We have been saying it for years that the new Moneyball formula is what the Brewers and Royals were trying to put together with second-tier pitchers, above average bullpens, and that Billy Beane style of the Oakland A’s Moneyball era OBP that would turn into a top run scoring offense.

While the Royals didn’t get there ultimately to prolonged winning, the Brewers seem to be the model here. They don’t have any big-time free agents. The average fan outside of Milwaukee would struggle to give one name on their roster beyond Christian Yelich or Jackson Chourio or Jacob Misiorowski. That Brewers team won 103 games with a payroll of $154 million this year.

Did you know that in 2025, the Brewers and Nats had the same $140 million Opening Day payroll? Kind of amazing considering this year that they are paying Brandon Woodruff over $22 million, and he has been injured most of the season after only pitching in 46 full innings this season.

It’s always about how you spend the money. The Brewers, besides missing on Woodruff, has spent wisely. They have a team leader in Yelich who was named their captain. Their top player was Brice Turang in the regular season. In the postseason, a whole bunch of players have stepped up.

The Brewers were second in runs scored, just ahead of the Nationals. The Brewers also were second in taking their walks, and first in most pitches seen by their offense. They were also excellent in pitching as Milwaukee had the second best team ERA at 3.51 and their bullpen was even better with a 3.40 ERA. To add to all of this, the Brewers had the 4th highest ranked defense in Defensive Runs Saved.

What the Brewers have is total team balance. Winning in the postseason usually requires some X Factor and some luck — we will see if they have that too. Certainly that roof obstruction in Game 1 of the NLDS proved that they had luck on their side in that game.

Obviously the Brewers drafted well with Misiorowski, Turang, and seven other key players as well as Chourio and others through the international signing classes, and a few key trades and under the radar free agent signings where they didn’t spend a lot.

Over at Wilytics, they also saw this trend with the Nationals with the increase in teaching bat speed and turning that into more offensive output to generate additional run scoring. Wilytics showed that as a parallel to the Brewers. Wilytics is a popular digital sports content creator known for analyzing and talking about Major League Baseball (MLB) from a statistical and analytical perspective.

Across social media platforms, Wilytics focuses on deep-dives into advanced baseball data (sabermetrics), player mechanics, value estimators, and roster breakdowns.

Give this video a watch:

In April, the Nationals swept the Brewers in Milwaukee. Overall, the Nats finished their head-to-head matchup with a 4-2 record against the Brewers during the 2026 season. That certainly seemed like a step in the right direction for the Nationals.