Team of the decade? Drew Rasmussen, final combined win tally confirm 2026 Brewers' rare dominance

Team of the decade? Pump the brakes? No, this 2026 Milwaukee Brewers team was that good, and no amount of recency bias can change that. The Brewers, predictably picked to finish near the 80-85-win mark by a majority of outlets, as Pat Murphy noted in a postgame press conference, and therefore expected to be on the cusp of playoff contention, rattled off an unbelievable 114 total wins between the regular season and the postseason, confirming that their consideration as one of the best teams of the decade is not an exaggeration but a justifiable opinion.

Sure, combined win total is by no means a perfect assessment of the talent of a team, but when the goal of the sport, as it is with all sports, is to win, the total number of tallies in the win column is absolutely a justifiable method to discern the best team of the decade. If combined win total is used to assess the best team since the modified 2020 season, which kicked off a strong decade of baseball, the 2026 Brewers, halfway through said decade, are the second-best team. Here are the combined regular season and postseason win totals of the MLB leader in each of the last seven seasons:

Combined win total (regular season + postseason) of MLB leader since 2020:

2020: Dodgers (56 wins -- modified season)
2021: San Francisco Giants (109 wins)
2022: Houston Astros (117 wins)
2023: Atlanta Braves (106 wins)
2024: Los Angeles Dodgers (109 wins)
2025: Los Angeles Dodgers (106 wins)
2026: Milwaukee Brewers (114 wins)

So, technically speaking, if the perhaps short-sided criteria of simple win total is adopted, the 2026 Brewers are the second-best team of the decade, trailing only the 2022 Houston Astros. However, perhaps the validation of a starting pitcher who faced both teams is enough to give the Pat Murphy-led 2026 Brewers the edge when it comes to the top squad of the 2020s.

Former Brewer Drew Rasmussen calls 2026 Brewers the "best team he's ever faced" in classy post-World Series press conference

It's not easy to lose the World Series in your home ballpark. It's not easy to lose the World Series after winning just one game. It's not easy to lose to one of, if not the best team of the decade. And it's certainly not easy losing the World Series to your former team. However, despite being the starting pitcher of the Tampa Bay Rays' Game 5 loss, which secured the Brewers' first-ever World Series title, Drew Rasmussen, who was drafted by Milwaukee back in 2018, gave a classy response when asked about his former team, as seen in the video below.

Rasmussen made his MLB debut for the Brewers in the inaugural season of the 2020s -- the modified COVID-19-impacted 2020 season. In the time since, the now-31-year-old right-hander, who has emerged as a key piece of the Rays' organization, has faced plenty of strong opponents during his 632.2 big-league innings. In fact, Rasmussen faced the 2022 Houston Astros twice in September when Dusty Baker's squad was heating up for their playoff run.

Rasmussen, who covered 13 total innings and allowed six earned runs in those two late-September starts against the eventual 2022 World Champions, deemed this Brewers team better than the 2022 Astros, the lone team they trail in terms of single-season combined win total this decade, in saying that 2026 World Series champions are the "best team" the All-Star righty has "ever played."

It's perhaps futile arguing whether the 2022 Astros or 2026 Brewers are the team of the decade, but one reality remains obvious: this 2026 squad is the team of the franchise for the Milwaukee Brewers. The team of destiny, the team of fate -- the 2026 Brew Crew was relentless and unwavering. They didn't go on some crazy runs like the team did a season prior, but rather were consistently strong throughout the regular season. When it came time for the postseason, that dominant consistency continued.

Team of the decade or not (a distinction for which the 2026 Brewers hold an obvious candidacy), there's no denying the season that Pat Murphy's squad put together was special, even when compared to the single-season win total leaders of the decade. This team will be talked about for a long while, and not just in Brewers circles -- this is a team the baseball world won't soon forget.

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