as important when there's a cap and revenue sharing. Possibly more so. The NFL actively works for competitive balance and you still see certain teams continuously win and other lose.

I'm pretty cynical about the entertainment value the NFL provides, so I will fully acknowledge my bias.

With that disclaimer in place, I dislike how a lousy team in the NFL can just clean out their roster for a year or two, hire a new hotshot coach and a top-5 pick QB, and boom, you are competitive. Collect more PI/illegal block flags in your favor and you are a playoff team. There is evergreen hope and expectation that your team can improve quickly with a key trade or draft pick.

With the NFL's flattened competitive landscape, what joy is there when many games are so tightly contested that the difference is often whether the last kick stays true, or drifts wide? Each regular season game is about as interesting as a coin flip.

Baseball's quirks already allow for competitive balance, but without opportunities for truly great teams and bad teams to exist in the same landscape, Baseball would be filled with a bunch of .500 teams. No thanks.

[igor67]

Regardless of outcome there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic that we can get back to the World Series again. But it is a hard thing to do. I wouldn't ignore CBA ramifications, but seemingly regardless of sport the biggest difficulty in repeating comes down to good ol' Branch Rickey 101 it's better to trade a guy 1 year too early than a year too late. We have a lot of complimentary pieces, and being able to slowly cycle those guys out without turning them into expensive Brewer lifers is critical and it seems our front office recognizes that as well as anyone.

[Thurston Fluff]

42 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I'm pretty cynical about the entertainment value the NFL provides, so I will fully acknowledge my bias.

With that disclaimer in place, I dislike how a lousy team in the NFL can just clean out their roster for a year or two, hire a new hotshot coach and a top-5 pick QB, and boom, you are competitive. Collect more PI/illegal block flags in your favor and you are a playoff team. There is evergreen hope and expectation that your team can improve quickly with a key trade or draft pick.

With the NFL's flattened competitive landscape, what joy is there when many games are so tightly contested that the difference is often whether the last kick stays true, or drifts wide? Each regular season game is about as interesting as a coin flip.

Baseball's quirks already allow for competitive balance, but without opportunities for truly great teams and bad teams to exist in the same landscape, Baseball would be filled with a bunch of .500 teams. No thanks.

I'm not a fan of the NFL either. The only time I ever watch it is if I'm with someone that's watching it. MY point about the NFL was solely about the effect evening the playing field has on innovation and competence of the organization. While some teams can strip things down most poorly run teams  end up back in the basement in short order or never leave it. AT the same time other teams manage to stay competitive year in and year out. Which leads me to believe innovation and competence will matter regardless of how even the playing field is.

[Underachiever]

28 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

Baseball's quirks already allow for competitive balance, but without opportunities for truly great teams and bad teams to exist in the same landscape, Baseball would be filled with a bunch of .500 teams. No thanks.

Baseball already has a bunch of .500 teams. 20 of the teams were between .556 and .444 winning percentage, which is the equivalent of going 5-4 or 4-5 every nine games for a season. 14 MLB teams had the NFL equivalent of 9-8 or 8-9 records. NFL is legislated to have parity. MLB's 162-game schedule is its own self-leveling structure (perhaps that is a quirk you are referring to).

As they say, you're gonna win 60, lose 60, it's what you do with the other 42 that makes your season. The Brewers had a dominant season, and their winning percentage is equivalent to 11-6 in the NFL. 

[Playing Catch]

1 minute ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Which leads me to believe innovation and competence will matter regardless of how even the playing field is.

You aren't wrong. When the lines between success and failure are so thin, every advantage is key to winning. But when the lines are so thin, success feels different, too. The Packers beating the Bears in the NFC championship to go to a Super Bowl on a last second FG to win after a 30-yard PI penalty just doesn't hit the same way as beating the Dodgers in a 7-game set.

If baseball becomes even more random, then it's all just about who can get more lucky coin flips than the other team.

