Brewers' NL Central supremacy continues with fourth consecutive division crown

The Milwaukee Brewers are champions of the NL Central once again. Through their first 52 seasons as a franchise, the Brewers won four division titles (1981, 1982, 2011, 2018). In the six seasons since, the Brew Crew has won an incredible five division crowns. What once was a rare feat has become the new norm in Milwaukee.

The Brewers entered Tuesday night's series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a Magic Number of 2 to clinch their fourth consecutive NL Central title and their fifth in the last six seasons. As a result, a victory over the Pirates and a Chicago Cubs' loss to the AL East-leading Atlanta Braves would have the Brewers popping champagne before Tuesday night came to an end.

A victory in Pittsburgh felt like the easy part for the Brewers, especially with their ace and the NL Cy Young front-runner Jacob Misiorowski on the mound. Miz threw just 82 pitches, a product of the Brewers monitoring their ace's workload with the postseason inching closer, but covered five scoreless innings and collected seven strikeouts as his team built a five-run lead.

The offense on Tuesday night was led by Joey Ortiz, whose season turnaround has been simply incredible this year. After struggling through the first three months of the season, with a .203/.280/.266 slash line on July 1 to prove it, Ortiz has unbelievably raised his slash line to .270/.328/.408 on September 15. Not only is that an improvement of 190 points on his OPS, but Ortiz's offensive production is officially above league-average, according to the holistic metric wRC+. On Tuesday night, the red-hot Ortiz collected three hits and drove in two runs en route to the Brewers' 5-1 victory in Pittsburgh.

The less certain outcome of the night was the one from the Cubs and Braves' matchup on the North Side of Chicago. The Cubs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but two-run home runs from Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, and Drake Baldwin eventually gave Atlanta a three-run victory over Chicago. As a result, the Brewers are popping champagne in Pittsburgh as the NL Central champions for the fourth consecutive year. Before today, no other team had ever won four straight NL Central titles since the division was created in 1994.

Brewers secure fourth consecutive NL Central title and fifth in the last six years

It's truly incredible what the small-market Brewers have been able to do over the last decade. Since the 2018 campaign, Milwaukee has qualified for eight of nine postseasons, won six division titles, and have already earned the top seed in the NL twice with a chance to do so once again in 2026.

That level of sustained success would be impressive for any ballclub, but to do so in the smallest TV market in baseball is another accomplishment altogether. It requires cohesion throughout the organization and an unwavering dedication to success in all facets. From the draft to the international free agent market to their player development system to their coaching staff to everything that goes on beyond the scenes, the Brewers are the gold standard when it comes to small market success. Their success persists even as All-Stars and franchise cornerstones have left in recent years, suggesting the system they've constructed is bigger than any one person or any one team.

Each offseason, the Brewers are doubted by national pundits, who don't believe in the strength of this organizational system. They are picked not to win the division, to miss out on the postseason, and the Brewers continue to prove people wrong. They continue to play their own brand of baseball unapologetically, acknowledging they have to do things differently and executing their strategy to perfection.

It's a testament to the roster construction excellence of Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office, a testament to Pat Murphy and the coaching staff's unparalleled management abilities, and it's undoubtedly a testament to the hard work and dedication of the 57 players who have played for the Brewers this year.

The Milwaukee Brewers are the champions of the NL Central once again.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow