After officially clinching a playoff berth, is it time to call the Milwaukee Brewers favorites to win it all?
After shutting out the Cincinnati Reds 20-0, the Milwaukee Brewers became the first National League team to clinch a spot in the postseason.
The team also made history during the dominant victory, becoming the first team to record multiple shutout wins by 20-plus runs, with the other win coming against the Seattle Mariners nearly a month ago.
Throughout Friday's victory, multiple Brewers players set career highs, and in Milwaukee's case, it's hard not to view them as the best team in baseball and the favorites to win the World Series.
While they are still battling the reigning champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, for the top seed in the NL, the Brewers have been the most consistent team and have remained healthy for the most part
Milwaukee has a winning record against all other top NL teams, including the Dodgers and its division rival, the Chicago Cubs, whom it swept earlier in the week and has beaten in nine of the 13 meetings between the two.
Over the past few seasons, the Brewers have found themselves on the doorstep of a championship but have consistently fallen short, including last season, when they lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS.
However, it feels like this is the year for Milwaukee, especially since the Dodgers have faced the most adversity over the past three seasons, with injuries to their top players, most notably Shohei Ohtani being placed on the Injured List.
Whereas the Brewers look to be the most complete they've ever been, with a bullpen led by the likely Cy Young winner, Jacob Misorowski, who has taken the league by storm with his nearly unhittable fastball.
The team may rank 29th in home runs for the year, but they have still found ways to score runs, ranking first in hits and third in RBIs, thanks to their players' ability to get on base and avoid leaving runs on the board.
With only two weeks left in the regular season, if the Brewers hold off the Dodgers, they can secure home-field advantage, which could be the deciding factor in finally getting the job done.
Nonetheless, the team knows that even with home-field advantage, it doesn't guarantee that their regular-season success will carry into the postseason. Still, if they have truly learned from past failures, they'll know what it takes to finally get that monkey off their backs and bring home a World Series to Milwaukee.
