Brewers Visit Phillies With Playoff Bye Within Reach

Milwaukee can lock up a first-round playoff bye with a single win in Philadelphia, while home-field advantage is also on the line.

The Milwaukee Brewers begin a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 22, closing out a road swing that has already produced a division title and a franchise mark for victories. One more victory, or an Atlanta loss this week, would wrap up a first-round bye and allow the club to skip the wild-card round.

The NL's top overall seed remains unresolved. Milwaukee sits two games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and carries a magic number of four for home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. Atlanta, at 92-64, plays three in Cincinnati and three at Miami, while the 96-60 Dodgers host San Diego before visiting San Francisco.

Philadelphia, at a magic number of three for a postseason berth, holds a four-game cushion over Arizona with six contests left. The Phillies trail the Cubs and Padres by one in the wild-card race and own the tiebreaker over San Diego but not Chicago.

Probables for the opener have the Brewers unannounced against Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler (13-5, 2.99 ERA). Wednesday features Milwaukee righty Logan Henderson (10-3, 2.51 ERA) against Aaron Nolda (7-10, 4.49 ERA), with Thursday's starters still to be named. Dustin May, carrying a 5.40 ERA over 32 innings since joining the Brewers, could start Thursday.

Philadelphia enters at 8-10 in September after a 21-7 August and a 4-5 trip through Atlanta, Washington and New York. Milwaukee took two of three from the Phillies at home in June, including Jacob Misiorowski's complete-game one-hitter with 15 strikeouts, though he is not expected to pitch in this series.