We’ll just get this out of the way early, but it’s extremely unlikely the Brewers are able to catch the Cubs for the NL Central at this point. That’s not pessimism, it’s a numbers thing. In the words of Ned Yost, the math is on their side -- they have a 5 game lead on the Brewers with 26 games left to play. While the Brewers have 6 head-to-head games left against the Cubs, even winning both series and going 4-2 would only net them 2 games on that 5-game deficit.
It’s not impossible to catch the Cubs, but we’re at the point where focusing on hanging on to a wildcard spot may be the way to go.