3 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

As they say, you're gonna win 60, lose 60, it's what you do with the other 42 that makes your season. The Brewers had a dominant season, and their winning percentage is equivalent to 11-6 in the NFL. 

Yes. But the Brewers got here after over a decade of planning and organizational discipline and execution. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl after signing Mike McDonald and Sam Darnold.

[Mickster9]

Bringing this back, now that WE'RE THE  CHAMPS!!

[Brewers Downunder]

Here down under we've had a salary cap in the AFL (Australian Football League) for years.

We've had more teams winning back-to-back and three-in-a-row championships than was happening before the salary cap was introduced. Since its introduction, just about every team has at least played in the final match.

Still, ultimate success still comes down to man management, savvy trading and recruiting, and a good old-fashioned tablespoon of luck. A good culture is essential of course. If the front office is sound, and the manager has the players invested, then you're off to a flying start.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Like a couple others in this thread, I thought the real opportunity to break through was next season or the season after. Yet they did it now, in a year in which none of their SP were over the age of 27 unless you want to factor in Woodruff & his nine starts. The top three innings eaters & and leaders in victories in 2025 were Quintana, Priester & Peralta. All had to be replaced. I don't see how anyone can dispute that this is the best-run organization in baseball.

Every year is a lifetime unto itself & anything can happen. But when you look at the 'bites of the apple' philosophy---which has been very unfairly disparaged by many---It looks to me like they've put themselves in a position where it's now a top-tier apple. A championship apple, not just a playoff-contending one.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 10/18/2026 at 8:40 AM, SF70 said:

The Brewers have no “fatal flaw”. If it’s not obvious by now they are the best team in baseball then I don’t know what to tell you.

They just got done out-homering the “powerful” Dodgers 7-1 for cripes sake. 

 

 

.....And followed that up by allowing another single HR in a 5-game WS, while scoring ten runs without one in game 3. 

 HRs are nice. But I can recall Brewer teams in the past who you could argue had a fatal flaw of being too reliant on them.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 10/18/2026 at 5:01 PM, BrewerFan said:

I am kinda excited about throwing Cameron Wagoner in the pen next year. Lots of other arms and bats as well, but that dude has an electric arm. 

I feel good about some of the others you mentioned-----Letson, Knoth, Hardin-----but yeah, Wagner could be an eye-opener right away.

[long ball]

Stupid me was feeling really good about the way Misiorowski and Harrison were pitching in the first half, Turang was playing like an MVP, but I was feeling pessimistic about beating the dodgers in the playoffs. So I started mapping out what our roster could look like over the course of Turangs team control. 
 

I came to the conclusion that 2028 was our best shot. Our full rotation would still be under team control, Turang and Chourio would be in the midst of their prime years, Made/Lara/Pratt/Fischer will have gotten settled in as big leaguers. Catcher was our only likely hole that might not be able to filled internally. And my original thought was that if we win it all in 2028, there’s no way we trade Turang in the offseason and we would have a good chance to run it back in 2029 (funnily enough, that’s now the position we’re in with Contreras). 
 

I still generally feel this way but a few things have affected my thinking. I’m sure as heck glad we won the World Series this year. Once we made it through the gauntlet of Padres and Dodgers matchup, we needed to capitalize on the AL having a relatively weak season across the board. 
 

notably, Bauers and Contreras were massive for us during this playoff run. I’m a lot less confident we will be able to fill their contributions internally. Partially due to the players we have in the system, but mainly what those two meant to this World Series championship. 
 

this run really made me appreciate how things need to break your way. I feel like we got a handful of those things in the Padres series before steamrolling our way through the rest of the playoffs. That run from the bullpen is something we may never see in future playoff trips. 
 

Ignoring the potential CBA changes, it will be interesting to see how winning a World Series will affect the way we operate. Obviously roster churning has been a huge reason for all of these bites at the Apple. Having said that, it would be sad to see us turnaround and decide to trade guys away from this team even though I know it’s necessary. 
 

