Milwaukee Brewers: Series With Cubs Could Determine Playoff Fate

The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in an unfavorable position in the playoff race in early September, making every game even more important.

To say this is a must-win series against the Cubs this weekend would be an understatement. The Milwaukee Brewers sit seven games back in the NL Central and four games back of the Cubs in the wild card race.

Four games against the Cubs at home is an ideal opportunity to make up some ground. Last year, the Brewers had six games against the Cubs in the final month and entered them behind by five games. They won four of the six, took some momentum into the final few weeks, and overtook the Cubs. They’re going to need that to happen again this year.

Only they’ll also need to overtake the Cardinals as well for that division title, which is a much tougher task given the way both teams have been playing.

What They Need From The Cubs Series

At an absolute minimum, the Brewers need to take three of four in this series. That would allow them to pick up two games on the Cubs and sit just two games back with a few weeks to go.

Ideally, the Brewers need a sweep of this series to get themselves back in good shape for a playoff run. They sit four games back of the Cubs, with four games against them. It’s everything the Milwaukee Brewers need to jump back into the heart of the race.

A series split or a series loss would be devastating to the Crew’s already dimming playoff hopes. Fangraphs has the Brewers at a 9.2% chance to make the playoffs, with only a 1.6% chance of winning the division.

Winning at least three in this series against the Cubs would keep the Crew alive, at the very least in the wild card race, which could help them take advantage of the rest of their schedule

An Easy Schedule

After this Cubs series, the Brewers have one more crack at the Cardinals and the rest of their opponents are all out of the playoff race. They have the Marlins, Padres, Pirates, Reds, and Rockies remaining on their schedule. If they can get a couple sweeps in there along with winning every series, they could be in good shape, just needing a little help from the teams ahead of them in the Wild Card chase.

But if it’s a series split or loss against the Cubs, the Brewers are really just losing ground, and even with that strength of schedule being so weak, it would more than likely finish their playoff hopes. They have to take care of business against the teams in front of them.

It’s the Cubs, it’s four games, it’s at Miller Park, and it’s September baseball. It doesn’t get more gut-wrenching than this.