On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Brewers series preview

The Brewers have a very good chance to clinch the NL Central title during this series. Entering today’s action their magic number is 5.

So that’s fun, right? (No, it’s not, not for the Cubs, anyway.)

For more on the Brewers, here’s Kyle Lesniewski, manager of our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball:

Their struggles against the AL Central notwithstanding, the Brewers are very close to clinching their own divisional crown.

The second half surge has continued into September as the team enters their series with the Cubs at 8-5 on the month and 89-57 on the season.

Brandon Woodruff has looked more human in his last few starts and Freddy Peralta took a bit to get going again after an IL stint, but the slack has been picked up by stellar stretches from Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser. Christian Yelich still hasn’t found his old MVP form and Willy Adames (who should be returning soon) has been on the shelf, leaving unexpected contributors like Kolten Wong, Avisail Garcia, and Luis Urias to shoulder the load offensively, and they have done so with quite a bit of success.

Fun fact

As hinted by Kyle Lesniewski, the Brewers struggled this year against AL Central teams, going just 8-12, and against the three worst teams in that division (Tigers, Royals, Twins) they were 3-11.

Probable pitching matchups

Friday: Zach Davies, RHP (6-11, 5.40 ERA, 1.546 WHIP, 5.42 FIP) vs. Adrian Houser, RHP (9-6, 3.25 ERA, 1.264 WHIP, 4.30 FIP

Saturday: Justin Steele, LHP (3-3, 4.17 ERA, 1.390 WHIP, 5.12 FIP) vs. Corbin Burnes, RHP (10-4, 2.25 ERA, 0.954 WHIP, 1.50 FIP)

Sunday: Adrian Sampson, RHP (1-2, 2.53 ERA, 1.172 WHIP, 5.98 FIP) vs. Eric Lauer, LHP (6-5, 3.10 ERA, 1.161 WHIP, 3.94 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Friday: 7:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Saturday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Fox-TV (regional — coverage map)

Sunday: 1:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

Oh, come now. This is a total mismatch and the Cubs have already lost 13 of 16 to the Brewers this year, including the last nine in a row.

Still, I suspect that somehow the Cubs will win one of these three, perhaps the Sunday game.

Up next

The Cubs have Monday off, then host the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field for a two-game series beginning Tuesday evening.