The Milwaukee Brewers have been one of the league’s most successful teams over the course of the past 10 years – winning tons of games despite plenty of roster turnover.
If there’s one organization that has changed their leaguewide perception more than anyone else in the past decade, it would undoubtedly be the Milwaukee Brewers.
Long-known as a perennially mediocre franchise with playoff appearances few and far in between, the Brewers have catapulted themselves into relevance in the past 10 years, cementing themselves as the team to beat in the NL Central in the 2020’s.
After making the NL Central race with the Chicago Cubs interesting in 2017, the Brewers won the crown over their Windy City rivals in a tiebreaker game in 2018, beginning a current stretch of making the postseason in seven of the last eight seasons.
The playoffs in 2026 look to be a lock as well, with the Brewers holding a 4.5 game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central with around five weeks left in this year’s regular season.
While former NL MVP Christian Yelich has served as a constant on the Brewers of the 2020’s, much of the team’s success can be attributed to the franchise’s excellent player development, which has maintained a steady flow of MLB-ready prospect talent that contributes at the big league level.
Outside of Yelich, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio, who form the nucleus of the Brewers’ offensive core, Milwaukee has had notable contributions from a variety of journeymen over the years – owing to a savvy front office that has always seemed to be a step or two ahead of the rest of the league when it comes to finding diamonds in the rough.
Here’s a look at some players many fans likely forgot ever suited up for the Brew Crew while looking back at what has been the most successful decade in Brewers franchise history:
1. Curtis Granderson, OF (2018, 19 regular season games, 7 playoff games)
One of the better players of his generation, Curtis Granderson gained most of his accolades as a member of the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees before becoming a well-traveled veteran in the later stages of his career.
One year removed from the conclusion of a four-year deal signed with the New York Mets, Granderson had bounced around as a trade deadline acquisition for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 before catching on with the Toronto Blue Jays to start the 2018 campaign.
With the Brewers in the thick of an intense division race down the stretch with the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee moved to acquire Granderson at the waiver-wire trade deadline, sending minor league prospect Demi Orimoloye back to Toronto for one month of Granderson’s services.
In 19 games with Milwaukee, Granderson was 9-for-41 with 12 runs, two home runs and 12 walks, good enough for a 128 OPS+ thanks to a .407 on-base percentage across the limited sample size. The veteran went on to appear in seven playoff games during the Brewers’ run to Game 7 of the NLCS, going 1-for-7 with a double.
Following the 2018 season, Granderson signed with the Miami Marlins as a free agent for 2019, where he spent the final year of his career. The 16-year veteran retired with 1,800 hits and 344 home runs in 2,057 games played, with 47 hits and nine home runs in 64 career playoff games. Granderson appeared in the Fall Classic on two occasions – with the 2006 Detroit Tigers and 2015 New York Mets.
2. Yasmani Grandal, C (2019, 153 games, 1 playoff game)
Perhaps only forgotten and overlooked due to this being a one-season tenure with the club, Yasmani Grandal was one of the best backstops in all of baseball during his one season with the Milwaukee Brewers, playing an indispensable role to a second consecutive playoff berth for the club.
Missing only nine games during the regular season, Grandal finished the season with 26 doubles, 28 home runs and 109 walks, crafting a slash line of .246/.380/.468/.848. The switch-hitting catcher ultimately compiled 2.5 WAR , falling in as the team’s seventh-most valuable player.
Grandal also got into action in the 2019 NL Wild Card Game, which went on to be the lone playoff game he would play in for the franchise. Despite a first-inning two-run home run that gave the Brewers an early lead, Milwaukee went on to squander their advantage late in the game to the Washington Nationals – who would go on to win the World Series.
As for Grandal, his 2019 season with the Brewers notched him his second career All-Star appearance while also earning him a 15th-place finish in NL MVP voting – serving as the ideal platform year before signing a four-year, $73 million deal with the Chicago White Sox that offseason.
Initially reaching the big leagues with the San Diego Padres in 2012, Grandal played three seasons with the club before making a name for himself with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2015-18. Following his four-year stint on Chicago’s South Side, Grandal played one season with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024 – his most recent playing time in the big leagues.
Grandal briefly spent time in the Boston Red Sox organization in 2025 before stepping away from the team, though he has not formally retired. Grandal posted 20.2 WAR across 1,307 MLB games, amassing 194 home runs and a career 110 OPS+.
