A small-market team with fewer Instagram followers than most B-list influencers just won the World Series. In an age of big money and the enshittification of everything, the Milwaukee Brewers are exactly what we need right now.
Baseball has become obsessed with bright and shiny objects such as launch angles and exit velocities.
But the Brewers keep the main things the main things.
They are patient. They put the ball in play. They advance runners.
People have come to call this “Brewer ball,” but it’s actually just baseball played the right way—and it’s beautiful.
Brewers in 2022: 86 wins
Brewers in 2023: 92 wins
Brewers in 2024: 93 wins
Brewers in 2025: 97 wins
Brewers in 2026: 103 wins
And now World Series champions.
As I write in latest my book,
“The secret is there is no secret:
Consistency over intensity.
Fundamentals over fads.
Progress over perfection.
Over and over again.”
During their October run, the Brewers have won 11 of 13 games. Eight of those wins came from behind. That’s the most comeback wins in playoff baseball history.
“Worry is a waste of time,” says Brewers’ manager Pat Murphy. “Prepare for today and be aware of what it means for tomorrow.”
The Brewers are old-school. They don’t chase trends. Their payroll ranks 19th in baseball. They smoke teams that outspend them by over $150 million.
They are all about craft, and the proof is in the pudding.
Speaking of Murphy, he got his first real big league manager job at 65.
Since then, he’s won manager of the year twice.
Prior to that: he played in the minors (without ever getting called up), coached in college, coached in the minors, and was a bench coach in the pros. He’s no-thrills and hard working. Just like his ball club.
More than anything, in an area of glitz and glam and downright narcissism in sports and beyond, the Milwaukee Brewers are a team.
They sent 5 planes to Tampa for the World Series so the players’ families, entire front office staff, and scouting and development departments could attend.
They bunt and steal bases. They don’t have selfish celebrities.
They hit 3 home-runs in the World Series: the 7, 8, and 9 hitters.
When their star pitcher, Jacob Misiorowski had to leave the final game of the World Series with acute cramps, the bullpen came in and sealed the deal.
They win together.
I followed the Brewers’ run closely with my young son who loves baseball. There are so many great lessons. This team has chipped away by being relentlessly consistent over the past five years. The bigger the goal, the smaller the steps. When everyone was looking for the bright and shiny objects and quick fixes, the Brewers focused on the fundamentals. They do the little things right. They are a joy to watch.
I love this story so much. This team embodies The Way of Excellence. It’s an incredible illustration of what I write about in the book.
Pseudo-excellence loves complex metrics, hacks, secrets, bright and shiny objects, and trends. Actual excellence prizes nailing the fundamentals with relentless consistency and commitment. It’s about mastery and mattering.
The Brewers are a much-needed and utterly refreshing example of the real thing.
Hi Brad, there’s something deeper in Bauers’ story than perseverance, I think. He returned for the ‘profoundly practical’ reason of taking care of his family. Somewhere along the way, he rediscovered the freedom to play without making every outcome a judgment of his worth.
Letting go of attachment to results is precisely what allows excellence to emerge.
The Brewers seem to embody this collectively. Fundamentals, commitment, trust, and a willingness to compete without needing to control everything.
In today’s culture obsessed with extracting maximum value from everything, its encouraging to find humans who still care about doing something well, for its own sake. Thanks for sharing this one.
Maybe the Brewers winning the World Series in 2026 will open a portal out of the bad alternate universe we entered when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.