Put the Yuengling on ice.
The Milwaukee Brewers head to Pittsburgh for a three-game series that begins Tuesday, Sept. 15, needing just two more wins to secure the National League Central title for a fourth straight season. Any Chicago Cubs loss will also reduce their magic number of two, and since Chicago plays Atlanta on Monday, Sept. 14, the magic number could be down to one by the time they take the field.
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In any event, any combination of Brewers wins or Cubs losses equaling two will seal the crown.
With their best pitchers on the hill for the start of the three-game road trip, the Brewers are hoping PNC Park treats them to a party.
The Brewers lost three games in the same venue just before the all-star break but also swept the Pirates at PNC Park in late 2025.
For all the conversation about how cursed the Brewers are playing in Pittsburgh in the middle of the summer, the Brewers have gone 10-5 there in Septembers over the past decade.
Here’s what to know about the Brewers-Pirates series:
Milwaukee has 12 games left and needs to win only two games to secure the NL Central. Any combination of Brewers wins and Cubs losses totaling two will clinch the division.
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In other words, expect the good news at some point this week, and probably early.
The Brewers are five games ahead of the Atlanta Braves, the NL East leader and currently the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. If Milwaukee finished with the best or second-best record in the league, it’ll get a first-round playoff bye.
Milwaukee (93-57) is also 2½ games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL’s top overall seed. Taking that honor (for the second year in a row) would give the Brewers homefield advantage throughout the NL playoffs and probably would be good enough for homefield advantage in the World Series.
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The Brewers’ magic number to finish better than the Dodgers is 10. The magic number to finish better than the Braves is eight. If the teams tie, the Brewers have a tiebreaker over the Dodgers and might get a tiebreaker over the Braves based on divisional record. Wins against divisional foes (like the Pirates) would help that cause.
The Brewers are 2½ games ahead of Tampa Bay, the top American League team.
Is it possible for a Brewers fan to ever cheer for the Cubs? It’s practically a done deal that the Brewers will finish with a better record than Chicago, so it might be more prudent to ask for Braves losses, just this once. The Brewers can simply win two games this week and clinch without any losses from the Cubs.
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Then again, perhaps you’re a fan who’d like to see Atlanta bypass Los Angeles so the Dodgers have to play in a wild-card round (like they did last year). Or perhaps you’re just not the type of person who can find it in your heart to root for Chicago.
The Brewers (93-57) are on pace to win 100 games, which would surpass the franchise record for wins (97) set in 2025.
The Brewers need to finish 5-7 to get to 98 wins and set the record.
Tuesday’s game falls on Roberto Clemente Day, an MLB-wide celebration that obviously holds special significance in Pittsburgh. All games will air on Brewers.TV or on the radio at AM-620 WTMJ.
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Tuesday, Sept. 15, 5:40 p.m. CT: Brewers RHP Jacob Misiorowski (14-5, 1.95 ERA) vs. Pittsburgh TBA
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Wednesday, Sept. 16, 5:40 p.m. CT: Brewers RHP Logan Henderson (10-3, 2.34) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Jared Jones (4-6, 4.10)
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Thursday, Sept. 17, 11:35 a.m. CT: Brewers RHP Dustin May (7-9, 4.49) vs. Pittsburgh TBA
With one more win, the Pirates will equal their best season win total since 2018, when the squad finished 82-79. Though Pittsburgh won’t be making the playoffs, they’ve made serious strides – and that’s even with Paul Skenes (10-11, 3.78 ERA) being south of the Cy Young bar he set for himself last year.
Their rotation took a hit with an injury to Braxton Ashcraft (14-6, 3.65 ERA) that’ll probably sideline him the rest of the season. Not only that, but exciting rookie slugger Esmerlyn Valdez, whose homer binge almost singlehandedly led to a doubleheader sweep over the Brewers earlier this year, left Friday’s game in Chicago with a hamstring strain and is likely done for the year.
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On the bright side for the Pirates, they seem to have found something with the relief work by Mason Montgomery (2.73 ERA in 64 games, with 95 strikeouts in 63 innings). Second baseman Brandon Lowe leads the team in Baseball Reference WAR (4.6) and Bryan Reynolds – who has given the Brewers fits over the years – leads the league with 36 doubles. Oneil Cruz is also back after an injury cost him two months and has a .912 OPS in 23 games since his return.
Skenes pitched Sept. 12 against the Cubs in Chicago and, though that would leave him potentially available for a start Thursday, Sept. 17, in the series finale with the Brewers, he’s only worked on four days rest eight times in his 29 starts this year. Bubba Chandler, another of the team’s top starters, worked Sept. 13 in Chicago and wouldn’t be available against Milwaukee.
With Ashcraft out, the Pirates are facing a bit of a starting-pitching shortage.
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The Brewers are the best in baseball with a .341 team on-base percentage, but Pittsburgh sits in fourth at .330, a mark reflective of a patient team that draws walks (and also happens to steal bases when they get there). They’re fifth in baseball in runs scored, behind the Cubs, Brewers, Washington Nationals and Dodgers.
Much like the Brewers, they score without hitting a ton of homers. Their 170 is far better than Milwaukee’s 146 but still a bottom-half mark in MLB.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers head to Pittsburgh with chance to clinch division
