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Big things are happening in baseballâ€s smallest market.
The Milwaukee Brewers are experiencing an organizational renaissance that shows no signs of faltering as they continue to click off wins, clinch division titles and stack playoff appearances.
In many ways, the Brewers†2025 season was their best yet. They won an MLB-best 97 games and claimed the top seed in the National League playoffs, all while operating with a bottom-third payroll.
Milwaukee achieved all this despite trading all-star closer Devin Williams in the offseason and making no free agent splashes. Their biggest import was veteran lefthander Jose Quintana, who signed midway through spring training.
The Brewers had winning streaks of eight, 11 and 14 games, and in October they recorded their first postseason series victory since 2018 with a five-game Division Series triumph against the rival Cubs.
The good vibes ended rather abruptly in the NL Championship Series, when the Dodgers swept them in four games en route to repeating as World Series champions.
It was a performance that stung in the moment, but all that went right to get to that point should be noted and lauded.
A combination of acquisitions panned out better than expected, and the development of some of their homegrown talent set the stage for the Brewers to be named the Baseball America Organization of the Year.
“Weâ€re just trying to make good decisions, not just on their own, but throughout our process. Itâ€s a different soup every year,†Brewers president of baseball operations and GM Matt Arnold said. “The good thing is—and I really do mean it—we have really good people here.â€
The 2025 season was a continuation of a run of success that first began in 2018, which was the last time the Brewers were honored as Organization of the Year. Milwaukee has won 90 or more games three straight seasons and in four of the last five. It has claimed three straight NL Central division titles and five of the last eight. It has earned postseason berths in seven of the last eight seasons.
That territory is normally reserved for the sportâ€s biggest spenders.
It was the one year the Brewers failed to make the playoffs, in 2022 following the ill-fated decision to trade Josh Hader at the deadline, that then-baseball operations boss David Stearns coined the term “bites of the apple†in reference to Milwaukeeâ€s insistence on being a perennial contender rather than making periodic runs at the cost of depleting its farm system.
And since the Brewers†strategy entails doing no more than dabbling on the fringes of free agency, they need to be ahead of the curve in other ways. For example, by extending homegrown outfielder Jackson Chourio to a team-friendly deal prior to his 2024 MLB debut season.
“Itâ€s an extremely hard-working, creative and evolving front office,†said Giants GM Zack Minasian, who previously worked in various roles in Milwaukeeâ€s front office for 14 years. “I donâ€t think theyâ€re ever resting on just what has worked. Theyâ€re always looking to get better.â€
Much of the organizationâ€s sustained success has come about as the result of its wins while working the margins with regard to under-the-radar player acquisition—righthander Quinn Priester and first baseman Andrew Vaughn were prime examples in 2025—and developing pitching. But perhaps even more crucial is identifying talent both in the draft and on the international markets and developing it in the minor leagues.
On the topic of player development, the Brewers have maintained a top 10 farm system on BA organization talent rankings over the past three seasons. Second baseman Brice Turang, outfielder Sal Frelick and reliever Abner Uribe debuted in 2023. Chourio and shortstop Joey Ortiz followed in 2024. Third baseman Caleb Durbin and righthanders Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick were highlights of the 2025 MLB debuts.
The brightest prospects in the farm system heading into 2026, highlighted by middle infielders Jesús Made, Luis Peña and Cooper Pratt, are concentrated at Double-A or below, meaning they are poised to trickle into Milwaukee in the years ahead.
Since 2018, the Brewers have drafted and developed Gold Glove winners Turang (2018 first round) and Frelick (2021 first round) and a key swingman in lefthander Aaron Ashby (2018 fourth round), with all three playing huge roles on the 2025 team.
An organizational emphasis on athletic, up-the-middle players remains, while a tweak in recent years has seen Milwaukee use over-slot bonuses to sign high-ceiling prep players believed to have strong college commitments. Pratt (2023 sixth round), righthander Bishop Letson (2023 11th round) and Josh Adamczewski (2023 15th round) are prime examples.Â
“Our minor league system and our player development is the lifeblood of our organization,†Arnold said. “Weâ€re the smallest market in the league, and we lean into that and embrace it.
“We know weâ€re not going to go out and sign all the biggest free agents, and so that means we just have to be great in scouting and development.
“Iâ€m not sure that we are, but I think weâ€re trying. Weâ€re always trying to get better. Weâ€ve always looked at this as a little ‘glass half empty,†and maybe thatâ€s not a super healthy way to live, but it honestly means that weâ€re just trying to make it better every single day.â€
Milwaukee has made arguably its biggest strides in the international market, with the signing of Chourio out of Venezuela for $1.8 million in January 2021 the signature move for the franchise.
The outfielder rocketed through the minor leagues and signed a record contract extension for a player who had not yet debuted—eight years, $82 million—in December 2023 as a 20-year-old. He recorded consecutive 20-homer, 20-steal seasons.
