Jay Jaffe, for those of you who don't keep track of these things, writes the weekly Prospectus Hit List, which is a super-stathead set of power rankings for the major leagues. It's based on PECOTAs, run differentials and--I'm convinced, and I have an inside source who supports me on this--a wee bit of the occult.
Long story short, he distills a whole bunch of data and ranks teams on much more than their won-loss records. That's encouraging, because he has the Brewers fifth in all of baseball after the first week and a half. There are no NL Central teams above us; in fact, the next rival on the list is the Reds at #9, and they don't really count. (After all, Enrique Cruz is on their roster right now.) The Cubs and Cardinals are back-to-back at #18 and #19.
Some of that headiness is due to PECOTA's optimism for Milwaukee, but a decent start with a better run differential helps, too. Regardless of why, I like it!