In 40 career playoff games, Grandal was 13-for-102 with one double, six home runs and 23 walks, appearing in the World Series twice with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 and 2018.
3. Justin Grimm, RP (2020, 4 games)
While Grandal and Granderson were both well-known players who made forgotten pitstops in Milwaukee, Justin Grimm falls into a vastly different category as a seasoned reliever who made his name as part of a World Series-winning bullpen.
Initially reaching the big leagues with the Texas Rangers in 2012, Grimm was shipped to the Chicago Cubs at the 2013 trade deadline in a deal that sent starter Matt Garza back to Arlington.
Grimm went on to establish himself as a stalwart of the mid 2010’s Cubs bullpens, appearing in 263 games with the team from 2013-17 while posting a 3.82 ERA across those outings. After leaving Chicago, however, things started to go sideways for the righty reliever.
Grimm split the 2018 season between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners, ending with a ghastly 10.38 ERA over a combined 21 games – though Grimm managed a 1.93 ERA in his five appearances with the Mariners.
After bouncing around the minor league organizations of the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019, Grimm caught on with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2020 – though would only put up more middling results.
Only appearing in four games with the team, Grimm allowed nine hits and nine earned runs in just 4.2 innings, yielding four walks while also posting six strikeouts – leading to his release from the team in late August 2020.
Though the veteran didn’t make it back to The Show in 2021, Grimm went on to appear in 15 games with the Oakland Athletics in 2022, putting up a 4.11 ERA across 15.1 innings in 15 games.
Grimm retired with a career -2.5 WAR and a 20-23 record alongside a 5.10 ERA with 165 walks and 378 strikeouts in 376 innings of work. The reliever also has a championship ring, contributing with the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
4. Jordan Zimmermann, SP (2021, 2 games)
After spending much of the 2010’s as one of the game’s premier starting pitchers for the Washington Nationals, Zimmermann’s career hit a major roadblock after signing a lucrative deal with the Detroit Tigers before later going out with a whimper.
Zimmermann showed ace potential across a seven-season tenure in Washington, which saw the right-hander amass 19.5 WAR with a 70-50 record and 3.32 ERA, making him a top free agent target heading into the 2016 season.
The right-hander went on to ink a five-year, $110 million deal with the Tigers, which would go on to be one of the more disastrous signings for a starting pitcher in the sport’s history.
After five wildly unimpressive, injury-riddled seasons in Detroit, Zimmermann found an opportunity with the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2021 season, making one last attempt to extend an MLB career that once looked incredibly promising.
Ultimately, things did not work out for Zimmermann in Milwaukee, which saw him allow five earned runs and eight hits in just 5.2 innings of work across two appearances, walking two batters while not recording any strikeouts. On May 11, 2021, Zimmermann voluntarily retired from the team, marking an unceremonious end to his MLB career.
Zimmermann retired with 21.4 WAR and a 95-91 record with a career 4.07 ERA. The right-hander finished with 346 walks and 1,271 strikeouts in 1,614 innings of work with two career All-Star appearances. In the playoffs, Zimmermann made three appearances and two starts, recording one walk and 11 strikeouts in 12.2 innings with an 0-1 record and 4.26 ERA.
5. Julio Teheran, SP (2023, 14 games)
Initially emerging as a 20-year-old rookie with the Atlanta Braves in 2011, Teheran developed himself as a mainstay of the Braves rotation throughout the 2010’s before bouncing around a little bit in the back half of his career in the 2020’s.
After brief stops with the Los Angeles Angels, Detroit Tigers and the Mexican League, Teheran worked his way back into the big leagues as a depth piece with the Brewers in 2023.
Appearing in 14 games and making 11 starts, Teheran went 3-5 across 71.2 innings with 13 walks and 50 strikeouts, enough for a relatively serviceable 4.40 ERA. While Teheran still figured to be a league-average arm who limited walks, the long ball emerged as a problem for the veteran, who allowed 13 home runs during his time with the team.
Teheran was granted free agency following the conclusion of the season and would go on to make one more MLB start with the New York Mets in 2024. The righty veteran last played professional baseball in 2025, appearing for the Tijuana Toros in the Mexican League as well as for Team Colombia in World Baseball Classic qualifiers.
Teheran finished his MLB career with an 81-82 record, 19.7 WAR and a 3.85 ERA with 492 walks and 1,260 strikeouts in 1,470.2 innings. The righty appeared in four playoff games, finishing with an 0-2 record and 10.50 ERA, having allowed seven earned runs in six innings of work.
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