Milwaukee Brewers Jump Into Top 5 In Latest MLB Power Rankings

The latest MLB.com power rankings have been released, and the Milwaukee Brewers are making moves up the list.

After an offseason of power rankings that consistently underestimated the Milwaukee Brewers, it appears the Crew is finally demanding respect now that games have finally started.

To start the season, the Brewers were ranked 12th out of 30 teams by MLB.com’s Alyson Footer. They were ranked behind the Cubs, who were 5th, and the Cardinals, who were 8th. They actually put the Brewers behind the New York Mets, who were 11th. Can you believe that?

MLB put too much stock into offseason moves for their rankings to start the season, but now that games are being played and we have results to go off of, MLB.com changed their tune.

Where Are The Brewers Ranked?

In this week’s edition, the 8-2 Brewers are ranked as the 4th best team in baseball. They are only behind the (also) 8-2 Dodgers, the 6-2 Phillies, and the 5-5 Astros.

While the Astros have not gotten the results they’re used to, that’s still a very talented team down in Houston and they are a World Series contender.

Here’s what MLB.com had to say about the Brewers in their Power Rankings.

"The Brewers are off to a better start than some may have expected, considering the absence of two key relievers in Jeremy Jeffress, who’s due back soon, and Corey Knebel, who’s out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. A combination of Josh Hader, who has been typically dominant in the ‘pen, and high production from key figures in the lineup — Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Ryan Braun — have kept the Brewers a step ahead in the NL Central."

A better start than some may have expected? Sure the team lost two great relievers to start the season, but practically everyone else is returning from last year’s NLCS run and there was the addition of Yasmani Grandal.

Apparently they expected the Crew to get railroaded by the Cardinals and Cubs to start the season, and the exact opposite happened.

Demanding Respect

No one gave the Milwaukee Brewers any respect during the offseason. They all thought this team just overachieved last year and since they didn’t acquire an ace, they couldn’t possibly be that good again. On paper, the Crew’s rotation was inferior to a lot of other teams, including several in the NL Central.

It’s a good thing that baseball isn’t played on paper.

Everyone could look at the promise of Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller to the Cardinals. But Miller has been terrible and Goldschmidt can’t do it all himself. The power rankings people thought Kris Bryant and Yu Darvish would have bounceback years and that would vault the Cubs. But they’ve both provided sub-par performances thus far.

Why is it that other star players can be predicted to bounce back for the purpose of power rankings, but other stars like Christian Yelich can’t repeat the success they just showed?

None of that matters now. All that matters is the game on the field, and the Brewers are winning. They’re 8-2 to start the season and have a two-game lead over the Pirates for the top spot in the division.

The offense is powerful and they’ve been giving us some fireworks to start the season. The pitching has been solid for the most part, and with Jeremy Jeffress on the mend, that group is about to get a lot better.

The Brewers are currently ranked 4th in the Power Rankings, and expect them to stick around the top 5 for most of the rest of the season.