ESPN awards Brewers rare grade for impressive 2025 season

As the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season comes to a close over the weekend, it's a great time for reflection before gearing up for playoff action.

David Schoenfield, an MLB writer for ESPN, did just that in a recent article that gave out full season grades for all 30 teams. The Milwaukee Brewers were above the rest of the field as the only team to receive an "A" for the 2025 season.

Brewers receive rare grade of "A" from ESPN

Even first-place teams and World Series contenders like the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays had some points taken away for their imperfections throughout the season.

For Philadelphia, it was pointed out that the offense was at times too reliant on the power of Kyle Schwarber. For Toronto, it's the fact that it "feels like there are some smoke and mirrors involved" while the Blue Jays struggle to hold onto the AL East crown.

But for Milwaukee, the final four months of the 2025 season were smooth sailing. It's pretty hard to poke holes in what they've done since late May. The roster is well-rounded, they play complimentary baseball, and they exceeded expectations at just about every turn.

"The Brewers never faltered," wrote Schoenfield. "Their run differential of plus-173 easily leads the majors, made even more remarkable considering that season-opening four-game series against the Yankees when the Brewers were outscored by 32 runs, and gives them a chance to top the plus-174 differential of 1982's Harvey's Wallbangers, the only Brewers team to reach the World Series. Pitching, speed, defense, just enough power: Now let's see if that formula works in the playoffs."

Milwaukee needs to prove it in the playoffs

As Brewers fans know well, that last sentence is the only one that matters. An "A" grade is definitely reflective of the 2025 experience thus far, but it will mean very little if Milwaukee can't put together a run in the postseason.

This year, the Brewers have the luxury of a first-round bye and are heading straight for the best-of-five NLDS. That puts them seven wins away from the organization's first World Series appearance since that 1982 squad.

2025 is the seventh time in the last eight seasons that the Brewers have made the playoffs. Getting in is the new expectation. As I mentioned earlier, this year's team has always found a way to exceed expectations, and in order for this to be a truly memorable season worth giving the highest grade in baseball, the Brewers need to do things differently.

While they've gotten into the dance on an annual basis, the last time the Brewers won a playoff series was in 2018 when they swept the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS.

Let's see this group string together some postseason wins and prove things are different before we give them an "A" on the exam.