Brewers crown baseball’s best farm system in 2026 shakeup
The race for Major League Baseball’s next wave of stars is already unfolding far from big league stadiums. According to Keith Law of The Athletic, no organization enters 2026 with a stronger minor league foundation than the Milwaukee Brewers.
Law released his full farm system rankings on Jan. 29 as part of his annual prospect coverage, evaluating all 30 franchises based on the overall strength and depth of their developmental pipelines. The Brewers lead the list, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners joining them in Tier 1.
How the rankings were determined
According to The Athletic, the evaluation only includes players who remain in their club’s system and have not lost rookie eligibility. Law does not count veterans from Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization, and he excludes most international free agents who signed on Jan. 15 due to limited recent scouting information.
Rather than concentrating solely on elite prospects, Law assesses the entire system. In his reporting, organizational depth, including players projected as role contributors or trade assets, plays a meaningful role in determining overall strength.
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For a second consecutive year, he organized teams into tiers instead of relying strictly on numerical order, a format designed to provide broader context around competitive gaps between clubs.
Depth beyond the top tier
Behind Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Seattle, Tier 2 consists of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Guardians and Washington Nationals.
Tier 3 includes the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. The New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies appear in Tier 4.
Six teams fall into Tier 5, among them the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.
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At the lower end of the rankings, the Los Angeles Angels place 29th, while the San Diego Padres rank 30th in Tier 8.
What the full prospect landscape reveals
The farm system rankings accompany Law’s Top 100 prospects list, led by Konnor Griffin, as well as a separate “Just Missed” group of players who narrowly fell short of inclusion.
Taken together, the evaluation underscores how front offices are prioritizing scouting reach and player development depth. According to Keith Law’s analysis in The Athletic, sustained competitiveness increasingly depends on building a steady internal pipeline rather than relying exclusively on established major league acquisitions.
Sources: The Athletic
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