If going into Dodger Stadium and taking three out of four games from the NL West leader wasn't enough to prove the Milwaukee Brewers are the real deal, there's nothing they can do in the regular season to earn their proper respect. And to add insult to injury, the analysts who refuse to give Milwaukee its flowers don't even have a proper reason to rationalize it.
MLB.com's newest Power Rankings were released on Sunday, and while they've jockeyed with the Dodgers, Rays, and Braves for the top spot for much of the season, the Brewers can't seem to get back to the top of the charts. With the clear best record in baseball coming off a dominant series against the No. 1 ranked team at their home stadium, the Brewers somehow still couldn't get over the hump.
More interestingly, the writers behind these Power Rankings didn't have any real reason to keep Milwaukee behind the Dodgers in the standings. Their entire excerpt, where they could've easily provided a statistical or logical reasoning for the ranking, boiled down to... well... nothing. They couldn't come up with a single reason as to why they ranked the Brewers after the Dodgers, even by their own framework.
MLB gave a nothing burger when explaining why the Brewers are #2 in their Power Rankings:
— SleeperBrewers (@SleeperBrewers) August 17, 2026
“Please, please, Brewers fans: We know Milwaukee has the best record in baseball (by two games, actually), and we understand that you are probably mad right now that your team is No. 2 in… pic.twitter.com/r4uRnEhzPF
It's beginning to feel like the Brewers aren't going to receive the same level of respect as some of the other franchises contending for the top spot in the power rankings without bringing home a pennant this fall, which is almost antithetical to the purpose of a mid-season power ranking. And yet, this is life for a small-market team going up against baseball's darling juggernaut out west.
The Milwaukee Brewers don't need to be ranked No. 1 in the power rankings to be the best team in the MLB.
In a sport with so many detailed metrics and analytics to contextualize the game, there's one tried-and-true stat that reigns above all, and that's winning percentage — one of many categories in which the Brewers lead this season. They're the only team in the National League above .600 in winning percentage on the season, and hold a 2.5-game lead over Tampa Bay for the best record in the MLB this season heading into Tuesday's slate.
When you dig a little deeper, it makes sense. Milwaukee has the second-most strikeouts, allows the second-lowest batting average, and ranks second in ERA on the season at 3.46. All the while, they've scored the fifth-most runs in the MLB while posting the second-highest OBP through 125 games.
So by those measures, they easily rank in the top five of both offense and defense in a game that's only won when those two sides are balanced in unison. Their batting rotation is balanced and constantly evolving, even through injury issues persisting throughout the entire run of the regular season up to this point.
Regardless of where they fall in the Power Rankings, manager Pat Murphy has his players bought into a team-first mentality that blocks out the noise like this and strives to improve with each passing game. With that said, they may never get the respect they deserve from the masses until achieving that ultimate goal. So with that in mind, the bar is set as high as it possibly could, and the underestimated Brewers remain focused on making their dream a reality, regardless of what is or isn't said about them along the way.
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