2 reasons the Brewers will be better in 2024 and one reason they won't

The Brewers will be better because they still play in the NL Central.

Last year, the NL Central was considered one of the weaker divisions in all of Major League Baseball. While all of the teams have made some level of improvements over the offseason, the feeling about the division appears to be the same here in 2024.

MLB.com recently came out with their preseason power rankings for the 2024 season. Not only did the Brewers receive no respect in the rankings but the NL Central wasn't viewed very highly in general. Only the Cubs (No. 13) and Reds (No. 15) made the top half of the rankings and just barely.

Perhaps that's because every team comes with plenty of questions coming into this year. The Cubs added a new manager in former Brewers skipper Craig Counsell and signed free agent pitcher Shota Imanaga, but that's mostly it. Will that be enough to avoid another late season meltdown?

The Reds added pitcher Frankie Montas, who is coming off a mostly lost season due to injury, and infielder Jeimer Candalario. But they are expected to rely on a core of young players leading the way and one of them (Matt McClain) is currently hurt while another (Noelvi Marte) is suspeneded for half the season. Will the young guns be able to consistently win?

The Cardinals addressed a poor starting pitching staff by adding Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn during the offseason, three pitchers with an average age of 35.3. They also did virtually nothing to improve an offense that was actually worse than Milwaukee's in 2023 (adding Matt Carpenter and Brandon Crawford might've actually made it worse). Can they actually be expected to be better?

The Pirates have actually made a lot of moves this offseason, though none of them were exactly franchise altering transactions. They might be more of a thorn in the side than usual but will any of that be enough to pull themselves out of the division cellar?

All that said, the Brewers are the reigning division champions and return much of the same core players in 2024 that helped them win said division. With the Brewers getting to play their division opponents so many times during a season, it will only help their odds for a repeat.