All of this to say, I think our roster peaks once Made is settled in as a productive member of the line up. If we can keep the key pitchers healthy, I think we have a good shot to make a return trip to the World Series in the next 3 years. 
 

[BrewerFan]

On 10/19/2026 at 7:07 AM, Playing Catch said:

The Brewers are well-positioned to be a playoff-caliber team in the coming seasons, yes. Winning a single playoff series is basically a 50/50 proposition regardless of the quality of the team due to regular factors such as health and luck, so having a great team merely gives a team better odds.

But the real elephant in the room is the upcoming CBA and an expansion draft within 4 seasons as well as any other new ownership groups that demand a commissioner that guarantees profit on those investments. Baseball is changing, and could change quickly for the betterment, or to the detriment of the Brewers.

It's a tricky thing to predict right now.

I don't think it's changing to the detriment of the Brewers. 

I guess it's possible they'll make it a bit tougher to do some of the things we've done. The Competitive Balance picks could potentially go, the IFA draft where we're basically signing like #18, 25, 30," most years while the top franchises are MORE inclined to sign 1 or 2 top names, but I think that's still benefitted us with our larger scouting department.

If there's more revenue sharing... I think you'll just see the Brewers make more aggressive, but still smart decisions in signing players. Made is an example, Luis Pena may well be another one. Bishop Letson, or... Josh Adamczewski, who knows. 

I'm seeing a lot of Contreras or Bauers extensions... I think maybe we try with Bauers, 3/45? I would actually feel find about that. I'd prefer Black hit right handed in that scenario. I still believe Black can be a solid MLB hitter, not a guy who'll slug, but, good OBP... so I think we could get by. The one thing about Bauers and Contreras, Bauers seems a bit more likely to continue to hit the next 2-3 years if healthy. Contreras, I love the guy. He's Milwaukee Royalty, he'll be Milwaukee Royalty... but I've seen people suggest 5-6 years. He takes over Yelich's contract sorta. Yeah, you can get by with that. I think it's a bad idea. 33-year-old Contreras could be a better hitter than 28-year-old Contreras... but it'd likely be at DH vs Catcher. 


I honestly think that's the worst thing we could do if we were to see an influx of cash that is 50M more a year or... 100M more(it wouldn't be that high until they could collectively bargain TV revenues)... whatever, keep spending on young talent. 

I thought the Pratt contract was cool. I would not have picked him to extend though. He wasn't on my list of top 4-5 guys. I thought he'd be our defensive SS, nice player, 3-4 WAR because a good defender who is just a competent, ~90 WRC+ is usually worth that at SS. The Pratt I saw looks like he's going to be more than a 90 WRC+ type hitter... 

Point is, we're run better. If we get more revenue sharing, which I think is the one nearly inevitable outcome, we'll be run better with more money. 

If service time gets knocked down, that would suck, but I don't think it will. 


I think this Brewers team is... kinda like the 2010 Packers. They won it a bit before most really thought they would be completely ready... I think they'll have more chances... we just need to make sure we don't have a Brandon Bostick on the team! 

[SF70]

Nothing is going to stop the Brewers from going back to back.

Not injuries, not bad luck, not any of the 29 other MLB teams.

This team just won a title in a year they had an immature roster and a NL at its peak.

Next season the roster will be more mature and the NL in flux, with both leading to the MKE Brewers dominating the league on their way to the WS.

In the NL all the behemoths will be worse. The LAD are old and decrepit, same with the Phillies. SD loses way too much pitching, the Braves lineup is starting to age and has been together far too long and is getting stale. The Mets will improve but are still years from true WS contention. The upstarts, Nats-Marlins-Pirates and Cardinals are still multiple years from WS contention. The Cubs have to replace too much in one offseason, and have a horrible farm along with an owner that hates paying the tax. 

Meanwhile in MKE, fresh off a WS title with an extra $30-$40M to spend on their ‘27 payroll — we’ll have the best roster in baseball and by a lot, and better than last year, more mature, especially in their pitching.

