If the season ended today, who would Brewers face in playoffs? (Sept 17)

The MLB postseason begins on October 3rd and with 13 games left to play, there is still so much that can change between now and the end of the regular season. Following their 2-1 loss against the Washington Nationals, the Milwaukee Brewers currently sit atop the NL Central with a record of 84-65 and have a 6.0 game lead over the Chicago Cubs.

With the LA Dodgers and Atlanta Braves well clear record wise of the Brewers, it looks likely that they will occupy the three seed and face the six seed of the NL Wild Card Round in a best-of-three series. Now let's take a look at who the Brewers would face in the playoffs were the season to end today.

If the season ended today, who would Brewers face in playoffs?

The Brewers will face the 3rd and final Wild Card team if they manage to win the division. As it stands, they would face their divisional rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, over a best-of-three games to progress and face the Dodgers.

The Reds sit at a record of 78-72, just half a game back of the Cubs and level with the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the tiebreaker going in their favor. Milwaukee has gotten the better of the Reds this season, winning the head-to-head record 10-3. Arizona has the better of the head-to-head leading 4-2 against the Brew Crew.

The Brewers are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now. The pitching staff has been on fire with the 'big three' showing why the Brewers have one of the best staffs in the Majors. On the batting side, the additions of Carlos Santana and Mark Canha may not have been the biggest names or scared other fan bases, but they have been incredibly effective since the trade deadline.

A quick look at the stats and we can see that the Reds have scored 706 runs to the Brewers 664, but, have given up 744 runs to just 608 for the Brewers. Clearly the Reds can take some confidence from that knowing they can score more runs but from the previous games this year, Milwaukee has shown a great ability to prevent the Reds from scoring.

Let's take a look at the starting pitchers and how they match up. Milwaukee of course will look to Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta. Now we may see these three all be listed for the three game series, however, manager Craig Counsell may look to use Wade Miley or Adrian Houser and then look to use one of the 'big three' for if they progress and to ensure they remain healthy.

Compare that to the Reds and their ace, Hunter Greene, who is a fantastic young talent and has impressed this season. He will likely lead that lineup of pitchers that is without Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft, so they will look to the likes of Andrew Abbott and Brandon Williamson for game two and three should it go the distance. No disrespect to those starters but it's clear who has the upper hand in that area of the game.

Offensively both teams are far more evenly matched now than they were early on in the season when the Reds got off to a hot start. At catcher both teams have guys that can really produce with the bat. Williams Contreras has been a great addition to the Brewers, batting .283 with an OBP of .361, hitting 16 homers and bringing home 73 runners. Tyler Stephenson is hitting .250 for the Reds with just 11 homers but it can not be denied that he can still be dangerous at the plate.

Both teams have great power bats at first base with Carlos Santana and Rowdy Tellez and Reds legend Joey Votto likely to start. Other key infield matchups will see Brice Turang and Jonathan India at second base.

Elly De La Cruz has had all the attention from the MLB world this season and he is an exciting player to watch. The shortstop is hitting .238 and has hit 11 home runs, 36 RBIs and has 29 steals to his name and has cooled down from his hot start. These stats may not jump off the page but the switch hitter can really get hot and cause problems for the Brewers so it will be interesting to see if he gets hot again.

In the outfield the player to keep an eye on is second year player Spencer Steer. He is a traditional first baseman but has found himself spending time out in left field too in various lineups. He leads the team with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs, which is a huge step up from last season. Only Willy Adames has hit more home runs than Steer for the Brewers.

Another factor that will come into this series is the games being played in Milwaukee. The Brewers have the better home record at 45-30, but the Reds are better on the road and are currently 42-33 when playing away.

Having seen the head-to-head record and how the rosters line up, Counsell and the Brewers will be in a good position to beat the Reds and get the job done with a game to spare. The Reds however are ahead of where everyone expected them to be and so have nothing to lose. Anything can happen in October.

There is still time for the standings to change and who the Brewers may face, but it is always good to see all the ways in which these teams would matchup and how the series might go down. That 3rd Wild Card spot has five teams that could legitimately claim it right now. It's going to be a wild finish in that race, but if the season ended today, it's the Reds who get it.