While seemingly everything else about the NL playoff picture has been in flux over the past couple of weeks, the Milwaukee Brewers have just kept on chugging. Sure, having Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta comprise 60% of your starting rotation certainly helps stave off losing streaks, but Milwaukee’s unheralded offense has even started perking up a bit lately. The Brew Crew have followed up their 17-9 August with a 10-6 September thus far — and, thanks to some help from their friends on the North Side of Chicago, they’re closing in on their second division title in three years. With less than two weeks left in the 2023 regular season, we’ll be keeping track of the Brewers’ magic number to win the NL Central, with updates every morning.
(As we near the playoffs and divisions are decided, teams are given “magic numbers” to clinch their division. This is just a fun term for the number of wins needed to secure a division so that no matter what else happens, that team will win the division come the last day of the season.)
Brewers magic number: 7
With the Cubs in absolute free-fall — a sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks over the weekend made it five straight losses and eight of their last 10 — Milwaukee is threatening to run away with the division, leading by seven games in the loss column with just 13 to play entering Monday. That means the Brewers’ magic number sits at seven: Any combination of seven Milwaukee wins and Chicago losses from here on out, and the race is over. Obviously, that puts the Brewers at prohibitive favorites: Fangraphs’ playoff odds give them a 98.8% chance.
