2026 MLB Draft Lottery should have Brewers fans grinning from ear to ear

By virtue of them holding the best record in baseball and earning the top seed in the National League for the 2025 postseason, the Milwaukee Brewers were excluded from the 2026 MLB Draft Lottery. However, when the teams who didn't qualify for last year's postseason gathered to decide who would earn the top overall pick in next year’s draft, Brewers fans still had something to root for, seeing as two of their division rivals had a stake in the outcome of the drawing.

Entering the draft lottery on Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a 16.8% chance of earning the top overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft -- the third highest odds of any team after the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, and Los Angeles Angels were excluded due to various draft restrictions that deemed them ineligible for a lottery pick. The St. Louis Cardinals, who once again failed to reach the postseason in 2025, held a 2.3% chance of earning the top pick in next summer's draft.

This year's draft lottery was given added circumstance by the emergence of top draft prospect Roch Cholowsky, who is the type of franchise-altering player organizations hope to see at the top of the draft board. Cholowsky, who will be a third-year shortstop at UCLA next spring, is expected to go first overall next July, and with the Pirates and Cardinals both having a shot to earn that pick, the rest of the NL Central watched closely as Greg Amsinger revealed the draft order on MLB Network.

Thankfully, neither the Cardinals nor the Pirates earned the top pick in next year's draft; that honor went to the Chicago White Sox, who, quite frankly, need it. Meanwhile, not only did the Cardinals and Pirates miss out on the top pick, but each of them earned worse picks than they were expecting. St. Louis came away with the 13th overall pick in next year’s draft, and Pittsburgh will pick fifth next July.

Brewers NL Central rivals' disappointed by results of MLB Draft Lottery

An offseason ago, the Cardinals held the 13th best odds of landing the top overall draft pick, meaning they expected to walk away from the draft lottery with the 13th overall pick. However, when all was said and done, St. Louis held the fifth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, a pick they used on talented pitcher Liam Doyle out of the University of Tennessee. It was the kind of luck that reinforced Brewers fans' belief that a certain degree of devil magic is dictating outcomes in St. Louis. This year, however, after St. Louis underperformed in the MLB Draft Lottery, all once again feels right in the universe.

Meanwhile, had the Pirates earned the top overall pick in this year's draft lottery, a very real possibility given their odds, the momentum that is seemingly building in Pittsburgh would have been reinforced. Pittsburgh, who is reportedly expecting to sign a major free agent this offseason, already has the best prospect in all of baseball in Konnor Griffin -- a shortstop himself -- but adding Cholowsky to their organization would have given them a formidable infield group for years to come. That possibility now looks highly unlikely.

The draft lottery also solidified the position of the Brewers' first-round pick in next year’s draft. Milwaukee will make the 25th selection of the 2026 MLB Draft, after holding the 20th overall selection in the 2025 draft. It's Milwaukee's worst first-round pick since they held the 27th overall selection back in 2022, which they used to select infielder Eric Brown Jr.