Brewers aided in MLB's "best playoff race" by key tiebreaker

The end of Major League Baseball’s regular season is approaching quickly, with Sunday, September 27, marking the final day of the campaign for all 30 teams. Now that we are into the final month, the focus shifts toward the playoff races.

While the Milwaukee Brewers have all but secured a postseason berth, they remain firmly in what ESPN’s David Schoenfield recently labeled the most exciting playoff race in baseball. That is the battle for the National League's top two seeds in the playoffs, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves being Milwaukee's competition.

Schoenfield pointed out the importance of this race as whichever team finishes as the No. 3 seed will not get a first-round bye. Instead, they will have to test their fate in a best-of-three series in the Wild Card round, where anything can happen.

While the Brewers currently hold a comfortable 3.5-game lead over both teams in the standings, tiebreakers could become especially important if the teams finish with identical records. Milwaukee already owns the tiebreaker over the Dodgers and has a strong opportunity to secure one over the Braves as well, which is an advantage that could prove significant in this playoff seeding race.

Brewers already hold tiebreaker over Dodgers and could secure one over Braves this month as race for first-round bye heats up

In mid-August, the Brewers took three of four games from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, giving Milwaukee a 4-3 advantage in the season series. That series win could prove crucial if the two teams finish the regular season with identical records. Under MLB’s tiebreaker rules, head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker used to determine playoff seeding, meaning the Brewers would hold the edge over the Dodgers in that scenario.

On the other hand, Milwaukee and Atlanta split their season series three games apiece. The deciding tiebreaker then shifts to intradivision record. Currently, the Braves hold the advantage in that category with 28 wins compared to the Brewers' 23.

The caveat, however, is that the Brewers will play 18 games against NL Central opponents in September, including 15 consecutive to open the month. Seven of those contests come against the Chicago Cubs, but Milwaukee will also face the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds before closing out the regular season at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Meanwhile, Atlanta has just 12 divisional games remaining, but their schedule is no less challenging than Milwaukee's. Seven of the Braves' divisional games will come against the red-hot Philadelphia Phillies, before they close out the regular season against the pesky Miami Marlins.

All of that sets up the possibility that the Brewers-Braves tiebreaker could come down to the final day of the regular season, adding even more intrigue to what is already being called MLB’s most exciting playoff race.

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