Milwaukee Brewers NL Central Magic Number After Friday Victory in the Big Apple

The Milwaukee Brewers kicked off one of the toughest late season tests of any MLB team this month when they began a stretch of 17 games in 17 days yesterday. And they began it about as successfully as possible, in the Big Apple, no less.

The Brewers piled up eight runs on 16 hits and ever member of the starting lineup collected at least one hit in a strong 8-2 victory over the Yankees on Friday night. Abner Uribe picked up his first career victory in 1.1 innings of relief after starter Colin Rea set the bullpen up well but left ineligible for the win after giving up two runs in 4.2 innings.

New York kicked off the scoring in third when rookie phenom Jasson Dominguez sent a two-run homer out to right. That would be all the Yankees could muster, though, as Brewers shortstop Willy Adames tied things up the very next inning with a two-run shot of his own and Milwaukee would never look back.

The Brewers would score three more in the seventh on RBI singles by William Contreras and Carlos Santana and an RBI double by Adames. They would then put up another three spot in the eighth on an Andruw Monasterio two-run double and Santana's second RBI single of the day.

Milwaukee's bullpen avoided any possibility of a Yankees comeback. Once Rea exited the game, four relievers combined to throw 4.1 scoreless, hitless innings while issuing three walks and striking out three as well.

What is the Milwaukee Brewers magic number?

With their victory over the Yankees, the Brewers magic number to clinch the NL Central crown now sits at 19. They also were able to stretch their division lead back up to three games over the Chicago Cubs.

As a reminder, per the MLB website, "A team's magic number represents the combination of wins needed by that team and losses by its closest competitor to clinch a given goal. Every time a team wins, its magic number decreases by one. Similarly, every time that team's closest competitor for the division (or Wild Card) loses, the magic number also decreases by one."

In our last magic number update on Tuesday, the Brewers had dropped their magic number to 22 on the back of a victory over the Pirates. They made no progress on their magic number the following day as they dropped the series finale to Pittsburgh and the Cubs chalked up another win.

Chicago did the Brewers a favor after Wednesday, however, when they dropped the first two games of their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After falling 6-2 on Milwaukee's off day on Thursday, Chicago fell 1-0 on Friday afternoon as NL Cy Young candidate Zac Gallen pitched a three-hit shutout. Those games brought the Crew's magic number to 20 before they dropped it into the teens later last night.

The Brewers-Yankees series continues this afternoon as Wade Miley (7-4, 3.33 ERA) starts for Milwaukee. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm CDT.