Cubs could lose their one NL Central advantage thanks to Brewers' World Series run

The Chicago Cubs have one advantage over every other team in the National League Central and it's their ability to flex their financial muscle in ways their rivals simply can't. Now, you can debate whether the front office has used that advantage in an effective manner, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Spotrac pegs the Cubs' 2026 total payroll at just a tick under $250 million, which ranked seventh in MLB. Every other NL Central team ranked in the bottom half of the league, with Milwaukee ($146M) at #19, Cincinnati ($128M) at #20, Pittsburgh ($106M) at #23 and St. Louis ($96M) at #27. Bad news? That $100+ million gap between the Cubs and Brewers could narrow as soon as next season.

When the Cubs poached Craig Counsell from Milwaukee three years ago, the thought and hope was they'd pried the mastermind behind their biggest rival's success. It turns out that wasn't the case, as Pat Murphy stepped in at the helm and after David Stearns bolted for New York, Matt Arnold took the reins and pulled off a series of savvy extensions, locking up Jackson Chourio, Luis Lara and Cooper Pratt long-term.

The Brewers have also assembled one of the top farm systems in the game, giving the big-league team a constant pipeline of young impact talent for years to come. All of these things culminated in Milwaukee winning a fourth-straight division title in 2026 - with a whopping 14-game advantage over the second-place Cubs.

Brewers' increased resources turns up the heat on Cubs, Jed Hoyer

Jed Hoyer is already getting pretty handily out-classed by Arnold and the Brewers' front office. The Cubs' farm system is considered a bottom-third group and lacks true blue-chip talent, the pitching staff at the big-league level is in shambles heading into the offseason.

He scored some big wins last winter and this spring, signing Alex Bregman in free agency and extending both Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner, but also had some big misses. Now, the Brewers will be able to spend more which, if nothing else, reduces the only advantage Chicago had over their northern foe.

We already knew it would take a near-perfect offseason from Hoyer to view the Cubs as a legitimate threat to make a run at de-throning the Brewers in 2027. This news only turns the heat up on him as he looks to deliver Chicago's first division-winning team (not counting the shortened 2020 season) in a decade.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow