The Milwaukee Brewers hunt home-field advantage through the National League Championship Series as their magic number drops to two.
The Milwaukee Brewers improved to 99-59 with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
Logan Henderson was once again the star of the show as the team saw its magic number fall to two thanks to a San Diego Padres victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers later in the night.
Securing the No. 1 seed in the National League would mean Milwaukee is guaranteed to have home-field advantage through the National League Championship Series, and that makes for a huge advantage should a potential NLCS rematch against the Dodgers become a reality.
For now, that's far too much into the future to look into. It doesn't seem like the Brewers are going to take it easy on the St. Louis Cardinals in their final regular-season series of the year, but they would sure love to have that top seed locked up going into their final three games.
Brewers must win and Dodgers must lose
For the magic number to disappear, it's as simple as that. Milwaukee must pull through with back-to-back wins over the Phillies, and then the Padres must do the same against the Dodgers.
With four games remaining, the Brewers control their own fate. Even if the Dodgers were to win out, which is extremely likely knowing they play the 65-94 Giants to end the year, all the Brewers have to do is go 2-2 in order to secure the No. 1 seed.
Baseball's top overall seed is also in play, and that's something that would net the Brewers home-field advantage through the World Series, but that's a conversation for a different time.
Bryse Wilson returns in Phillies finale
For the first time since Sunday, Aug. 30, long reliever Bryse Wilson will be used as the opener in this Phillies game.
Milwaukee's bullpen is relatively fresh, but they did just use their top relievers to secure a three-run victory the night prior.
Either way, it'll be interesting to see how this team comes out in the series finale. There are quite a few afternoon games on Thursday, Sept. 24, but first pitch for the Padres vs. Dodgers isn't until four hours after it is for Brewers vs. Phillies.
If the Brewers get the job done, they'll have to wait until the wee hours of the morning to see if San Diego was able to help Milwaukee secure the No. 1 seed in the NL for the second straight season.
