What Seasons Have the Milwaukee Brewers Won Their Division in Team History?

The Milwaukee Brewers saw a return to glory in a couple different ways over the course of the last week. Not only did they get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2021, they won the NL Central for the first time since then as well.

Through they have been more common recently, playoff appearances have been relatively rare in history of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise. In over 50 seasons of play, the Crew have now made it to the playoffs just nine times.

Division titles have been even more rare for the Brewers as the NL Central title that they just clinched yesterday now makes it six such times that the occurrence has taken place in team history. To mark the occasion, let's take a stroll through history and look back on all the times that Milwaukee has won their division.

Here are all of the years in which the Milwaukee Brewers won a division title in team history.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #1: 1981 - AL East

After being established as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers in 1970, the franchise made the playoffs for the first time ever in 1981 when they finished 62-47 in a strike-shortened 1981 season and won the AL East division. Milwaukee was knocked out in the first round, losing the winner-take-all Game 5 to the New York Yankees in the ALDS.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #2: 1982 - AL East

The most infamous season in franchise history, the Brewers returned to the postseason in 1982, winning the division again with a 95-67 record. This time, the Crew made it to the only World Series in franchise history, losing in a heartbreaking seven games to the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #3: 2011 - NL Central

It would take 26 years before the Brewers would make it back to the playoffs and another three before they would win the division again, this time as a member of the National League. Milwaukee set a new franchise record for wins with 96 and advanced past the NLDS in a dramatic game five win over the Diamondbacks before losing in the NLCS in six games, once again to the Cardinals.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #4: 2018 - NL Central

The Brewers went through another mini playoff drought before returning in 2018 as NL Central champs, a title they won after a thrilling game 163 victory on the road in Chicago against the Cubs. Once again they made it to the NLCS, and once again they fell short of a second World Series appearance, this time dropping the series in game seven at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #5: 2021 - NL Central

The next two seasons saw the Brewers make the playoffs as Wild Cards before they ended up back as division champs in 2021. What felt like a team that could make a deep playoff run ended up being anything but as they scored just six total runs on their way to an NLDS loss to the Atlanta Braves in four games.

Milwaukee Brewers Division Title #6: 2023 NL Central

Most experts thought the NL Central would be a fight between the Brewers and Cardinals in 2023. That only ended up being true for the Crew, who ended up having to fend off charges from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinatti Reds, and Cubs over the course of the season. In the end, however, it was Milwaukee atop the division once again.

Will the Brewers end up making another deep run again this postseason or suffer another early playoff exit? Next week, we will all begin to find out.