2026 MLB Postseason

I can't believe it's almost October already!  I feel like I've been writing the same thing about the Brewers for the last 5 years or so, but I'll say it again - they overachieved and stunned the baseball world yet again this season in route to the best record in MLB at 103-59.  The 103 wins topped last year's franchise record of 97, and this group keeps getting better.  Despite making their 8th postseason in the last 9 years, with their 4th straight division title, they were picked before the season to finish just 83-79 this year with 41% playoff odds.  I'm not sure what it will take to ever change people's perceptions of this team, but I know that Murph and the boys wouldn't have it any other way and prefer being the underdog.  Captain Yelich and Sal Frelick took a bit of a step back this year, but by and large almost everyone else on the team enjoyed marked improvement, and in some cases the best seasons of their career.  It takes breakout seasons from a number of folks to win in the margins like we do, and we got just that from players like Jake Bauers, Joey Ortiz, Garrett Mitchell, DL Hall, Logan Henderson, and likely Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski.  It also takes meaningful contributions from rookies for teams like us to enjoy success, and that is easy to see with our rotation that has a combined years of experience less than some team's aces.  Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara stepped right into the fire and have looked the part from day one.  It's hard not to be hopeful and it's hard not to say this every year - and I have - but I truly believe this team has the talent to go all the way this year.  It objectively feels like our most complete team since the 2018 season, in which we were just one win away from reaching the World Series.

There were plenty of other exciting non-Brewers storylines this year - or lack thereof in the case of the historically horrendous American League.  The AL saw a team in the White Sox go from three consecutive 100-loss seasons to making the playoffs because their league is so horrible, and it also features the Astros winning the West despite not having a winning record.  The Phillies were almost this year's Mets and avoided a near-epic collapse by clinching on the final day of the season.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cal Raleigh, and their respective teams, had two of the most mind-boggling disappointing seasons in recent memory, while the Red Sox were so bad they got Alex Cora fired before turning it around to make the playoffs.  Shohei proved he was human and the Dodgers are noticeably aging before our eyes, but they still won 100 games.  First-ballot Hall-of-Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer both (probably) closed out their storied careers this weekend and finished within just 3 career strikeouts of each other.  And I also suppose I have to mention PCA notching the seventh 40-40 season in MLB history.  Hopefully the 2026 season will be remembered for the positives and not for the impending lockout.

I picked the Dodgers over the Mariners in the World Series before the season, as I'm sure just about everybody did.  Hopefully this is finally the Brewers year!

PLAYOFFS START 9/29/26
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Braves host #6 Phillies, #4 Padres host #5 Cubs
NLDS - #1 Brewers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Dodgers v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Astros host #6 White Sox, #4 Yankees host #5 Red Sox
ALDS - #1 Rays v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Guardians v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Brewers defeat Rays in 6
Rooting for: Brewers v. Guardians

Preseason Predictions:
#1 Phillies
#2 Dodgers
#3 Brewers
#4 Mets
#5 Cubs
#6 Giants

#1 Red Sox
#2 Tigers
#3 Mariners
#4 Yankees
#5 Orioles
#6 Blue Jays

Preseason World Series Prediction: Dodgers defeat Mariners

FINAL STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/28/26:

Brewers 103-59, +14.0, 1st NL Central; NLDS v. 4/5 Winner

Twins 77-85, - 8.0, 3rd AL Central; eliminated

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 8

Peter - 25

Ranking the MLB Mascot Races

In honor of the Brewers' Chorizo Racing Sausage celebrating his/her/their/its 20th birthday this summer, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 5 MLB mascot races (mostly just because I love ranking things).  I originally wanted to rank all 30, but I quickly realized that many teams have either a very lackluster race or none at all.  The only rule I gave myself was that I could only rank races I've seen in person.

1.  Milwaukee Brewers - The Famous Racing Sausages

As subjective and ridiculous as this list is, I don't think you'll get an argument from anybody on #1.  It is the original live mascot race dating back to 1993, and has its origins on the old pixelated County Stadium jumbotron even before that.  Probably best known outside of Milwaukee as the race that got Randall Simon fined for disorderly conduct.

2.  Washington Nationals - Presidents Race

This is a bit of a sentimental pick for me.  I attended many Nats games during their inaugural season of 2005 while living in DC, and thus got to see one of their first races, which like the Brewers' race began as an animated jumbotron race.  The running joke for years was that Teddy Roosevelt never won a race, but that finally changed in 2012.  Primarily the race features the 4 Mount Rushmore presidents, but there have been some other guest presidents mixed in here and there.

3.  Pittsburgh Pirates - Great Pierogi Race

The Pierogis round out what are probably the 3 most iconic mascot races.  This race started shortly after the Sausage Race and now features 6 flavored participants.  There has been no retaliation yet on Potato Pete for the aforementioned Randall Simon assault as far as I know.

4.  Cleveland Guardians - Hot Dog Derby

There are several teams that have pretty much the exact same race including Kansas City and Baltimore, but Cleveland is the first and the best so it earns the spot in my rankings.  It's not so much a hot dog race as it is a condiment race, with the competitors being Ketchup, Mustard, and Onion.  Incidentally, Cleveland's "world famous" mustard is the best condiment in all of baseball outside of Milwaukee's Secret Stadium Sauce.

5.  Minnesota Twins - Race to Target Field

I was deciding between this and the Mariners' Salmon Run for the final spot, but I gotta be a homer on this one.  This race was introduced upon the opening of Target Field in 2010 and features anthropomorphic representations of various Minnesota creatures, including Babe the Blue Ox, the Target dog, and a giant mosquito.

Honorable Mentions:

Cincinnati Reds Mascot Race - probably the one I've seen the most outside of the Sausages, and I have many fond college memories of this one.

Atlanta Braves "Beat the Freeze" - this isn't truly a mascot race, but it's better than everything else on this list so I have to mention it.  The Freeze is played by a professional track sprinter who races an ordinary fan from pole to pole along the outfield warning track, but the gimmick is that the fan gets about a halfway head start and still almost always loses.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/14/26:

Brewers 93-57, +10.0, clinched playoffs; 3 @ Pirates, 3 @ Orioles, 3 @ Phillies, 3 v. Cardinals

Twins 70-79, - 6.0, -5.5 WC; 3 v. Yankees, 4 @ Angels, 3 @ Giants, 3 v. Rangers

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 8

Peter - 25