Division rival's manager hire poses real problems for Brewers' NL Central dominance

In recent years, the Milwaukee Brewers have been the beneficiaries of playing in what has been a remarkably weak NL Central. The Cardinals forgot how to play baseball and got old the last couple of years. The Reds and Cubs were supposed to make the division race interesting in 2024 before falling on their faces. The Pirates have been rebuilding for what seems like decades and have probably the cheapest and arguably worst owner in baseball.

Meanwhile, the Brewers have had a pretty steady run of success. They are far from a perfect organization as their mishandling of Corbin Burnes led to being forced to trade him last offseason and that sticks out as a sore spot with fans in addition to their relative lack of spending. However, there has been little urgency provided by Milwaukee's division rivals to change anything.

However, things could be changing on that end as one of the Brewers' rivals, the Reds, made the incredibly savvy move to hire Terry Francona to be their next manager. After he was introduced on Monday, it is very clear that Cincinnati is a real threat to Milwaukee going forward.

Reds a legitimate division threat to Brewers after hiring Terry Francona

Under fired manager David Bell, the Reds were an interesting, but extremely flawed team. They have some of the most electric talents including Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene as well as a stacked farm system, but they lacked the discipline and fundamentals to pose a real threat beyond the occasional hot streak here and there.

That is extremely like to change in their favor under Francona. While he has had some dud seasons as a manager including some rough years in Cleveland, Francona has won a pair of World Series rings and made the playoffs 11 teams between 2004-2023. Ask anyone in the game of baseball and they will put Francona on the short list of the best managers of the last 20 years and now he is managing a very talented division rival.

Assuming Francona's health holds (which isn't a certainty as that is why he stepped away after 2023), Cincinnati is going to improve under his leadership and imposed accountability. How much they will improve remains to be seen, but it is abundantly clear that the Brewers' road to winning the NL Central in 2025 and beyond just got a good bit harder.

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