The Milwaukee Brewers have a four-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball, and more importantly, the top seed in the National League.
The two will face off this week in a series that could decide which squad will have home-field advantage in the postseason. The two have been the best teams in baseball for most of the season, and even though the Dodgers are scuffling at the moment, they seem destined for a clash with the Brewers in October again. When the Brewers come to town this week, however, they won't be starting the four pitchers they would in a postseason series.
Shane Drohan and Robert Gasser figure to start the first two games of the pivotal series, with Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson to follow. The Dodgers won't be lucky enough to avoid the Cy Young Award favorite and a budding star in Henderson, but they will avoid Kyle Harrison and old friend Dustin May, who looked great in his Brewers debut.
In a postseason series, the Brewers' four-man rotation would likely be Misiorowski, Harrison, Henderson and May. The Dodgers would likely have Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow or Shohei Ohtani to counter.
The Dodgers seem lined up to have Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Justin Wrobleski and Skubal face the Brewers in the upcoming series. The Brewers and Dodgers are both in a six-man rotation right now and the pitching matchups could be as follows:
- Thursday: Shane Drohan vs. Roki Sasaki
- Friday: Robert Gasser vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Saturday: Jacob Misiorowski vs. Justin Wrobleski
- Sunday: Tarik Skubal vs. Logan Henderson
A sweep for the Dodgers could not only get them back in position to have a bye, but could set them up to secure the top seed. The Brewers will face the San Diego Padres for three games while the Dodgers take on the struggling Kansas City Royals.
The Brewers will also be without starting shortstop Cooper Pratt and potentially third baseman Joey Ortiz.