When the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs in the opener of a 5-game series, it bunched the top 4 NL wild-card contenders within 5 1/2 games.

The Milwaukee Brewers set a single-season franchise record with their 14th straight victory Saturday. And, in keeping with recent form, it wasn’t easy.

Generally speaking, I start eyeing a topic for the Power Rankings intro around Friday. Last Sunday, though, I told myself one thing was off-limits: I'm not writing on the Brewers again. I had done so two straight weeks and three of the last four.

On the other hand, via Clay Davenport's third-order wins and losses, which project a team's winning percentage based on underlying statistics adjusted for quality of opponents, the Brewers are neck-and-neck with the Cubs,

By Grant Brisbee, Chad Jennings and Levi Weaver Every week,​ we​ ask a selected group of our baseball​ writers​ — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results.

Cincinnati Reds’ Trade Deadline Addition Ke'Bryan Hayes Draws Big Compliment from Milwaukee Brewers Manager Pat Murphy

Jose Trevino powered the Reds with clutch hits and defense as Cincinnati ended the Brewers’ 14-game win streak in extra innings.

The Reds played clean baseball Sunday to beat the Brewers, but defensive lapses earlier cost them the series — again.