Uribe signed for just $85,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2018 and has developed into a high-caliber setup man poised to become Milwaukeeâ€s closer. Venezuelan catcher Jeferson Quero, signed for $200,000 in 2019, is now on the cusp of backing up William Contreras in the majors after battling back from 2024 shoulder surgery.
Now leading the prospect charge is Dominican shortstop Made, who signed in January 2024 for $950,000. The 18-year-old has followed the Chourio track by going from the Dominican Summer League directly to full-season ball. He played for Low-A Carolina, High-A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi in 2025 and was the starting second baseman in the Southern League playoffs.
“Over time weâ€ve just continued to spend minutes on the space and been getting it right,†Arnold said. “I love that space so much. When you fly into Santo Domingo, or a lot of these countries, you just fly over baseball fields. Theyâ€re everywhere, and I think thatâ€s so cool. And when you get there, the people just love the sport.
“And so youâ€re working from a great foundation. Itâ€s like, ‘Letâ€s get together and see what we can do to find the best players.†That requires a lot of work, but when you love what you do and youâ€re partnering with people in the same space who love the same thing, thatâ€s a lot of fun.
“I think thatâ€s been a huge part of our success … we have a lot of people who love baseball and try to work hard to find good players.â€
Developing so much young talent helps allow the Brewers to, essentially, plug and play when they inevitably move to trade their impending free agents, such as Corbin Burnes in 2023, Williams in 2024 and perhaps Freddy Peralta this offseason.
“We have to make some tough decisions,†Arnold said. “Weâ€ve had to make some very tough trades. In some cases, weâ€ve elected not to make trades, and sometimes those trades that you donâ€t make (e.g. Willy Adames in 2024) turn out to be the best.â€
Another sign of how serious Milwaukee is in becoming a major player in Latin America was its investment in building a state-of-the-art academy in Santo Domingo Este that opened in January 2024.
“A tremendous amount of credit goes to our ownership for supporting that vision,†Arnold said. “When you make an investment in a space like that, it needs to be good, and I think our facility is the best in the sport right now in Latin America.
“Itâ€s been a game-changer for us. A first-class facility.â€
Milwaukee will also have another first-class facility opening in 2026 when the Low-A Wilson Warbirds play their inaugural season in North Carolina. Previously the Carolina Mudcats, the affiliate has been owned by the Brewers since they purchased it in October 2017.
Wilson Stadium, a $70 million facility, will share a 25-year lease with the Brewers moving forward.
In 2019, the Brewers completed a $60 million renovation of their Phoenix complex, their headquarters for spring training and home base for minor leaguers and injured players who are rehabbing.
“The goal here is to be best in class in everything,†Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said. “We understand in baseball, weâ€re small, but we still need to be best in class and weâ€re always looking at what other clubs are doing and doing better than we are, and we try to emulate them and make sure we can do it, too.â€
Arnold just completed his 10th season with Milwaukee, having initially come aboard with Stearns back in October 2015. Heâ€s steadily climbed the ladder ever since, being named GM in November 2020 and then ascending to the top rung on the baseball operations side in October 2022.
Milwaukee hasnâ€t skipped a beat under his leadership, either, in the wake of Stearns†high-profile departure to the Mets following the 2023 season. That theme also played out in the dugout with Pat Murphy replacing Craig Counsell as manager after the latterâ€s defection to the rival Cubs a little over a month after Stearns left.
Arnold was named BA Major League Executive of the Year in 2024 and Murphy followed with Manager of the Year award in 2025.
Arnoldâ€s trusted group of lieutenants—Matt Kleine, Karl Mueller, Will Hudgins and Matt Klentak—remains in place.
Senior vice president of player operations and baseball administration Tom Flanagan just completed his 36th season in the organization, and vice president of amateur acquisition Tod Johnson is now nine years into his role overseeing the draft while collaborating with vice president of domestic and international scouting James Armstrong.
“What weâ€ve tried to do is promote from within and give people authority to try to put them in a position to succeed,†Attanasio said.
The baseball operations group has also doubled in size over the last decade as the organization completely revamped its approach from the ground up and switched focus to the analytics-based approach that has overtaken baseball.
“The success so far has been a culmination of years of really good process,†Attanasio said. “In my investment business, you talk about good people, good processes and good performance.
“We have great people here and we have a really disciplined process that is always being refined.â€
And so it goes for the Brewers, who will more than likely pull off an offseason trade or two, make a few more low-profile acquisitions and once again enter spring training to minimal fanfare only to once again defy expectations and compete for the NL Central division title.
“Itâ€s not only one thing,†said outfielder Christian Yelich, who got in on the ground floor of the Brewers†renaissance back in 2018. “Thatâ€s the one thing everyone wants—this one secret thing, like, ‘Oh wow, I never thought of it that way.â€
“Itâ€s not that. Itâ€s just a combination of a lot of stuff that leads to one big thing.â€
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