Matty Fred, a Cardinals blogger and frequent poster to Minor League Ball, made some comments that may be indicative of a broader trend: people in the rest of the world are sitting up and taking notice:
The Brew Crew is developing as 2006's version of 2005's Tribe. Just as in Cleveland, Milwaukee has laid the groundwork for sustained success by drafting and developing a core of quality players and then supplementing the core with smart trades and cost-effective signings. Also like Cleveland, Milwaukee came up with a "five-year plan" a few years ago and has diligently stuck to it. I also have a feeling that, just like Cleveland, the fruition of the Brewers' five-year plan will come earlier than expected. Perhaps the Brewers won't have quite enough in 2006, but by 2007 they surely will, and Milwaukee baseball fans will have an exciting and entertaining team to cheer along with Bernie Brewer and racing sausages. The scary thing for the rest of the NL Central is that Milwaukee could be very good for a long time. The team is young, and its core won't be eligible for free agency for several years.
Of course, we've all known this for a while, but I understand that fans outside of Milwaukee aren't about to quake in their boots at the prospect of a team cracking .500 for the first time in recent memory. But now--now, we're in the game.