3 good surprises and 1 bad one from the Milwaukee Brewers' 2025 season

The Milwaukee Brewers' 2025 season ended just over a month ago, which frankly seems impossible. It feels like just yesterday that Brewers fans were watching Shohei Ohtani produce one of the best single-game performances in baseball history when he ended Milwaukee's season with three homers at the plate and 10 strikeouts on the bump in Game 4 of the NLCS.

With a full month elapsed, Brewers fans have had an opportunity to properly reflect back on the 2025 season. Farther removed from the pain of a four-game sweep in the NLCS at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's easier to see the season for what it truly was: one of the most memorable in franchise history. Not only did the Brewers set a franchise record for wins in a single regular season, but fans also had the pleasure of witnessing several breakout seasons in Milwaukee. While some might have predicted the following players to have solid 2025 campaigns, it's unlikely that anyone anticipated they would find the success that they ultimately did.

Meanwhile, while bad surprises were hard to come by for the Brew Crew in 2025 -- so hard to come by that it felt as if there was a magical component to the team's success -- there were still a few poor performances that came as a major shock to Brewers fans. As such, here are three good surprises and one bad one from the Crew's 2025 season.

Good surprise #1: Quinn Priester's breakout season

When the Brewers acquired former first-round pick Quinn Priester from the Boston Red Sox during the second week of the season, many fans were too preoccupied with the trade package that Milwaukee sent away to acknowledge the upside that they had just brought in. To be fair, that upside was made far more difficult to see due to the struggles that Priester found during his first two seasons in MLB.

His rookie season, in 2023, involved Priester making 10 appearances for the Pittsburgh Pirates and maintaining a 7.74 ERA through his first 50 big league innings. Despite Priester being just 23 years old and having very little MLB experience to his name, the Pirates shipped him to Boston at the 2024 trade deadline after he struggled during the first half of the season. Less than a season later, after one five-inning start with the Red Sox, Priester was a Brewer and ready to finally find the groove that he had been searching for throughout his young MLB career.

Find that groove did he ever. Priester not only posted a 3.32 ERA through 29 outings in the regular season, but he also won 12-straight decisions and the Brewers as a team won 19 games in a row when Priester made an appearance -- either as a starting pitcher or as the bulk pitcher behind an opener.

To say the least, Priester was incredible in 2025. His performance certainly came as a surprise to many Brewers fans, and the Pirates and Red Sox organizations who couldn't crack the code. Priester now figures to be a part of Milwaukee's starting rotation for several years to come.

Good surprise #2: Caleb Durbin's impressive rookie campaign

If you asked any Brewers fan before the season what their expectations for Caleb Durbin were in 2025, not many would have said that he would be a Rookie of the Year candidate. Then, after Durbin failed to make the Opening Day roster, such a statement likely would have been met with a chuckle or perhaps an eye roll. However, when all was said and done, that's exactly where Durbin ended up: as a finalist for the 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Award.

For much of the season, Durbin wasn't even viewed as the best rookie on his team, let alone one of the top first-year players in the entire National League. An early season masterclass from Chad Patrick, followed by midseason dominance from Jacob Misiorowski, and several impressive months from Isaac Collins, made many forget about the incredible season that Durbin was quietly putting together.

Not only did Durbin impress at the hot corner after playing most of his minor league career at second base and the entirety of his collegiate career at shortstop, but his offensive performance silenced the naysayers who claimed his hitting profile wouldn't translate to the major leagues. Durbin finished with a solid slashline of .256/.334/.387 during his rookie campaign, with 11 homers and 25 doubles to go along with it. Additionally, despite not joining the Brewers until halfway through the month of April, Durbin led the entire NL in hit-by-pitches in 2025, an interesting anecdote that perfectly fits Durbin's "do whatever it takes to win" mentality.

Brewers fans now have the pleasure of watching Durbin compete for the foreseeable future, with Milwaukee having six more seasons of team control after they manipulated Durbin's service time to essentially gain an extra year. Given his defensive versatility and the names rising through the Brewers' farm system, it's not guaranteed that Durbin, whose defensive versatility is one of his strengths, remains at third base in the distant future, but it's likely that's where he begins the 2026 season.

Good surprise #3: Brice Turang's second breakout season

Many Brewers fans are strangely familiar with the term "quantum leap," after it was used by manager Pat Murphy when he predicted what Brice Turang's 2024 season would look like. Murph's psychic abilities were confirmed when Turang did in fact improve considerably on his rookie campaign with an impressive sophomore season.

However, the step forward that Turang took in 2025 was even more impressive. The Brewers' second baseman who would occasionally turn on an inside fastball or catch a hanging breaking ball and send it over the fence during his first two seasons, became one of the team's best power hitters in 2025. He toppled the 13 homers that he hit in his first two seasons combined with 18 in 2025 alone. 18! Where did that come from?

Slight changes to his stance, a different approach, and snowballing confidence allowed Turang to tap into the power that he has always possessed, but didn't prioritize during his first two seasons in MLB. Despite being snubbed from a second-straight All-Star Game, Turang established himself as one of the best second basemen in the NL in 2025, and one of the most complete players in all of baseball when his defensive and baserunning acumen is taken into consideration.

Turang is eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career this offseason, which has led many to speculate whether or not the Brewers will come to an agreement on a contract extension with the Platinum Glove Award-winning second baseman. Regardless, Turang will be an important piece of the Brewers' puzzle in 2026.

4. Bad Surprise: Joey Ortiz's step backwards at the plate

Not many things went wrong for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025. When a team finishes with the best record in all of baseball, it would be surprising for them also to have a laundry list of bad surprises that plagued them throughout the season. One could argue that the wave of starting pitching injuries at the beginning of the year or the numerous other injuries the Brewers experienced throughout the summer could be classified as bad surprises, but doing so almost implies that there exists an injury that isn't a bad surprise.

Therefore, when it comes to performances that were surprising in 2025, the one that sticks out the most is Joey Ortiz's poor offensive performance. Ortiz continued to display an impressive glove at shortstop, made even more impressive by the fact that he played his entire rookie campaign at third base. On the defensive side of the ball, Ortiz's 2025 performance could even be classified as a good surprise, though many were aware of his abilities heading into the season.

However, at the plate, after a rookie season during which Ortiz was named the NL Rookie of the Month in May in large part due to his offensive performance, the Brewers' shortstop took a surprising step backwards in 2026. His on-base percentage dropped by more than 50 points, his slugging percentage took an 81-point hit, and after posting an above-league average .726 OPS in 2025, Ortiz followed it up with a .593 mark in his sophomore campaign.

It remains to be seen whether or not Ortiz will get a shot to redeem himself as the team's Opening Day shortstop in 2026, but he will no doubt have an opportunity to prove his abilities at some point during the season. For Ortiz and the Brewers as a whole, one can only hope that his 2026 season more closely resembles his 2024 production rather than the numbers he put up in 2025.