The Brewers are the bright spot of an overcast Wisconsin sports scene

The Brewers had an amazing season in 2025. They put together a surprise league-leading regular season and rode that into a small playoff run. Most fans would say that everything is looking bright for the team. It’s a positive mark in the Wisconsin sports scene, which doesn’t look as good when you look outside the Brewers.

When it comes to Wisconsin sports, it almost always begins with the Packers. They’re the most popular team in the state by far, and that’s not changing anytime soon. However, it’s been a rough season for them. They will make the playoffs again, though they’ll be the bottom seed in the NFC for the third straight year. While it’s still been good in that regard, the last few weeks of the regular season have been dismal. Injuries hit the team hard and took them from a potential Super Bowl contender to a team that will limp into the playoffs. Injuries to key players have been part of the reason, with the most recent two being Micah Parson’s ACL tear, and Jordan Love’s concussion and shoulder injury. There’s still a chance they turn it around with a playoff run, but it’s a low point for the Packers right now.

Next up are the Bucks. In terms of a championship, they have the most recent one of the big three pro teams, winning the NBA Finals in 2021. However, they are on track to have their worst season since 2015-016. They are sitting at 14-19 after 33 games. A major reason for that has been injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo; the Bucks are 2-11 with him inactive this season. He has returned to the lineup recently and the Bucks have won two straight games. There’s still time for a turnaround this season, but the halfway point is approaching, and they’ll need a healthy Antetokounmpo to make it happen.

Moving on to college sports, the big team in the state is the Badgers. In college football, they have posted back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the 1990s. They had the second-lowest point scored total in all of Division 1 FBS football and had an infamous streak of games with no touchdowns scored. The men’s basketball team is looking better at 8-4, but conference play is just beginning. There’s also Marquette for the major college basketball teams, but they’re having a rougher season at 5-8.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are coming off one of their best seasons in franchise history. They had a franchise-best 97 wins that led all of baseball. They made a run to the National League Championship Series before losing to the eventual World Series champions. Entering next season, almost all of the key contributors are returning. They have a young team that is on track to continue to grow. It’s one of the brightest times for the franchise.

That doesn’t mean it’s all good for the Brewers, though. They still play in a competitive division, where they’ll have to best the Cubs, who are also looking strong. There’s also the Reds who are in the picture, and a late season playoff run has them entering 2026 with confidence. Outside the division, the Dodgers continue to loom over the National League with a superstar team that is difficult to beat. Other large market teams also remain a factor with bigger payrolls, and a potential work stoppage after the 2026 season is in the picture.

One advantage that the Brewers have — if you can call it an advantage — is that the Brewers have regularly entered the season with “lower” expectations. Since they have built their roster mainly with internal prospects and rarely make big signings in free agency, they have regularly entered the season as underdogs. When the season goes better than expected, it’s seen more favorably. On the other side, compare it to the Packers and Bucks, who have regularly entered seasons with high expectations. As a result, when they don’t live up to those expectations, it’s seen as a worse season despite being a good season from an objective standpoint.

That’s why this is more of an “overcast” time for Wisconsin sports, rather than a “dreary” one. Objectively, the pro teams are still showing some success, even if it’s not what fans want to see completely. Meanwhile, not many fans of the Packers or Bucks would say that it’s a good time for either team. As for the Brewers, it depends on the fan. If it’s a fan who looks at the whole picture of the season, they would say it’s been a really good year. On the other side, if it’s a fan that looks at just the playoffs, they might be more negative based on being swept in the NLCS.

For the moment, it’s still a positive outlook heading into 2026 for the Brewers. They have become just as competitive as the Packers and Bucks, escaping from the shadows that they lived in for a couple of decades. While the outlook for the other teams may not be as good right now, they can be the bright spot in state sports for a while.