The ’26 Brewers Just Might Be The GOAT

The Milwaukee Brewers have exemplified virtuosity on the baseball field. At any point, whether during the regular season, when the National League Central champions posted an MLB best 103 wins, or during this magical playoff run, the Brewers have shown few weaknesses. 

They are unequivocally the best team in baseball, and now, with one more win to complete the World Series sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, they are on the cusp of history. There is a strong case to be made for this edition of the Milwaukee Brewers as the greatest team of all time. The GOAT, as the kids wish to apply it.

Wee Willie Keeler, when coining the phrase “Hit ’Em Where They Ain’t,” likely never imagined Brice Turang easily gobbling up a nuked in-between hop with the level of indifferent ease that a child picks up a dropped toy from the carpet. He never saw Garrett Mitchell scale a wall to rob the opposition of a definite home run.

Indeed, the only place in any of the venues the Brewers have played their flawless brand of baseball where they weren’t prepared to make one of the crucial outs en route to their first World Series championship, is in the stands.

So far, through two slim victories and one shellacking, of the Rays, the Brewers’ starters have shown impeccable command, while their elite bullpen has been almost perfect. 

Only a Liam Hicks two run blast in Game 2, and a peppering of balls in the dirt that William Contreras was tasked with blocking, offered any indication that this was a ballclub another team could come close to beating.

Now, as Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski prepares for his second start of the series, the Brewers have a chance to accomplish a feat that seemed impossible and, in its modern form, has never been done before.

Well, two feats qualify with that description. The first was the Brewers’ onslaught of eight runs with two outs in the fifth inning of Game 3. Such an offensive barrage with two outs had never happened in World Series play. 

The second would be the winning streak the Brewers are looking to complete this evening in Game 4. No team has swept a best of seven League Championship Series (LCS) and then gone on to sweep the World Series.

Does that make the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers the GOAT? There are two arguments for other teams making that claim, but when you compare them closely, the 2026 Brewers, if they win Game 4, emerge as the very best. Here are two teams in baseball’s storied history that can rightfully claim the GOAT title.

1976 Cincinnati Reds: The Big Red Machine

MLB history has produced some truly great teams. The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s are among the most memorable. The 1976 edition, though, was the gem of the Big Red Machine’s dominance. A 102 win regular season led to a three game sweep of a formidable Philadelphia Phillies team, followed by a clean sweep of the New York Yankees to win the World Series.

From top to bottom, the Reds’ lineup, stacked with future Hall of Famers and the all time hit king, Pete Rose, wore down pitchers, much like the Brewers do now.

The Reds went undefeated throughout the 1976 postseason, setting a standard that has endured for half a century. Their place in the conversation is secure. The question is whether Milwaukee can make an even stronger case.

1927 New York Yankees: Murderers’ Row

Formerly considered the gold standard for professional baseball teams, the 1927 Yankees were the absolute best, with a lineup featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in their prime. The Yankees won a whopping 110 games that year and easily swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games.

Historians will struggle to shake the thought that this Yankees team might no longer be the greatest.

Brewers Aim to Stand Tall

With respect to those two incredible teams, the Brewers have a rightful claim to the throne if they win Game 4. Never before has a team swept a best of seven LCS and then swept the World Series, winning eight straight games across those two series.

The Reds swept their LCS in three games, while the Yankees had no LCS to navigate in 1927. Milwaukee has faced the modern postseason gauntlet and emerged with a dominant run differential of +24 across the three stage process.

It is a different era, with different challenges, but the Brewers have made their case. One more win, and the Milwaukee Brewers of 2026 will have earned a place among the greatest baseball teams in MLB history. For this writer, they will have earned the right to be called the GOAT.