Brewers finally earn the 2026 power rankings respect they deserve

Despite qualifying for the postseason in seven of the last eight seasons and winning the NL Central in each of the last three, when offseason power rankings roll around, the Milwaukee Brewers generally find themselves several spots below where they end up finishing in the actual rankings the following year.

Some of this is Milwaukee's own doing. It's very easy, especially for members of the national media, to drop the Brewers down a few spots in the rankings immediately after they trade away one of their big stars, which they've done in each of the last two offseasons. Two years ago, shortly after signing Rhys Hoskins to a two-year deal that led fans to believe the Brewers were going "all-in" on the 2024 campaign, Milwaukee traded away their Cy Young-winning ace Corbin Burnes, and as a result, the sky fell. Then, last winter, after Willy Adames left Milwaukee to sign with the San Francisco Giants and Devin Williams was traded to the New York Yankees, the sky that had "miraculously" risen during the 2024 season fell once more, and the dominating rhetoric was that the Brewers were doomed to take a step back in 2025.

However, as is often the case after the small-market Brewers are discredited in the national media, Milwaukee responded, only this time it was in a way that left no stone unturned. The Crew won an MLB-best 97 games in the regular season, proving that the winning culture that has been created in Milwaukee is bigger than any single player. Surely, this was the end of the annoying (and generally incorrect) offseason noise claiming Milwaukee's reign in the NL Central was crashing to an abrupt end.

Unfortunately, despite carrying the top overall seed into the 2025 postseason, advancing to the NLCS, and returning essentially the same roster for next season, early power rankings for the 2026 campaign continued the same pattern of disrespect that the Brewers have had to deal with for years. An early offseason power ranking from ESPN not only deemed Milwaukee the 7th-best team heading into the 2026 season, but it confusingly placed the Brewers behind their NL Central rivals, the Chicago Cubs, who Pat Murphy's squad not only won five more games than during the regular season, but also defeated in the 2025 NLDS.

Thankfully, a different news outlet is giving the Milwaukee Brewers the respect they deserve, ranking them among the league's best teams, where they proved they belong with their performance last season. It's a refreshing change from the usual disrespect the Brewers endure nearly every winter.

Brewers earn No. 3 spot in FanSided's first MLB power rankings of 2026

To start the new year, FanSided's Chris Landers published his MLB power rankings heading into the 2026 season. As expected, the back-to-back World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, topped the list, with Landers noting that their addition of All-Star closer Edwin Díaz solved the team's biggest weakness from the 2025 campaign. Solidifying the back-end of their bullpen while returning essentially the same roster that barely squeaked by the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series easily leaves the Dodgers as the team to beat heading into the 2026 season.

Speaking of the Blue Jays, they earned Landers' second spot on his first power rankings of 2026, and rightfully so. Not only did Toronto nearly knock off the mighty Dodgers in the World Series, but they have been one of the more active teams on the free agent market this offseason. After agreeing to a seven-year, $210 million contract with top starter Dylan Cease to kick off the offseason, Toronto just signed corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto from Japan on Saturday afternoon. Add to that deals with starter Cody Ponce and reliever Tyler Rogers, and the Blue Jays already look primed to defend their American League pennant next season, despite not yet making a decision on their free agent infielder Bo Bichette.

Behind the two World Series representatives are the regular season champs, the Brewers. Not only is Milwaukee set to return a very similar roster that won more regular season games than any other team in 2025, an act that not only assumes a Freddy Peralta blockbuster never materializes but also required the Brewers to spend more than $22 million to bring Brandon Woodruff back, but there are also plenty of reasons to expect improvement from several key players on the Brewers' roster in 2026.

Young stars like Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and Sal Frelick have improved in each season of their young careers, and with all of them still 26 years old or younger, there's reason to believe none of them have hit their ceiling just yet. Add to that a presumed bounce-back year from Joey Ortiz, who is hoping for a 2026 campaign closer to his rookie season than his sophomore slump, a healthy season from Garrett Mitchell, who played just 25 games in 2025, and a fully healthy season from William Contreras, whose offensive performance was limited by a nagging finger injury last year, and the Brewers are seemingly destined to improve at the plate in 2026. Such a reality could be the case even if Andrew Vaughn and Caleb Durbin take steps backwards following their exceptional 2025 seasons.

On the pitching side of things, with the aforementioned veteran duo of Peralta and Woodruff anchoring the rotation, and a swath of young arms, who will only benefit from more big-league experience, behind them, Milwaukee appears destined to continue their streak of strong starting staffs during the 2026 season.

Therefore, while some might point to batted ball luck, anticipated regression, and improvements to the rest of the NL Central as a reason to doubt the Brewers in 2026, there's just as many, if not more, reasons to believe that Milwaukee will improve upon their memorable 2025 campaign next season. They have certainly done nothing to suggest that they belong anywhere other than near the top of any offseason power ranking.