And it’s that pitching that will make this one of the best teams in baseball history. The depth in the upper-minors is as strong as it’s ever been. Add Ashby to a rotation that includes Miz-Gasser-Harrison-Priester-Henderson with Drohan-Sproat-Crow giving the team 9 starters with BL experience and that’s before the FO adding pitching from outside the organization, which they will. With the upper-minors SP (Kuehner-Hardin-Letson-Knoth-Thompson) they go 14 deep with starters before adding depth from outside the organization. That’s extreme protection from injury that the team hasn’t had until now, and rivals what the Dodgers have had the last 2 years.

If they return Megill like I believe they will, the bullpen, even without Ashby in it, will be plenty strong enough to give this team the best pitching staff they’ve ever had. 

Add their prime-aged, experienced and battled-tested lineup to the equation and you get another monstrous juggernaut that runs roughshod over the baseball world to another title next year.

[JoeyWiemerTruther]

2 hours ago, SF70 said:

Nothing is going to stop the Brewers from going back to back.

Not injuries, not bad luck, not any of the 29 other MLB teams.

This team just won a title in a year they had an immature roster and a NL at its peak.

Next season the roster will be more mature and the NL in flux, with both leading to the MKE Brewers dominating the league on their way to the WS.

In the NL all the behemoths will be worse. The LAD are old and decrepit, same with the Phillies. SD loses way too much pitching, the Braves lineup is starting to age and has been together far too long and is getting stale. The Mets will improve but are still years from true WS contention. The upstarts, Nats-Marlins-Pirates and Cardinals are still multiple years from WS contention. The Cubs have to replace too much in one offseason, and have a horrible farm along with an owner that hates paying the tax. 

Meanwhile in MKE, fresh off a WS title with an extra $30-$40M to spend on their ‘27 payroll — we’ll have the best roster in baseball and by a lot, and better than last year, more mature, especially in their pitching.

And it’s that pitching that will make this one of the best teams in baseball history. The depth in the upper-minors is as strong as it’s ever been. Add Ashby to a rotation that includes Miz-Gasser-Harrison-Priester-Henderson with Drohan-Sproat-Crow giving the team 9 starters with BL experience and that’s before the FO adding pitching from outside the organization, which they will. With the upper-minors SP (Kuehner-Hardin-Letson-Knoth-Thompson) they go 14 deep with starters before adding depth from outside the organization. That’s extreme protection from injury that the team hasn’t had until now, and rivals what the Dodgers have had the last 2 years.

If they return Megill like I believe they will, the bullpen, even without Ashby in it, will be plenty strong enough to give this team the best pitching staff they’ve ever had. 

Add their prime-aged, experienced and battled-tested lineup to the equation and you get another monstrous juggernaut that runs roughshod over the baseball world to another title next year.

I largely agree with your assessment of us and the rest of the NL. Obviously things can change with teams getting injuries, making trades, etc. I also pointed out to a couple people I know that the Dodgers window after last season might not be as big as people think due to their age and was seemingly correct. I imagine they still win 90-95 games next year. Betts has been solid but unremarkable the past 2 seasons and took a further step back this year. Freeman getting really old and hampered by injuries. Ohtani hampered by injuries. What I thought would put them over the top despite their lineup was their pitching especially adding Skubal, and the Brewers were still incredible against them and handled it no problem. Also agree with Phillies aging, Harper, Schwarber, Turner, Realmuto, all expensive and all on the wrong age of 30. Braves fans are sick of Acuna and want him gone for his postseason failures, so they may blow it up. Not a great lineup anymore anyways outside of Olson. Mets have pieces but aren’t meshing and turning it into wins until proven otherwise.

