The Brewers are in Philadelphia with a lot already secured and just a couple more boxes left to check.
Milwaukee arrives for the opener Tuesday, Sept. 22 against the Phillies having locked up a division title, a franchise record for wins and a strong position for both a first-round playoff bye and the No. 1 seed in the National League. The only thing missing is the formal finish.
One more Brewers win, or one Atlanta Braves loss this week, would clinch the bye. The top overall seed is a little tighter, with Milwaukee holding only a two-game edge over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a magic number of four.
That means the Brewers are close to skipping the wild-card round entirely and setting up the National League Division Series at home. If they get the bye, they would host Game 1 on Saturday, Oct. 3 and Game 2 on Oct.
- Home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs takes a little more work, since that requires finishing ahead of the Dodgers.
The path is there, and the teams chasing Milwaukee are headed into busy weeks of their own. Atlanta, which sits at 92-64, opens a three-game set in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Sept. 22 before heading to Miami for three more. The Dodgers, at 96-60, get San Diego at home first, then finish with three games against San Francisco.
Philadelphia has plenty left to fight for, too. The Phillies are still trying to lock down a playoff berth, though their four-game cushion over Arizona with six games left makes that look pretty safe.
Their magic number is three heading into this series. They enter the matchup one game behind the Cubs and Padres in the wild-card race, and the standings get especially interesting because the Phillies own the tiebreaker over San Diego but not Chicago.
A strong series against Milwaukee could push them all the way to the No. 4 seed and home games in the wild-card round. A bad one could leave them stuck at No.
The pitching setup for the series is still coming together. Tuesday night at 5:40 p.m.
CT, the Brewers are listed as TBA against Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler, who is 13-5 with a 2.99 ERA. Wednesday at 5:40 p.m.
CT brings Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson, 10-3 with a 2.51 ERA, against Phillies right-hander Aaron Nolda, who is 7-10 with a 4.49 ERA. Thursday’s 5:05 p.m.
CT game has both starters listed as TBA. The series will air on Brewers.TV and AM-620 WTMJ radio.
Dustin May could also be in line for a start somewhere in the series, likely Thursday, Sept. 24, as Milwaukee tries to get him back on track after a rough outing Sept. 18.
He owns a 5.40 ERA in 32 innings with the Brewers. Tuesday would also make sense as a spot for newly recalled Colton Gordon to make his first start.
The Phillies come in off their own road swing, and it was a mixed one. They went 4-5 across Atlanta, Washington and New York, and their September has been much less explosive than August. After going 21-7 last month, Philadelphia is 8-10 in September.
Cristopher Sánchez is the headline name in the Phillies’ rotation, even though he won’t pitch in this series after working Sept. 20.
His 7.7 WAR leads all MLB starting pitchers, ahead of Jacob Misiorowski’s 6.1, and he’s put together a huge season: 18-6, 2.93 ERA, 200 innings, 221 strikeouts and a 1.215 WHIP. That WAR gap, as the numbers suggest, comes from the innings he’s logged and the defensive help - or lack of it - behind him.
Wheeler has been excellent, too, returning from major injury to post a 2.99 ERA in 150 innings. Jesús Luzardo has also been a major part of the staff, though he’s currently on the injured list with shoulder inflammation and appears to be on track for the playoffs.
The lineup brings the familiar names. Bryce Harper, 33, has played every game this year and carries an .873 OPS with 28 homers.
Kyle Schwarber, also 33, leads baseball with 45 home runs and has an .867 OPS. Other regulars have had rougher stretches: J.T.
Realmuto is at .631 OPS, Trea Turner at .681 and Brandon Marsh at .709. Deadline pickup Luis Arraez has been tough to handle at the plate, batting .285, but his OPS is still below .700.
Milwaukee also saw this opponent earlier in the season and took two of three at American Family Field from June 12-14. The opener was the one everyone remembers: Jacob Misiorowski’s 6-0 complete-game one-hitter, when he faced the minimum and struck out 15 in what stands as the best single-game performance in Brewers history.
He pitched Sunday, so he is unlikely to appear in this series. Blake Perkins, now in the Cleveland Guardians organization, also had a big day in the Brewers’ 4-0 win over Sánchez.
The Brewers dropped the middle game, 9-8, after nearly erasing an 8-3 deficit in the seventh.
Milwaukee’s playoff picture could still get even better. The Brewers begin the series with a 2½-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in baseball, which would mean World Series home-field advantage if they finish there.
Because Milwaukee beat Tampa Bay in a series earlier this season and owns the tiebreaker, that lead effectively works out to three games. The magic number there is four.
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