The Milwaukee Brewers had a great season in 2023, winning the NL Central division, and they hope to continue that success in 2024. Repeating as division champions isn’t easy, but Milwaukee believes they can accomplish it.
Last year, the Brewers finished the regular season with a 92-70 record, nine games ahead of the Chicago Cubs, who placed second in the National League Central. Milwaukee was swept in the first round of the playoffs, but they are hoping to recreate their regular-season dominance and avenge their bad playoff showing.
“You know, I hesitate to say this,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio stated, according to a USA Today piece. “However, a club that was generally expected to win last year finished 21 games behind us. And we ended nine games ahead of the Cubs last season. So, I love the friendly rivalry, and we’ll simply focus on what we need to do in each game.”
Mark Attanasio’s comments came shortly after Cubs owner Tom Ricketts declared Chicago the division favorite. Last season, the Cardinals were the favorite, but they didn’t finish at the top of the standings.
Attanasio understands that the division will be competitive this season and that winning will be difficult, but he remains confident in his Brewers.
“Look, I think the division is clearly better this year,” Attanasio explained. “We discuss our young players, and the Cubs have a lot of fantastic young players. And the Cardinals are consistently good. They had some horrible luck last year, among other things. The Reds have some of the most intriguing young players on the pitch right now, including us, and the Pirates have improved. So, I believe it will be a more competitive division this year, which should make it more enjoyable. …I believe that rivalry is beneficial for baseball and even forthe teams that have the runaway trains in their division, there’s ways you can get into the playoffs. And that’s good for baseball.”
The Brewers share the same ambition as every other team in the MLB. They want to win the World Series, and Milwaukee has never achieved that ambition. That is difficult for an owner who cannot bear the thought of losing.
“I hate to lose,” Attanasio added. “I hate losing…”I never thought how difficult this would be. But I made a promise to always be competitive. And that’s difficult to do when the norm is to go all in to win and then rebuild. I never wanted to rebuild.Everyone uses a euphemism to express that they aren’t trying. I always want to try, so I don’t want to use euphemisms. The issue is that you don’t know you’re going to Take two steps forward. So we’re constantly striving to move forward.”