Cubs if they lose Suzuki lose a giant chunk of their production.  Unlikely PCA repeats his production from this year And Bregman and Swanson are aging. They have a ton of work to do if they want to fix their terrible bullpen and mediocre rotation, with seemingly not a lot of extra money to do it. the contracts they have Bregman and Swanson are not going to age well. Hoerner looking like he is way overpaid now too. Cards and Marlins maybe on the right track but not serious threats yet. Pirates have pieces but have yet to put it together and turn it into a playoff appearance.

Padres I think will be right back in the mix if they can replace pitching losses. Their lineup is stacked despite a down year for some of their hitters but I’m confident they win 90+ again. Maybe they sign Peralta.

A team that’s my pick to rise and make some noise next year is the Nationals, if they don’t trade CJ Abrams. If they keep him and they can repeat what their lineup did this year, while improving their pitching they could win 90+ games and win the NL East. Very much depends if they trade Abrams though. James Wood is turning into the new Schwarber. Arizona has potential and nearly made the postseason, if Burnes can stay healthy and productive that helps. Corbin Carroll is a superstar and have other talented hitters. People might laugh but Colorado had a quietly really good offensive season with young players. Have a couple nice offensive prospects on the horizon too. It’s hard in their stadium but if they can get their pitching to even an average level they might be a sneaky wild card team. San Fran looks like a disaster as currently constructed. Reds might trade Cruz so might go into another semi-rebuild. Some guys on the trading block this offseason might include Elly De La Cruz, Ronald Acuna, Steven Kwan among others, so depending where they end up could change some teams trajectories. Hopefully big guys traded are sent to the AL not NL.

All in all I’m very confident the Brewers will have the best record in the NL again and be well positioned to make it to the World Series, health dependent. You could see it on their faces all postseason, these guys are winners and have the right mentality. Man I hope the season isn’t cancelled. I’d even settle for a 120 game season.

[82brewcrew82]

I love how folks go from "the playoffs are a crapshoot" to "we are winning again next year".  The best teams often lose in the playoffs.  Even if the Brewers are the best team and everything goes right, still no guarantee.  Back to back is incredibly difficult.  We don't even know what rosters are going to look like at this point.  Opinions are good but and everyone is entitled to their own, but its just opinions until it happens.

[SF70]

1 hour ago, 82brewcrew82 said:

I love how folks go from "the playoffs are a crapshoot" to "we are winning again next year".  The best teams often lose in the playoffs.  Even if the Brewers are the best team and everything goes right, still no guarantee.  Back to back is incredibly difficult.  We don't even know what rosters are going to look like at this point.  Opinions are good but and everyone is entitled to their own, but its just opinions until it happens.

Not everyone is a “playoffs are a crapshoot” proponent. I’m more of a best team in baseball and by a lot proponent.

Dont need to know the exact roster yet to know the Brewers will be the class of baseball. 

[JCREW]

5 hours ago, JoeyWiemerTruther said:

…and have the right mentality. Man I hope the season isn’t cancelled. I’d even settle for a 120 game season.

Change game to win, and I’m with you. 

[thebruce44]

On 10/18/2026 at 11:38 AM, Ewitkows1 said:

I'm worried on the SP front. Does Priester come back like he pitched last year, can Harrison pitch like he did the first half. I'm not sure there's another TOR guy in our system at the moment and that's going to be an issue over then next few years.

Most systems don't have a TOR guy, and if they do, they usually get injured. As of right now, Miz, Harrison, Henderson, Priester, and Bobby Diesel all look like they could be a true #1 (top 30 pitcher) as in they have already done it for a sustained amount of time. Sproat, Hall, and Ashby all have #1 type stuff and could factor in as well. What other team can say they have 8 guys who could be TOR dudes. My guess is its not even close and these guys are all at the major league level. If a couple other prospects work out, we are going to continue to run out with a great rotation even if 75% of them are injured in a given year (hopefully it gets better as they have done their big innings jumps already).

[TURBO]

Some of this is quite over the top.

That is all.

[Recovering Chicagoan]

I’m going to enjoy this WS victory as long as I can. As for next year, who knows? Heck, who knows what tomorrow brings?