Shota Imanaga likely to draw start, but Brewers fans should be ready for anything in Game 5

Well, that sucked.

After dismantling the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of the NLDS, the Milwaukee Brewers were given a taste of their own medicine at Wrigley Field. The North Siders stormed back to even the series at 2-2, setting the stage for a do-or-die Game 5 at American Family Field tonight.

After using Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon to great effect in Games 3 and 4, Craig Counsell now has a difficult question to answer: Who on earth is going to start for the Chicago Cubs in the final game of this series?

Can Cubs manufacture 27 outs against Brewers in Game 5 of NLDS?

At first glance, Shota Imanaga appears to be the answer the Cubs will roll with out of the starting gates, though there's obviously plenty of reasons for concern with the Japanese southpaw.

For one, the Brewers just smacked him around in Game 2 of the Divisional Round, blasting two home runs en route to knocking Imanaga out of the game in just 2 2/2 innings. That continued a disastrous trend for Imanaga, who has allowed 15 home runs in his last nine starts.

Like a bulldog with a bad habit of biting kids, you can expect that Imanaga's metaphorical leash will be extra short if he is given the start.

That isn't the fatal flaw it would have been earlier in the series, though. None of the Cubs' four long-relievers (Ben Brown, Colin Rea, Michael Soroka, and Aaron Civale) have pitched since Game 2 of the series, meaning all will be well-rested prior to Game 5. Thanks to the day off between the penultimate and final game of the series, you can be sure all of the Cubbies' high-leverage relievers will be available as well.

That makes it all the more important that the Brewers get to Imanaga as long as he's on the bump. He'll surely be taken out at the first sign of trouble... but because of his home run tendencies, he's always in trouble on the mound. Maybe Milwaukee could learn a thing or two from the Cubs' first-inning habits.

Of course, the Brewers face a myriad of pitching questions of their own, including who Pat Murphy will start in Game 5 and whether or not OSHA will legally allow Aaron Ashby to throw another pitch before his arm falls off.

In the end, expect this contest to devolve into a sloppy, back-and-forth bullpen affair between both teams, exactly the way Bud Selig intended when he created the NL Central in 1994.