The Milwaukee Brewers are set to begin their postseason run on Saturday.
On Thursday, the San Diego Padres completed a sweep of the Chicago Cubs in their best-of-three Wild Card series with two dominant victories.
With that series win, the Padres now have a date with the Milwaukee Brewers, the top overall seed in the National League playoffs.
For the Brewers, coming off the best regular season in franchise history and winning over 100 games for the first time, this will be a great first test on their journey to bring home the franchise's first World Series title.
Especially considering the Padres handled the Cubs in both games and were responsible for one of the seven regular-season sweeps Milwaukee suffered.
San Diego also won the season series between the two teams, 4-2, with their biggest win coming on August 11, when they scored 11 runs on 17 hits, which was very uncharacteristic for the Brewers throughout the season.
However, now that October is here, nothing that happened in the regular season matters.
For the Brewers, their biggest advantage is their pitching, without a doubt. Jacob Misorowski has stolen the show this season with his nearly unhittable fastball, and he takes the mound in Game 1.
Robert Gasser is another young pitcher who has shown potential this season, and the Brewers still have Dustin May, a savvy veteran who can deliver a strong performance at any time despite some struggles.
Milwaukee's rotation is a major reason for the success they've achieved coming into the postseason.
That will have to continue if they want to beat the Padres, as their bats have gotten hot at the right time. They put it on full display against the Cubs, hitting four home runs and recording 21 hits in just two games.
While the Padres likely won't remain that hot through this series, especially on the road to start it, they clearly have a huge amount of momentum, and in sports, specifically in the postseason, sometimes that's all a team needs.
On the other hand, Milwaukee's biggest strength may be their pitching rotation, but that doesn't mean the offense is a weakness.
Despite tying for second-to-last in home runs as a team, Milwaukee ranked first in hits and second in RBIs.
These stats suggest the Brewers may not overwhelm teams with the long ball; instead, they reach base and methodically put runs on the board, stretching innings and making the game more frustrating and draining for a team's bullpen and rotation.
