Milwaukee’s playoff run has already put it in rare company.
The Brewers lost NLDS Game 3 to the Padres, so an undefeated postseason is off the table. But they’re still sitting on an 8-1 record in the 2026 playoffs after beating the Rays 3-2 in World Series Game 1, and that kind of start is enough to stack up against some of the most dominant October teams in recent memory.
Since the Wild Card Era began in 1995, no club has gone through the postseason without a loss. The only perfect postseason in the Divisional Era belonged to the 1976 Reds, who went 7-0. So while Milwaukee can’t chase that kind of spotless run, it can still keep climbing the list of best single-postseason winning percentages.
One of the gold standards came in 2005, when the White Sox posted an 11-1 mark on the way to their first championship since 1917. Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye and a deep starting rotation powered a Chicago team that dropped only Game 1 of the ALCS to the Angels and then finished the job.
The 1999 Yankees were right there too, finishing 11-1 for a .917 winning percentage. In the heart of their late-1990s surge, New York rolled through October until Pedro Martinez - coming off one of the greatest seasons ever by a pitcher - beat them in Game 3 of the ALCS for their lone postseason loss.
Houston turned in one of the modern power runs in 2022, going 11-2 for a .846 mark. The Astros were 106-56 in the regular season, won the AL West by 16 games and earned the AL’s No. 1 seed.
After the bye, they swept the Mariners in the ALDS and the Yankees in the ALCS before the Phillies snapped their seven-game postseason winning streak with a Game 1 World Series win in Houston. Philadelphia then won two of the first three, but the Astros finished with three straight victories to take the title.
The 1998 Yankees matched that same .882 type of dominance with a 12-2 postseason run. Cleveland grabbed two games from New York in the ALCS, but the Yankees swept the Padres and claimed the first of three consecutive World Series titles.
A little farther down the list are several teams at 11-3 and .786, each with its own October signature. The 2018 Red Sox won a franchise-record 108 games and then dropped exactly one game in each round on the way to a championship.
The 2008 Phillies did the same, riding Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels to the franchise’s first World Series title in 28 years. They lost one game apiece in the NLDS, NLCS and World Series.
Boston showed up again in 2007, when the Red Sox won their second World Series in four seasons. They needed seven games to get past Cleveland in the ALCS, but they didn’t lose again that postseason.
The 2004 Red Sox are remembered first for the comeback from a 3-0 hole against the Yankees in the ALCS, but their overall run was just as impressive. They scored 25 runs while sweeping the Angels in the ALDS and then swept the Cardinals to end one of the most infamous championship droughts in sports history.
And before all of that, the 1995 Braves put together one of the strongest postseason runs of the early Wild Card Era. Atlanta won the World Series that year while losing just one combined game to the Rockies and Reds, then beat Cleveland in six games. It was the franchise’s only title during a stretch of 14 straight postseason appearances from 1991-2005.
In Other News...
This Brewers Fan's World Series Routine Says Everything About Milwaukee
For nearly four decades, Koehler has treated Brewers games as part of the rhythm of life in Milwaukee. Since moving to the Story Hill neighborhood in 1986, he has walked to every home game, and his connection to the team goes back even farther, as a season ticket holder since 1982. It is the sort of routine that says as much about the city as it does about the fan, steady, loyal and built around showing up.
Even a badly broken leg has not pulled him off that path. He still managed to get to Opening Day with a cane and help from an usher, and he has kept up his game-day routine during the Brewers' World Series appearance. Koehler says he plans to keep attending as long as he is physically able, which is about as fitting a Milwaukee baseball answer as there is. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Ashby Is Giving The Brewers A World Series X-Factor
Aaron Ashby has become one of the Brewers biggest reasons for believing this October can last a little while longer. Used by Pat Murphy in multi-inning relief stints, Ashby has taken on a heavy postseason role and delivered the kind of stability every contender covets from the bullpen. He has already picked up multiple wins and saves, and his ability to bridge high-leverage innings has helped Milwaukee keep rolling all the way to the World Series.
What makes Ashby so valuable is not just that he has been available, but that the Brewers have trusted him in spots where games can turn quickly. Murphy has leaned on him to cover more than just a clean inning here and there, and Ashby has answered by giving Milwaukee length, poise and run prevention in the middle of the chaos that defines October. If the Brewers are going to keep pushing deeper into the series, his role figures to remain central. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers World Series Win Is Now Caught In A Bigger MLB Debate
The Brewers Game 2 win in the World Series came with plenty of drama long before the final out, as Tampa Bay jumped ahead 4-0 after Liam Hicks home run and then watched Milwaukee claw all the way back for a 5-4 victory. What should have been remembered as a tense October comeback instead turned into a night people kept talking about for how it ended, with the last pitch drawing immediate attention from everyone watching.
The debate only grew louder afterward as the closing call became the focal point of the game, overshadowing the Brewers rally and the Rays missed chance to protect that early cushion. Joe Davis used the moment to argue that MLB should find a way to review check swings, a suggestion that fits neatly into a bigger question the league has been wrestling with whenever a postseason game hangs on one borderline judgment. [Read more 🡒]