For a franchise that has spent the last decade living in the postseason conversation, Tuesday still delivered a strange little checkpoint for the Milwaukee Brewers.
A win over the Cardinals in the first game of their doubleheader on July 7, 2026 pushed Milwaukee above .500 as a National League club for the first time since Aug. 4, 1998, when the Brewers were 57-56. The second game of the doubleheader only widened that margin, leaving the franchise at 2,262-2,261-1 in National League play.
That number lands differently when you look back at where this organization has been. Milwaukee joined the National League in 1998 after MLB expanded to 30 teams and shifted the Brewers from the AL Central to the NL Central. The first season in the new league was rough - a 74-88 finish and fifth place in the division - and the late-season collapse that year erased what had briefly been a winning record.
What followed was a long stretch of lean baseball. The early 2000s were especially ugly, with the Brewers posting a franchise-worst 56-106 record in 2002. The years around it weren’t much prettier: 68-94 in 2001 and 2003, 67-94 in 2004, and then another 68-94 season in 2015 after a brutal finish to 2014.
That 2015 club opened 7-18, leading to the firing of manager Ron Roenicke on May 3, 2015 and the promotion of Craig Counsell. By Aug. 13, 2016, Milwaukee had sunk to its low point of 196 games under .500, according to Brewers senior director of media relations Mike Vassallo.
“The #Brewers are now 2,262-2,261-1 all time as a member of the National League and are over .500 for the first time since they were 57-56 on 8/4/98.
The team joined the Senior Circuit in 1998 and was as many as 196 games under .500 on 8/30/16. #ThisIsMyCrew”
Since that late-August 2016 nadir, the Brewers have done nothing but win, with the exception of the 2020 season that “really shouldn't count in the record books.” Over the nine seasons since that low point, Milwaukee has gone 197 games above .500, a turnaround that stands out even without a World Series title to show for it.
That bigger picture matters, too. The Brewers have qualified for the playoffs seven times over the last eight seasons, and their current run traces back to 2017, when a young group of prospects and castoffs from other teams came within one game of the postseason.
That near miss convinced the front office to buy in, and the additions of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich in January 2018 changed everything. Nine months later, Milwaukee reached the NLCS, and outside of 2022, it has been in the postseason every year since.
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Gary Snchez Keeps Creating One Brewers Problem They Cannot Afford
Gary Snchez has been a useful bat for the Brewers this season, but his work at the plate has come with a different kind of attention too. In a year when Milwaukee has the fewest challenges in baseball, Snchez has been one of the clubs most frequent users of them, and his willingness to push nearly every close call has become part of his profile.
The problem is that the approach has not paid off nearly enough. Snchez has piled up more lost challenges than anyone else in the league, and he is responsible for a huge share of Milwaukees hitter challenges, which can matter when a team needs to save those chances for the biggest moments. The Brewers can live with an aggressive edge from a player producing offensively, but they could use a little more selectivity if they want those challenges to count when it really matters. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Chourio Had Brewers Fans Doing A Double Take Late
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It was the kind of odd, late-night wrinkle that can only happen in a marathon game, and both Chourio and manager Pat Murphy seemed to enjoy the novelty of it. Murphy noted how unusual the swing was, while the whole scene fit the feel of an extra-inning game that had already drifted well beyond the ordinary. [Read more 🡒]
One Brewers Bat Is Suddenly Looking Like Tonights Power Play
Jackson Chourio has been one of the Brewers most intriguing power bets lately, and the case for him on July 8 starts with how often the ball has been leaving his bat. He has 13 home runs in 57 games, and the recent surge has only sharpened the attention around him as Milwaukee keeps looking for middle-order thump that can change a game in one swing.
The matchup only adds to the appeal, with the Brewers facing the Cardinals and right-hander Michael McGreevy, who has already given up 13 homers in 17 appearances. Chourios success against right-handed pitching has been part of the conversation too, which is why he stands out in this spot even if the final result is still the kind of thing that can turn on one well-placed pitch. [Read more 🡒]